2012 Patrons and Partners

(This list will continue to grow as names are added, so keep checking back)

2012* Partners:

The Best of Books

Brenda Lee Browne

Claytine Nisbett

Floree Williams

Megan Samuel-Fields

Devra Thomas

and, as founder and coordinator 2004 to present, Joanne C. HIllhouse (me).

More on Past partnerships and Wadadli Pen history .

*The involvement of some (possibly all) of these team members will not necessarily be specific to or limited to 2012 as Wadadli Pen plans to segue into the formalization of the programme into a proper non-profit.

2012 Sponsors:

THE BEST OF BOOKS

ABI INSURANCE - a major sponsor last year; and again this year.

CONRAD ‘LUKIE’ LUKE of R. K. Luke and Sons and the Leonard ‘Tim’ Hector Memorial Committee

ONDECK - which puts novices and experts alike on the water for hours of fun and adventure.

 FRANK B. ARMSTRONG - Supporting for the second year in a row through its Seven Seas Brand.

ADVENTURE ANTIGUA - recent winner of Caribbean Travel and Leisure Magazine’s People’s Choice Award for Best Caribbean Excursion Company.

ANTIGUA RAINFOREST CANOPY TOUR - did this, it’s awesome!

 BLUE WATERS  

JOLLY BEACH RESORT - Antigua’s all inclusive beach resort, family friendly vacation destination.

KEYONNA BEACH HOTEL - A resort property on the southwest coast, where dining is literally beachside.

STEPHEN B. SHOUL

NANA EKUA BREW HAMMOND – Ghanaian-American author of Powder Necklace.

FLOREE WILLIAMS, a 2012 partner and author of Through the Window and Pink Teacups and Blue Dresses

BARBARA ARRINDELL author of Antigua My Antigua

CLAYTINE NISBETT

AUSTRALIAN HOMEMADE

JABBERWOCKY

LITTLE ANTIGUA ISLAND TOUR

ELAINE SPIRES – author of What’s Eating Me? and Singles’ Holiday

D. GISELE ISAAC – author of Considering Venus and a founding member and former judge of Wadadli Pen

BRENDA LEE BROWNE

JOANNE C. HILLHOUSE

CARIBBEAN HELICOPTERS

ACT

INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S CLUB OF ANTIGUA AND BARBUDA

MARIE ELENA JOHN

C + C WINEHOUSE

CUSHION CLUB

2012 MediaPartners:

Thanks to all the media, bloggers etc. who dilligently run our notices and releases re the competition. Special thanks to Antiguanice.com and 365antigua.com for the free advertising space they’ve given to Wadadli Pen.

Another Prize Delivered

Tiffany Smith who tied for first place in the 13 to 17 age category of the 2012 Wadadli Pen Challenge collects one of her prizes, a copy of Nana Ekua Brew Hammond’s Powder Necklace from the author herself via Wadadli Pen partner Claytine Nisbett.

See full listing of 2012 winners and prizes here.

Meet Rosalie Richards

Here she is, finally, after missing the awards on her big night, collecting her prizes at the Best of Books, later in the week. Ladies and Gentlemen, Wadadli Pen’s number one writer of 2012, Rosalie A. Richards:

Accepting her certificate as a short listed writer.

Rosalie with the Best of Books challenge plaque in one hand and her take-home ABII sponsored plaque.

I met Rosalie when she entered Wadadli Pen the first time around in 2006. I was not at all involved in the judging process that year, but her story The Creation remains one of my all time favourites of the eight year old competition. It begins:

It was a beautiful day. The dirt smelt freshly dug and the tunnels seemed like new.

She was a 12-year-old Christ the King High School student when she entered. She said it was a piece she had written for a class project. Did you hear that, teachers?

What struck me about it, apart from the language, was the inventiveness of the story itself. As the title plainly states it’s a creation story in which life begins in an underground community that was lost when a few adventuring souls went top-side to explore.

