BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – KONRIS MAYNARD, the 2011/2012 Calypso Monarch of St. Kitts and Nevis, has placed first runner-up in the Leeward Islands Calypso Competition.
Maynard performed his December carnival hit ‘20/20’ and a new song he released a few days ago, ‘Finish de song’.
Victory went to Keithroy ‘De Bear’ Morson of Antigua, copping the title with ‘Time to take your place’ and ‘Back to Basics’, winning the crown and EC $10,000.
The second runner-up went to newcomer Shereena “Singing Shea Shea” Richardson of Anguilla.
Reports suggest that De Bear benefitted from a new judging system that was put in place this year, where there were judges from other Caribbean islands.
Controversy erupted last year over the judging of the contest with an all-Anguillan panel of judges. This time organizers used the expertise of three judges from outside the Leeward Islands – Steve Hyacinth of Dominica, Victor Peters of St. Vincent and Vincent Rivers of Trinidad and Tobago while Garson Kelsick and Kenneth Hodge were the two Anguillan judges.
Last year, De Bear reportedly complained that there was an all-Anguillan panel of judges and emcee whom he believed showed favouritism towards their countryman, The Mighty Splinter who emerged as winner.
Maynard said that he had a good show.
“The atmosphere was warm and I got a lot of love from the Anguillan community. They respected that I sang about some issues that they care about,” he said.
He went on to say, “We thought we did enough, but at the end we missed out on the crown by the slimmest of margins. We will now endeavour to work even harder. We were tied for first; however, the tie breaker with the points knocked me down. For the judge who had me 2nd, I was only 3 points behind 1st place over the 2 rounds.”
