Caribbean Laureates Announced!

04.02.2011

The Anthony N Sabga Caribbean Awards for Excellence prizes valued at (TT) $1.5 million have been won by two Trinidadians and a Dominican for 2011. The Laureates will be presented with a cheque for a half-million dollars each, a medal and a citation at a gala in April at the Hilton.

The Trinidadians are steel pan researcher Dr Kim Johnson, a former journalist, and academic at the University of Trinidad & Tobago (UTT), who won the Arts & Letters prize, and Prof Surujpal Teelucksingh, a clinician, teacher and medical researcher at the UWI Medical School (Mt Hope) who won the Science & Technology prize. The Public & Civic Contributions prize was awarded to Dominican Dr Lennox Honychurch, a historian, conservationist, museologist, and author.

The three 2011 laureates join ten other distinguished Caribbean activists, scientists, artists and writers who have been named laureates since the Awards’ inception in 2006. This is the first year two Trinidadians (resident in Trinidad) have won. The Awards were previously dominated by Guyana, which contributed three laureates in 2008 and 2010. In 2006, Trinidadian filmmaker Yao Ramesar won the Arts & Letters prize, and Trinidadian priest Fr Gregory Ramkissoon, resident in Jamaica, won the Public & Civic Contributions prize.

The Caribbean Awards for Excellence is the first awards programme which canvases the whole English-speaking Caribbean for persons in the fields of Arts, Sciences, and public works. It is an initiative of the ANSA McAL Foundation, and is fully funded by them. Many of the researchers and artists have publicly thanked the Awards committees for “discovering” them and plucking them and their work from obscurity.

Potential nominees are selected and screened by nominating committees in five territories: Barbados, Guyana, Jamaica, the OECS, and Trinidad & Tobago. The country committees are comprised of professionals, academics, and persons highly regarded in their communities. Each committee selects one nominee in each of the categories, and presents their credentials to a regional panel of eminent persons.

The Eminent Persons Panel, which was first chaired by the late Sir Ellis Clarke, then makes the final selections. The panel is presently chaired by Mr Michael Mansoor, and includes Sir Shridath Ramphal (Guyana), Prof Compton Bourne (Guyana) Mr Christopher Bovell (Jamaica), Mrs Judy Chang (Trinidad & Tobago), Sr Paul D’Ornellas (Trinidad & Tobago), Justice Christopher Blackman (Barbados), Gen Joe Singh (Guyana), Sir K Dwight Venner (OECS), and Rev Dr Henry Charles (Trinidad & Tobago). All stages of the nomination and selection processes are independent of the ANSA McAL Foundation.

The Awards were conceived because Dr Anthony N Sabga, founder of the ANSA McAL Group, felt that much valuable and important work in all areas, of arts, sciences, and public works, were being done, and not recognized in the region. The awards were initially made biennially, and 2011 marks the first year in an annual cycle. More information can be found at www.ansacaribbeanawards.com. The website has links to the Caribbean Awards for Excellence Facebook page, and its YouTube channel, where an introductory video and profiles of previous laureates can be viewed.

The Chairman of the Regional Eminent Persons Selection Panel, Mr. Michael K. Mansoor introduces our 2011 Laureates:

	Our first Laureate in Arts & Letters is Dr Kim Johnson of Trinidad & Tobago. Dr Johnson is a researcher, filmmaker, and academic who has produced research works of history, sociology, and on social issues. His main project is a decade-long project on the Steelband movement in Trinidad, which he has written about, published, and continues to produce works on. Dr Johnson is a Research Fellow at the University of Trinidad & Tobago.

	Our second Laureate in Public and Civic Contributions is Dr Lennox Honychurch of Dominica. Dr Honychurch is best known for his textbooks, The Caribbean People which have been used by a generation of secondary school children. Additionally Dr Honychurch is a conservationist who works on creating sustainable heritage tourism, a museologist who works to preserve our historical heritage in museums throughout the region, and an academic historian and archaeologist. His work reaches across the entire region, as does his reputation.

	Our third Laureate in Science and Technology is Prof Surujpal Teelucksingh of Trinidad & Tobago. Prof Teelucksingh is a teacher at the UWI, St Augustine Medical School, a medical researcher, and a highly respected clinician. He has done ground-breaking work on the management of Chronic Non Communicable Disease throughout the region, and his work on Dengue Haemorrhagic Fever and Dengue Shock Syndrome is used as a guide to the treatment of these diseases throughout the region And he has helped UWI to redesign its assessment procedures to train better doctors.