…and that is why when our dead die, we bury them so that they can find our lost underground city.

Rosalie has more going on in her life than writing. She swims, she paints, and I’m sure more things I don’t know about. So, Wadadli Pen didn’t attract her attention again until she was an 18-year-old Antigua State College student. The subject and language of her entry were proof of two things, Rosalie was all grown up, but she had not lost her way with words.She’s two for two. In fact, she upped the ante. Having placed third in 2006, she came back in 2012 with Smitten for the win in three categories including taking the overall prize.  Though not part of the early rounds of judging, as one third of the final judging panel, I can report that with engaging imagery, a seductive flow, fun sense of surprise, and similes like this

bitter adrenaline speeding

fast

through my veins like highway traffic

Smitten was the unanimous top pick in that final round.

Rosalie, please don’t wait so long to grace us with your pen again.

DON’T FORGET – Announcement re Joanne C. Hillhouse’s Book Launch Party

Joint Release from

JOANNE C. HILLHOUSE
http://www.jhohadli.com

And

THE BEST OF BOOKS

                         

Lower St. Mary’s Street, St. John’s Antigua – 268 562 3198 – bestofbooks@yahoo.com

 

Ensure that you are one of the first people on island to have a copy of Oh Gad! – the latest novel from the author of The Boy from Willow Bend and Dancing Nude in the Moonlight, Joanne C. Hillhouse.

The book will be released internationally by U.S. publisher Strebor/Atria/Simon & Schuster on April 17th 2012.

In Antigua you will be able to pick up your autographed copy at three minutes past midnight at Joanne’s Midnight Launch to be held at the Best of Books Village Walk branch on Friars Hill Rd. To ensure that you receive your copy you can pre-order by pre-paying at either location. Be sure to get and keep your receipt as books can only be reserved by pre-payment.

No exceptions.

The festive launch party will begin at 11 p.m. on the night of April 16th. Wine and other drinks will be on hand as we get set to toast the accomplishments of yet another outstanding Antiguan author. You have to be there to raise your glasses as the clock strikes midnight as Oh Gad! officially takes it place on bookshelves around the world.

Books cost EC$52.00 and prepayments will be accepted starting on the 26th March. People who pick up their copies at the launch party will receive an instant $5.00 cash back.

Thirty-Six Hundred by Aarati Jagdeo

Between the hours of 7pm and 8pm my mother sits in the living room and stares out at the driveway. She feeds me and my brother precisely at 6pm and then we all sit and force small talk for an hour before she begins her strange ritual. During that hour, my brother and I speak very quietly or do our homework. Then, promptly at 8pm, our mother gets up and invites us to watch TV in her room.  We never decline her offer.

It’s been five months since our father left us to start a new life with his girlfriend. That’s nothing new in today’s world I suppose. However, the fact that his girlfriend is 16 years old is what causes us to get the stares at the supermarket and at school.

People who know and like my father always try to make excuses for him or lie about his girlfriend’s age. “His wife too disgusting”, they say or “his wife let herself go after she had kids”. The issue of him leaving us and bedding a girl only three years older than me never seems to carry much weight amongst them.

His girlfriend, Cherie, is one of those girls that developed early and is very aware of her effect on men. Her mother is a loud, obnoxious woman who I hear has been married three times already. Her first two husbands left her and the current one, apparently, hardly spends time at home. Some people used to feel sorry for Cherie, especially since she doesn’t know who her father is. However, that all went out the window once word got out that she and my father were “dealing”.

I saw Cherie and my father out grocery shopping the other day. He looked so old standing next to her. He had his arm around her shoulders and she had hers around his waist. I remember I felt rage creeping up inside me. Didn’t he know how ridiculous he looked standing there with his thinning hair and his stupid paisley shirt tucked into his khakis? She was no better with that annoying way she chewed her gum in her batty riders, with her sloppy orange lipstick and her too-tight t-shirt.  He spotted me that night and tried to say hi but I just turned my back on him and left.

