BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – UNLIKE customary Saturday afternoons, downtown Basseterre yesterday (Jan. 29) was transformed into a carnival-like atmosphere, as the Small Axe Band dished out its rum song and a number of other hits in a jam session organised by the National Carnival Committee.

The jam session, which was scheduled to begin at 4:00 p.m. but got underway one hour after, was a precursor to the Prize Giving Ceremony for winners of the various judged events of the recently concluded 2010/2011 National Carnival dubbed Sugar Mas.

The jam session started at Port Zante with the Small Axe Band and a relatively large group of revellers. They winded their way through the streets of downtown Basseterre and ended the session on Bank Street, where the Prize Giving Ceremony was held.

The jam session lasted for an approximate hour and many revellers, who claimed to have used the event to relieve stress, said it had ended too soon. But investigations revealed that although the Carnival Committee had promised the session would have had a two-hour duration but started late, the Small Axe Band had another engagement at the Newtown Football ground.

At the Prize Giving Ceremony, Chairman of the National Carnival Committee, Clement ‘Monarch’ O’Garro recapped what transpired during the Sugar Mas festivities which began on December 17, 2010 and on ended January 3, 2011. The Hon. Marcella Liburd, Minister with responsibility for Carnival, made brief remarks at the event and commended O’Garro and the members of his committee for doing an excellent job.

Much to the approval of the large gathering, some of the Sugar Mas’ winners performed at the event before the presentation of prizes; however, some of the winners were absent.

The Small Axe Band was also presented a prize for its rum song after being adjudged the Sweetest Band On The Road during the 2010/2011 Carnival celebrations; a surprisingly new category recently added to the judged list by members of the committee.

Winners of the various events are Queen Anastasia, who was crowned Female Calypso Bacchanal Queen and King Lala, who took the Best of the Rest crown. Both events took place on December 17, 2010. On December 18, Konris Maynard was crowned Soca Monarch, while on December 27, Siobhan Phipps of the Immaculate Conception Catholic School took the Talented Teen title and Calypso Leo took the Junior Calypso King title on the same night. Iantavian Queeley was declared the new National Carnival Queen and Pungwa walked away as LIME Senior Calypso Monarch on December 29.

In the street activities, Konris Maynard took the Road March title, while Inferno was adjudged Troupe of the Year with ‘Ship Ahoy’ and Mudsunami took Best J’Ouvert Troupe. 
 

The logo for the 2011/2012 Carnival celebrations was revealed and the date has been set for December 16, 2011 to January 3, 2012.

The Prize Giving Ceremony ended shortly after 9:00 p.m. and O’garro thanked everyone for attending, noting that he and his committee had already gone back to the drawing board and started making plans for 40th National Carnival celebtations.

EDITOR'S NOTE: SKNVibes sincerely apologises for stating in the article that the Soca Monarch and Road March Champion, Konris Maynard, was one of the winners absent from the Prize Giving Ceremony. The inadvertent misinformation was immediately removed from the article after the fact was obtained.