BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – THE Leeward Islands Calypso Competition (LICC) Committee revisited the results that were announced for the August 11th Competition, and declared Konris Maynard as the actual winner and not De Bear.
However, because of the oversight they have decided to allow De Bear to share the win with Maynard who is also known as the Sleeping Tiger.
The release stated: “The Committee without reservation acknowledges that an oversight was made when instructions were given to the Auditor as to how to determine the winner.”
The method that the committee gave the Auditor to determine the winner was actually the method to be used in the event of a three-way tie.
The release further stated, “We agree that a genuine oversight was made in applying the rules when the Auditors were instructed to break the tie by using the raw scores.”
According to the published rules, "the winning contestant will be determined as follows: If any contestant is ranked first by a majority of the judges, he or she is automatically declared the winner."
SKNVibes learned that three of the judges in the published points ranked Maynard as first while two ranked De Bear as first.
In an exclusive interview with SKNVibes, Maynard said that his team realized that there was a tie in the ranks.
“Then we realized that more judges had me as King than De bear; at that point we also realized, that according to their rules, that is how the tie should be broken for the King: which is, who a majority of judges had as King. It was therefore clear that there was an oversight,” he said.
The major announcement was made in a release issued by the LICC Committee on Thursday (August 23).
The Committee said that they examined the results ten days ago and “discussed the overall situation and took into account all factors, and made the decision to declare King Konris and De Bear as joint winners of the 2012, LICC.”
The newly announced Leeward Island Calypso King said he and his team were thrilled with the announcement.
“We are thrilled to be announced as rightful winner of the 2012 LICC
competition, although it’s a bit late. I guess it’s better late than never. I am happy that St.Kitts was able to add another title in this competition and shows that our Calypsos can compete at a high standard around the region.
“I am also grateful to have won my third crown in four years in the LICC. With respect to sharing the title with Antigua, obviously as rightful winner, we would have liked to be announced winner on the night and get a chance to celebrate with all the supporting fans. However, as this was not a fault of De Bear, we accept the decision of the committee to announce joint winners. We look forward to next year’s competition where I will certainly try to be the only winner,” he said.
His father and manager, Linkon Maynard said they were satisfied that they have announced the rightful winner.
In terms of the joint winner, he said he we did not feel that the person who was announced as the King should be stripped because it was not his fault.
“So we can live with the announcement of a joint winner… of course, what we're asking for is Konris' money he won $4,000 because that is the prize for the King. And also we would like Konris to get his crown and we would like him to get his trophy as well,” his father said.
Maynard and his wife, Shamara are currently vacationing and celebrating their second wedding anniversary.