Last night, one of my only true friends, Chris, asked me if I ever noticed my father looking at other women before. I told him no. “Maybe I just never thought…” I said.  I couldn’t tell Chris my true feelings yet. They were still too alien.  I wondered about so many things now, things that no 13 year old should have to wonder about.  Was my father a pervert? Was he a “paedophile”? Had he ever had those kinds of thoughts about me? I didn’t really want the answer to those questions but every night, before I went to sleep, they were waiting to haunt and taunt me.

Tonight I’m watching the clock in the kitchen. It’s 7:00. Like a moth to a flame, my mother starts to make her way to the living room and that wretched window. I look at my brother but his head is down.  I’ve decided I’ve had enough.  I walk to the sofa and put my hand on her shoulder.

“Mom, he’s not coming. Do you hear? He’s not coming.”

She looks at me and starts to cry. I cry too. My brother comes in and sees us. Then he stands there and weeps.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Arati Jagdeo describes herself as “a Caribbean girl living in a material world. I like chillin’ like a villain, kickin’ it old school, shootin’ the breeze and any other activity that involves an apostrophe.” Her entry, The Yard, which earned her second place in the 18 to 35 age category of the 2012 Wadadli Pen Challenge is about how a young girl, in an attempt to escape the heat, takes a shortcut through her neighbour’s yard and sees something she’ll never forget. The Yard also earned her third place overall. In her other story, the “well written” Thirty-Six Hundred, which earned third place in the same category, a young woman laments her father’s indiscretion as well as the state of her now devastated family.

COPYRIGHT INFORMATION & TERMS OF USE
Copyright of the winning Wadadli Pen stories and/or art work featured on this site belongs to the creators of the individual works and are used here purely for promotional and educational purposes. Other blog content, except otherwise noted, is created and/or maintained by Joanne C. Hillhouse. Site content should not be copied, distributed, transmitted, used for commercial purposes, altered, transformed, or built upon without the consent of the copyright holders.

The Yard by Aarati Jagdeo

Days in Antigua run the gamut from pleasantly warm, to suffocatingly humid, to scorching hot. Lorraine was accustomed to those. Today, however, was like no other. Today was the kind of day that made you believe the hole in the ozone layer was hovering above you. To make matters worse, she felt every inch of her sweat-drenched uniform clinging to her body and then, there was the issue of her knapsack; the book-laden burden on her back. It wasn’t fair. She never saw adults struggling with heavy books and they were grown.

She was getting closer to Corrine’s house now. Corrine was in fourth form and lived in the biggest house on the street. Her mother had married Mr. Neeson and moved in with him two years ago. Since then, (people said) Corrine started to act “nuff”.  Lorraine didn’t know Corrine personally but had no problem believing the rumours about Corrine’s attitude. All those butterskin girls had an attitude as far as she was concerned. Combine that with her newfound status as Mr. Neeson’s step-daughter? Hah! Nuffness will abound!

Mr. Neeson had an impressive backyard. However, it was one that Lorraine had grown to hate. If she were able to walk through it, she could shave off at least four minutes of walking time to her house.  Four minutes which, in this heat, was a matter of life and death. As she walked past their wooden fence, Lorraine noticed two planks lying in the street. The hole created by their absence was just large enough for her to squeeze through.

She looked around to see if anyone was looking then bent down and slowly went through the hole. She was careful to not rip her uniform on any nails or splinters. She looked over to the other side at the hedges and then glanced at the house. The windows were massive but so were the curtains. She would just have to walk briskly.  Lorraine began her trek across the freshly mowed lawn praying that no one would visit the backyard.

Out of the corner of her eye she saw movement. Without thinking, Lorraine hid behind a lawn chair. She saw Corrine in her room, sitting on her bed reading. Then, Mr. Neeson came in.  He closed the door and said something to her which made Corrine stand up and go close to him. He started stroking Corrine’s face.  Corrine didn’t look at him, not even once and her body stiffened. He grabbed her roughly and kissed her on her mouth. It was like those kisses Lorraine had seen in the movies except this one seemed angry and loveless.

