Basseterre, St. Kitts:  6 April 2017 – After a 2 year hiatus the Rotary Club of Liamuiga (RCL) Talent Search Competition for Primary and High Schools was brought back to be included in the Club’s Programme of Activities for the current Rotary Year, which runs from 1 July 2016 to 30 June 2017.  It was excitement galore when the talents of the children and teenagers were unveiled at the Finals of the Competition at the Sir Cecil Jacobs Auditorium on the evening of Wednesday, 5 April 2017! 

The very loud responses of some audience members in support of their participants was reward in itself for the significant amount of work involved in the administration, preparation, production and execution of RCL Talent Search Competition 2017!

The RCL has proven yet again that talent in the arts is very much alive and well within Federation!

Participants at the Primary School Level competed in Dance, Poetry and Vocal Music while High School participants competed in Dance, Instrumental Music and Vocal Music.  There were several outstanding performances in all categories, however, the adjudged winners in the various categories were as follows:

Primary Schools

Dance – Cajoy Isaac, Immaculate Conception

Poetry – D’Jaaden Dunrod, Cayon Primary

Vocal Music – Luan Hinds, Newton Ground Primary

High Schools

Dance – April Burt, Washington Archibald High

Instrumental Music – Petros Peets, Verchilds High

Vocal Music tie – Christianne Skerritt, Immaculate Conception and Drenyqua Samuel, Verchilds High

Prizes were presented to the top 3 participants in all categories.  The first place winners were also awarded trophies, however, with the tie for first place in the High School Vocal Music category, Miss Christianne Skerritt of Immaculate conception will have to wait a while before actually receiving her trophy.  She was however allowed to take pictures with her family members, who were present for the Competition, holding the trophy for the category.  In the group picture of first place winners both Miss Skerritt and Miss Drenyqua Samuel of Virchilds High held the trophy for the Vocal Music High School category. 

This year was a time for ties and firsts!  It must be noted that for this Competition, which started in 2005, it was the first time that there has been ties in any categories.  In addition to the tie mentioned above, this year also saw another tie, for second place, in the Primary School Dance Segment between Mellita Dunrod of Cayon Primary and Jahzara Greene of Dieppe Bay Primary.  But for the fact that she lost points for exceeding the allotted time, Miss Danecia Henry of Saddlers Secondary would have also tied with Miss Alecia Mills-Nisbett of Washington Archibald High in the Vocal Music Category, behind the two participants who tied for the first place.

The top three placements in all categories were as follows:

Primary Schools 

Dance (Possible Total-75 Points)

1st place – Cajoy Isaac, Immaculate Conception (70 points)

Tied in 2nd place – Mellita Dunrod, Cayon Primary and Jahzara Greene, Dieppe Bay Primary (48 points)

Poetry (Posssible Total-120 Points)

1st place – D’Jaaden Dunrod, Cayon Primary (96 points)

2nd place – Yishmakeda Maccabbee, Dieppe Bay Primary (81 points)

3rd place – Zene Tyson, Beach Allen Primary (74 points)

Vocal Music (Possible Total 180 points)

1st place – Luan Hinds, Newton Ground Primary (123 points)

2nd place – Amani Edmeade, Immaculate Conception (112 points)

3rd place – T’Koyah Leader, Dieppe Bay Primary (91 points)

High Schools 

Dance (Possible Total-75 Points)

1st place – April Burt, Washington Archibald High (74 points)

2nd place – Thonicya Richardson, Immaculate Conception (51 points)

3rd place – Eshana Browne, Saddlers Secondary (44 points)

Instrumental Music (Posssible Total-120 Points)

1st place – Petros Peets, Verchilds High (103 points)

2nd place – Yaneir Henry, Washington Archibald High (102 points)

3rd place – Janiqua Morris, Cayon High (101 points)

Vocal Music (Possible Total 180 points)

1st place tie – Christianne Skerritt, Immaculate Conception and Drenyqua Samuel, Verchilds High (137 points)

3rd place – Alecia Nisbett, Washington Archibald High (134 points)

The Rotary Club of Liamuiga extends its thanks and appreciation to its corporate partners - ECCB, Elco Ltd, Ministry of Education, Royal Bank of Canada, Ti Amor Café, TDC Group of Companies, Warner’s One Stop and ZIZ Broadcasting for their support in this interesting and exciting exposition of home grown talent in our Schools.