BASSETERRE, St. Kitts - AFTER the six finalists had read their narratives and news items, the judges declared Shania Edwards of Dominica the winner of a closely contested regional reading competition. Ricardo Rodriquez of St. Kitts Nevis came in second while Abigail Francis of St. Lucia was third.
Each contestant was already a winner after rising above the other contestants in their home competitions. The countries contesting were Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Grenada, St. Lucia, St. Kitts and Nevis and St. Vincent and the Grenadines.
This is the third Annual Regional Reading Competition that Courts has sponsored and this year it was held in St. Kitts at the Sir Cecil Jacobs auditorium of the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank on Thursday 20th October, 2011
St. Kitts was selected as the location for this year’s Courts OECS Final Competition because the winner of last year’s competition was from St. Kitts. Next year the finals will be held in Dominica.
The judges, drawn from the various competing islands, were all well qualified in the field of literary skills and reading recovery and together had chalked up many, many years in the teaching of reading, helping struggling readers and managing learning difficulties.
The contestants had many criteria to satisfy. They were judged on fluency, accuracy, smoothness, pronunciation, interpretation, ability to recover from mistakes, conveyance of feeling or mood and included as well were – their level of confidence and eye contact.
At the end, Chief Judge Ms Hannah Browne congratulated all readers saying they were “excellent readers” and that this was one of the most keenly contested competitions and one that was most difficult to judge.
Their main weakness was that some of them raced through their words. However, she said the readers had many strengths; their confidence level was high, their voice control excellent and they handled quotations and questions well. They also showed a good ability to self-correct.
At the Opening of the Competition, Courts representative reiterated how proud they were to be sponsors of such a competition since Reading was a primary activity and they feared that passion for this skill was disappearing. Courts wanted to change that, she said.
Mrs Pearl Williams, Courts’ OECS Director of Credit said that Courts wanted to promote literacy in a fun-filled way and encourage reading.
Welcome remarks from the Ministry of Education came from Education Officer, Mr. Michael Blake, who extolled the virtues of this “illustrious competition” and declared the “Reading was the ‘fulcrum’ from which all education evolves.
He emphasized the importance of reading and books with the relevant quote of Emilie Poulsson:
“Books are keys to wisdom's treasure;
Books are gates to lands of pleasure;
Books are paths that upward lead;
Books are friends. Come, let us read.”
All contestants in the finals were given Dell Laptops, compliments of Courts, while the Winner of the Finals received $5000 00; the second place winner received $3000 00; third place winner received $2000 00 and the others received $1000 00 each. Equivalent amounts were donated to the schools from which the students came.
Additionally all finalists received other gifts including text books, back packs and Digicel phones.
The programme of the Courts OECS Reading Finals was interspersed with stimulating acts from the National Youth Drum Corp, the Okolo Tegramantine Arts Theatre, Boys of Promise, Kimi-Lee Knight, Karina Phillips-Somersall, Nijaunte David - a Nevis student, and 4-peat Calypso Queen Anastasia.
Last year’s winner was Jendayi Omowele from Tucker-Clarke Primary School on St. Kitts. Speaking during the Finals programme, she declared that the competition had given her an opportunity to broaden her vocabulary and word skills and had given her the chance to go to other countries doing the things she loved.