Corrine’s body stayed stiff. Not even her hands twitched. Mr. Neeson pulled away from her and gave her a long, disapproving look. Corrine’s eyes didn’t leave the floor. He never stopped looking at her as he unzipped his pants. It was when he took Corrine’s hand and put it there that Lorraine began to run.  She wasn’t sure whether it was sweat or tears pouring down her face when she got to her house.  Once inside, she went straight to the bathroom and locked the door, ignoring her mother’s greetings.  She ran cold water in the sink and doused her whole head with it. She was sobbing loudly now.

Lorraine’s mother banged on the door concerned about her daughter’s state. She didn’t want to open it but it soon became clear that her mother was not leaving. Lorraine unlocked the door and sat on the toilet. Her mother came in and stood over her.

“Child! What happened?”

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Arati Jagdeo describes herself as “a Caribbean girl living in a material world. I like chillin’ like a villain, kickin’ it old school, shootin’ the breeze and any other activity that involves an apostrophe.” Her entry, The Yard, which earned her second place in the 18 to 35 age category of the 2012 Wadadli Pen Challenge is about how a young girl, in an attempt to escape the heat, takes a shortcut through her neighbour’s yard and sees something she’ll never forget. It is, said the chief judge, “scary without going over the top”. The Yard also earned her third place overall. In her other story, Thirty-Six Hundred, which earned third place also in the 18 to  35 age category, a young woman laments her father’s indiscretion as well as the state of her now devastated family.

COPYRIGHT INFORMATION & TERMS OF USE
Copyright of the winning Wadadli Pen stories and/or art work featured on this site belongs to the creators of the individual works and are used here purely for promotional and educational purposes. Other blog content, except otherwise noted, is created and/or maintained by Joanne C. Hillhouse. Site content should not be copied, distributed, transmitted, used for commercial purposes, altered, transformed, or built upon without the consent of the copyright holders.

Who won in 2012?

Congrats to all the winners!

Thanks to all partners and sponsors.

There was growth in the number and quality of the entries this year; can’t complain, though we look forward to even more growth in the coming years as we continue to do our bit to encourage the literary arts in Antigua and Barbuda.

In addition to prizes listed below, all winners (in fact, all short listed writers) received a certificate from the Wadadli Pen team and the Best of Books, and various promotional paraphernalia (pencils, notebooks, bookmarks, stress balls, calendars) from ABI Insurance; plus the Challenge plaque, sponsored by Best of Books, has been emblazoned with the winner’s name and will hang in the store until it is updated with the next winner’s name.

OVERALL

Winner

Rosalie A. Richards – Smitten

Prize Package:

• ABI Insurance – $500, winner’s plaque and promotional material
• Stephen B. Shoul – A Cross Century II Medalist Ball point Pen, retail price EC$215.00. The pen comes with a lifetime guarantee for mechanical failure and is chrome in colour with 23 karat gold plated appointments.
• ACT – 4GB Kingston Data Traveler
• C + C Winehouse – gift

Second Place

Ariel Dunnah – Every Rose Has Its Thorn

Prize Package:

• Frank B. Armstrong – $300
• ABI Insurance – promotional material
• Marie Elena John – Unburnable (book)

Third Place

Aarati Jagdeo – The Yard

Prize Package:

• Frank B. Armstrong – $200
• ABI Insurance – promotional material
• Marie Elena John – Unburnable (book)

18 TO 35 AGE CATEGORY

Winner (tie)

Tiffany Smith – The Untitled

Prize Package:

• Blue Waters Hotel – Gift certificate for dinner for two
• Nana Ekua Brew Hammond – Powder Necklace (book)
• Elaine Spires – Singles Holiday (book)
• Spot in Brenda Lee Browne’s Just Write workshop in October 2012

