2023 Frank Collymore Literary Award winner Christine Barrow. Photo Copyright © 2024 by Christine Barrow.
Christine Barrow adjudged Best Entrant at the 26th FCLE Awards (Adapted from barbadostoday.bb)
CHRISTINE BARROW was the top entrant in the 26th Frank Collymore Literary Endowment competition for her prose fiction work Rainbow Window. She was awarded the $7500 second prize, however, as the judges declined to award a first place.
Third prize went to poet Elizabeth Best, who took home $5000 for Shak-Shak (A Woman’s Tongue Percussion).
No one received the Prime Minister’s Award, and there were no honourable mentions.
Meanwhile, in the inaugural spoken word competition, which was judged based on the finalists’ performances during the awards ceremony, Akeem Chandler Prescod emerged as the winner with his “Black Boy.”
The night’s other finalist was Lashawna Griffith, who performed “Colourism 101.”
In his welcome remarks at the ceremony, Elson Gaskin, Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Barbados, which has sponsored the FCLE since its inception, praised the programme for its commitment to excellence, saying, “Over the past twenty-six years, the competition has become a bellwether of quality writing, and publishers, critics, and the public-at-large see winning this competition as an endorsement. I commend the judges for remaining faithful to these ideals and never compromising in their assessments of entries.”
The FCLE also paid tribute to Sonia Williams, a former finalist in the competition, who passed away earlier in the month.
The ceremony began with a moment of silence followed by a reading from Williams’ poetry collection On Livity, which took third place in the 21st edition of the competition.
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THIS YEAR'S JUDGES were De Carla Applewhaite, Dr Andrew Armstrong, Ayesha Gibson-Gill, Dana Gilkes, Dr Nicola Hunte, Karra Price, Samuel Soyer, and Dr Yvonne Weekes.
Here’s what the judges had to say collectively about the manuscripts they considered for Barbados’ most lucrative literary prize for unpublished work, and a few words from the top-place winner on the experience of entering.
Frank Collymore Literary Award, Second Prize: The Rainbow Window by Christine Barrow
In this tale set in bygone times, the personalities, relationships and fates of a small range of characters absorb readers. Through the main character, “both tragedy and promise tug at the reader’s heartstrings.”
Plot is perhaps the element about which readers’ responses might most diverge. Some will find it a “confidently written story” that is “fully developed.” Others will find a diminution in the unfolding and a suddenness in the closing.
Language, however, is likely to evoke universal praise. This feels “fresh and different.” The beginning has a “lyrical and ethereal quality.” And “there is magic in much of the word choice, phrasing, sentence structures and rhythm.”
In this story, readers of older generations will find much that is familiar. Those of the younger generation will recognize several unchanging aspects of human life. Both categories of readers may, as one reader expresses it, “love the sophisticated approach that presented the familiar while working the cliché.”
“To be recognized by this prestigious national award from Barbados, the country that has been my home for nearly fifty years, is truly an honour and very much appreciated. Having never won a writer’s prize before, this is an opportunity to express heartfelt thanks to those who have encouraged and guided me along the way. It is also an inspiration to me and, I hope, to others, too, to persevere and write on.” Christine Barrow, June 2024. Please see here for an excerpt from the novel.
Frank Collymore Literary Award, Third Prize: Shak-Shak (A Woman’s Tongue Percussion) by Elizabeth Best
Shak-Shak (A Woman’s Tongue Percussion) is a collection of poems offering extended and meaningful treatment of a variety of subjects with noticeable language skill.
The inspiration for and composition of poetry and the variable relationship between the poet and potential readers get the poet’s attention. The conflicting realities of undervaluing women yet encouraging them to sustain their roles are underscored for our reconsideration. We are offered memories and musings on romantic relationships and their reverberations, and we are uplifted by celebrations of resilience and transcending darkness and defeat to achieve personal triumph. There is, too, lamentation for the failures of Caribbean postcolonial societies but salutation of “the creative defiance that keeps the souls of Antillean nations alive.” Ultimately, the poet meditates on and challenges readers to perceive and respect the divinity in each person and the oneness of humanity.
In this collection, there is an unmistakable didacticism to which readers will respond in various ways. The same is true of the poet’s vocabulary. At their best, the poems are characterized by striking imagery and language and readers will be delighted by “inspirational flashes of light, wonderfully fresh and caustic turns of phrase.”
Last Modified: August 22, 2024
