Hazel Simmons-McDonald 2018 Frank Collymore Literary Award Winner

THE TOP SPOT at the Frank Collymore Literary Awards went to Hazel Simmons McDonald on January 5, 2019.

Simmons-McDonald, a retired University of the West Indies professor and poet, took second place in the 2018 competition.  She won for her manuscript A Collection of Short Stories.

For the third time in its twenty-one-year history, the committee decided not to award a first prize from the shortlist.

Performer and poet Sonia Williams, for the second year running, took third place with her poetry manuscript On Livity.

The current judging panel of the Frank Collymore Literary Endowment Committee includes Barbados’ Poet Laureate and chairperson Esther Phillips, DeCarla Applewhaite, Ayesha Gibson-Gill, Dana Gilkes, Nicola Hunte, Karen Lord, David “Andy” Taitt, and Yvonne Weekes.  

Their citation for Simmons-McDonald’s manuscript noted that her collection “deals with alienation, estrangement and loss, and even abandonment and betrayal; of coming too late to a recognition of true goals and desires and the pain of changing course.  There is, too, the strength to let go and move [on]. The writing is layered rather than dramatic, and events unfold more often than they explode. The impact is quietly pervasive. ”  
 
Said Simmons-McDonald of her prize: “I considered creative writing a hobby because I always focused primarily on academic writing and was not able to set aside time for creative writing every day.  However, I was fortunate to attend two workshops, and that experience and the critiques of fellow participants in particular encouraged me to keep writing. 

“I am humbled and honoured that the stories were awarded a prize in the Frank Collymore competition. This recognition of the work has been a catalyst for me to continue writing, and I have since completed the collection and submitted it for publication.”

Simmons-McDonald earned $7500.00 for her win.  Williams took home $5000.00.  

The Frank Collymore Literary Awards are financially supported by the Central Bank of Barbados.  Commonly called the Collys, the literary competition remains Barbados’ most lucrative for unpublished manuscripts.   

Central Bank Governor Cleviston Haynes used the occasion to announce a donation of $1,000,000.00 whose investment will help supplement the committee’s literary outreach.

Fittingly, this year’s feature address by UWI, St Augustine, Professor Emeritus, author and anthologist Funso Aiyejina was "Writing for Prizes or Prizes for Writing?"   

You can read one of the stories from Simmons-MacDonald’s prize-winning collection here.