Winner (tie)

Rosalie A. Richards – Smitten

Prize Package:

• Antigua Rainforest Canopy Tour – Full Course Tour for two
• Nana Ekua Brew Hammond – Powder Necklace (book)
• Elaine Spires – What’s Eating Me? (book)
• Spot in Brenda Lee Browne’s Just Write workshop in October 2012

Second Place

Aarati Jagdeo – The Yard

Prize Package:

• Jolly Beach Resort – Day Pass for two
• ACT – 4GB Kingston Data Traveler
• ABI Insurance  – leather portfolio and promotional items

 Third Place

Aarati Jagdeo – Thirty-Six Hundred

Prize Package:

• The Best of Books (gift certificate $100)
• C + C Winehouse – gift

 Honourable Mention

Tiffany Smith – The Colour Red

Prize Package:

• The Best of Books – $50 gift certificate
• ABI Insurance – leather portfolio and promotional items

 Honourable Mention

Darryl George – Snowcone Melancholia

Prize Package:

• The Best of Books – gift certificate $50
• ABI Insurance – leather portfolio and promotional items

13 TO 17 AGE CATEGORY

Winner

Ariel Dunnah – Every Rose Has Its Thorn

Prize Package:

• Jabberwocky – EC$270
• Caribbean Helicopters – tour for two
• Nana Ekua Brew Hammond – Powder Necklace
• ABII portfolio and miscellaneous items

Second Place

Ariel Dunnah – Angela’s Baby

Prize Package:

• D. Gisele Isaac – $150
• ACT – 4GB Kingston Data Traveler
• Floree Williams – Pink Teacups and Blue Dresses

 Third Place

Jordée Josiah collects her certificate from guest speaker at the 2012 awards ceremony Mali A. Olatunji. (Photo courtesy Cedric Holder)

Jordée Josiah – Let’s Dance

Prize Package:

• Adventure Antigua – Gift certificate for two on their Eco Tour
• Joanne C. Hillhouse – The Boy from Willow Bend

12 AND YOUNGER AGE CATEGORY

Winner

Karenna Nicholson – The Caribbean Flavour

Prize Package:

• Ondeck – Private sailing trip for four
• Barbara Arrindell – copy of Antigua My Antigua
• Claytine Nisbett – $100 gift certificate (books)

 Second Place

Akeile Benjamin – The Adventures of Mr. Coconut 

Prize Package:

• Ondeck – Private sailing trip for two
• Barbara Arrindell – copy of Antigua My Antigua

 Third Place

Naleka Beckford – Origin

Prize Package:

• Ondeck – Private sailing trip for two
• Barbara Arrindell – copy of Antigua My Antigua

 Honourable Mention

Vega Armstrong – The Legend of the Sea Lords

Prize Package:

• Little Antigua Island Tour – tour for two
• Cushion Club – $50 gift certificate for books

Prizes for School with the Most Submissions

Winner

Antigua Wesleyan Junior Academy

Prize Package:

Conrad Luke – $500 gift certificate for books

Runners up

Antigua State College

Prize Package:

International Women’s Club of Antigua and Barbuda – $220 gift certificate for books

Villa Primary School

Prize Package:

International Women’s Club of Antigua and Barbuda – $220 gift certificate for books

Antigua Girls High School

Prize Package:

International Women’s Club of Antigua and Barbuda – $110 gift certificate for books

Best story under the Origins sub-theme

Karenna Nicholson collects her certificate as a short listed writer in the 2012 Challenge from Mali A. Olatunji.(Photo courtesy Cedric Holder)

Karenna Nicholson – The Caribbean Flavour

Prize Package:

Australian Homemade – $100 gift certificate

Best story under the Liberate Love sub-theme

Rosalie A. Richards – Smitten

Prize Package:

Keyonna Beach Hotel – lunch for two

SHORT LISTED WRITERS

Akeile Benjamin (The Adventures of Mr. Coconut)

Karenna Nicholson (The Caribbean Flavour)

Naleka Beckford (Origin)

Vega Armstrong (The Legend of the Sea Lords)

Jordee Josiah (The Back Step & Let’s Dance)

Ariel Dunnah (Every Rose Has Its Thorn & Angela’s Baby)

Michaela Harris (Ah Tired Warn Yuh)

Darryl George (Snowcone Melancholia)

Darryl George

Arati Jagdeo (The Yard & Thirty Six Hundred)

Rosalie Richards (Smitten)

Tiffany Smith (The Colour Red & The Untitled)

Tammi Browne-Bannister(The Night You Left)

Melisa Desir (The Beast)

Ashton Hewlett Williams (Under the Moonlight)

PRESS RELEASE – AND THE WINNERS ARE

March 31^st 2012

The Wadadli Youth Pen Prize wrapped this Saturday 31^st March with Antigua State College student Rosalie A. Richards, capturing three categories including the main prize. The win is a first for a poetry entry in Wadadli Pen which began as a fiction writing competition expanding to include other genres over the years. Richards’ poem Smitten also tied for top spot in the 18 to 35 age category with Tiffany Smith’s The Untitled, and was also best under the Liberate Love sub-theme. Among other things Richards received $500 from ABI Insurance and a ball point pen which retails at $215 from Stephen B. Shoul – both companies now regular patrons of Wadadli Pen.

Second overall was Antigua Girls High School student Ariel Dunnah with Every Rose has its Thorn, while Aarati Jagdeo placed third with The Yard. Together, they received cash prizes totaling $500 from Frank B. Armstrong, another repeat patron. Dunnah, also, won the top spot in the 13 to 17 age category with Every Rose and earned second place in the same category with Angela’s Baby ahead of third placed Jordee Josiah’s Let’s Dance. Jagdeo won the second and third spot in the 18 to 35 age category with The Yard and Thirty Six Hundred.

Tiffany Smith accepting her certificate as a short listed writer from 2012 awards ceremony guest speaker Mali A. Olatunji. (Photo courtesy Cedric Holder)

It was noted earlier that Richards tied with Smith to win the 18 to 35 age category; well, another Smith story, The Colour Red, earned an honourable mention in this age category as did Darryl George’s Snowcone Melancholia.

In the youngest category, 12 and younger, the top three spots went to students from Antigua Wesleyan Junior Academy –the school which won a $500 gift certificate sponsored by Conrad Luke and redeemable at the Best of Books for having the most submissions. They are, in descending order, Karenna Nicholson with her poem The Caribbean Flavour, which also won the prize for the entry with the best Origins sub-theme, Akeile Benjamin with her story The Adventures of Mr. Coconut, and Naleka Beckford with her story Origin. St. Nicholas student Vega Armstrong is an honourable mention in that junior category with her story The Legend of the Sea Lords.

Vega Armstrong.

Other short listed writers were Michaela Harris, Tammi Browne-Bannister, Melisa Desir, and Ashton Hewlett Williams. Other educational institutions recognized for strong participation with prizes totaling $500 from the International Women’s Club of Antigua and Barbuda, another regular patron, were Villa Primary, Antigua State College, and the Antigua Girls High School. For the full prize breakdown in this year’s Wadadli Pen Challenge visit the Who Won in 2012 page.

Overall organizers are reporting increased numbers and increased quality in this year’s entries making for a tight race, particularly in the 18 to 35 age category. In fact, chief judge Brenda Lee Browne dubbed it, “one of the best crop of competition stories/poems I have read for ages… nice ideas, stories that flow” and another of the judges Floree Williams said, “I saw a lot of promise and that makes me excited for the future”.

Of course, in that future, they’re hoping for even more entries, one of the reasons for encouraging the schools with the most submissions.

Wadadli Pen was co-founded in 2004 and is still co-ordinated by author Joanne C. Hillhouse, whose new book Oh Gad! goes on sale during a midnight launch at the Best of Books’ Friars Hill Road branch, on April 16^th into 17^th, the date of its worldwide release.

This year’s Wadadli Pen partners are the Best of Books and in particular Barbara Arrindell and Glen Toussaint, Claytine Nisbett, Brenda Lee Browne, Floree Williams, 2011 winner Devra Thomas, and Megan Samuel Fields, with special thanks to Mali Olatunji who assisted during the awards ceremony. This year’s sponsors were ABI Insurance, ACT, Frank B. Armstrong, Blue Waters, Nana Ekua Brew Hammond, Elaine Spires, Brenda Lee Browne, Antigua Rainforest Canopy Tour, Jolly Beach Resort, the Best of Books, Jabberwocky, Caribbean Helicopters, D. Gisele Isaac, Floree Williams, Adventure Antigua, Joanne C. Hillhouse, Ondeck, Barbara Arrindell, Claytine Nisbett, Little Antigua Island Tour, the Cushion Club, Australian Homemade, Keyonna Beach Hotel, Marie Elena John, C + C Winehouse, and the International Women’s Club of Antigua and Barbuda.

WADADLI PEN 2012 AWARDS PHOTO GALLERY 2

Normally we struggle to get good pictures of the awards, but this year we have an abundance of riches thanks to several camera toting folk. This gallery is made up pictures taken by the mother of 12 and younger honourable mention Vega Armstrong. We love supportive parents!

Check out her pictures below, and check out who won what.

Mali addressing the group; a short presentation that was well received.

Me, saying something.

Vega with her certificate.

Vega Armstrong with her shortlist certificate and guest presenter Mali A. Olatunji, noted photographer and aesthestician who spoke about being creative.

Herer I am with several of the winners after the awards.

WADADLI PEN 2012 AWARDS PHOTO GALLERY 1

Here’re the details of who won what in 2012. And below is the first gallery from when they won.

The first set of pictures is from Cushion Club chief cook and bottle washer Cedric Holder who is always there to support and will double as photographer in a pinch. Thanks, Cedric.

Tiffany Smith tied for first place in the 18 to 35 age category with The Untitled while her Colour Red earned Honourable Mention. Photo by Cedric Holder. For use contact wadadlipen@yahoo.com

Vega Armstrong, honourable mention in the 12 and younger category for The Sea Lords. Photo by Cedric Holder. For use contact wadadlipen@yahoo.com

Karenna Nicholson's Caribbean Flavour was adjudged best under the Origins theme and first in the 12 and younger age category. Her school, Antigua Wesleyan Junior Academy, also accepted the prize for most submissions. Photo by Cedric Holder. For use contact wadadipen@yahoo.com

Jordée Josiah, third placed in the 13 to 17 age category, for her poem Let's Dance. Photo by Cedric Holder. For use contact wadadlipen@yahoo.com

Me after setting up during the day and rushing away to change and return 1 minute to showtime (even with Saturday night traffic). Photo by Cedric Holder.

Book store supervisor Glen Toussaint who ably emceed the awards. Photo by Cedric Holder. For use contact wadadlipen@yahoo.com

This young lady did triple duty that night collecting for finalist Ariel Dunnah and for her school the Antigua Girls High School in addition to collecting her certificate for making the competition short list (though not the final winners' circle). Michaela Harris, I believe. For permission to use the picture contact wadadlipen@yahoo.com

Darryl George, an Honourable Mention in the 18 to 35 age category for his story Snowcone Melancholia, accepts his certificate from special guest Mali Olatunji. (Photo by Cedric Holder). Do not use without seeking permission from wadadlipen@yahoo.com

Best of Books manager Barbara Arrindell addresses the audience. (Photo by Cedric Holder) Do not use without permission from wadadlipen@yahoo.com