2021 Frank Collymore Literary Award winner Ronald A. Williams. Photo Copyright © 2022 by Ronald A. Williams.
Reprinted from centralbank.org.bb. Ronald Williams is the Top Entrant in the 24th Frank Collymore Literary Endowment Competition > Central Bank of Barbados > News
RONALD A. WILLIAMS emerged as the top entrant in the 24th Frank Collymore Literary Endowment (FCLE) Competition. This was announced during a scaled-down in-person awards ceremony at Frank Collymore Hall.
Despite his The Fall of Autumn Leaves being the year’s best submission, however, the US-based Barbadian writer was awarded the $5 000 second prize, as the judges declined to award the top prize.
The night’s other winners were Derek Thorpe, with A Conspiracy of Kites, and Gloria Eastmond, with In Gran’s Backyard, who tied for third place, each receiving $3 000, and Natassia Rambarran, who took home the Prime Minister’s Award for Journey to the Hyphen. Last year’s second place finisher, Carlyon Blackman, received honourable mention for her entry The Hard Line.
In his remarks at the event, Central Bank of Barbados Deputy Governor Alwyn Jordan noted that the Bank has sponsored the FCLE for almost half of the organization’s fifty-year existence, and explained why the Bank has long been a major supporter of the arts:
“From the outset, we recognized that we needed to be more than the traditional definition of a central bank. That while fostering an economic and financial environment that leads to sustainable economic growth was our raison d’être, we could and should be more.”
Jordan also praised the recent changes to the submission process, which now allows writers to submit their entries online and as such opens the competition to Barbadians living abroad, saying that this “will offer more competition and fresh and more diverse perspectives from our entrants, both of which are important as we continue on our journey to elevating the literary arts in Barbados.”
The ceremony also featured excerpts from the winning entries and a feature address by Jamaican poet Kei Miller.
This year’s judges were De Carla Applewhaite, Ayesha Gibson-Gill, Dana Gilkes, Dr Nicola Hunte, Dr Philip Nanton, Karra Price, Samuel Soyer, Andy Taitt, and Dr Yvonne Weekes.
Here’s what they judges had to say collectively about the manuscripts they considered for Barbados’ most lucrative literary prize for unpublished work.
Frank Collymore Literary Award, Second Prize: The Fall of Autumn Leaves by Ronald A. Williams
The author creates the persona of a failing writer who writes an end-of-career autobiography. The novel blurs the lines between thriller and coming-of age story, creating uncertainty over what is fictional and what is real biography. Please see here for an excerpt from the novel.
Frank Collymore Literary Award, Joint Third Prize: In Gran's Backyard by Gloria Eastmond
This collection of poems offers vignettes of nostalgia for a simpler time, recognizing that while return is impossible, but that small things can have real value beyond their size.
Frank Collymore Literary Award, Joint Third Prize: A Conspiracy of Kites by Derek Thorpe
A collection of thirteen short stories, A Conspiracy of Kites convinces the reader that he really understands the psychology of killers. Thorpe immerses us in a world where the supernatural is real. Above all, he creates pieces of such visual power they would make gripping movies.
Frank Collymore Literary Award, Prime Minister’s Award: Journey to the Hyphen by Nastasia Rambaran
Showing Barbados through different eyes, this collection of poetry is about becoming a Bajan with more than a little trepidation stimulated by Bajans friendly and unfriendly, welcoming and unwelcoming, while still glad to be “one of us.”
Frank Collymore Literary Award, Honourable Mention: The Hard Line by Carlyon Blackman
A short novel about life around the edges of the tourist dream, it presents sunny Barbados as a smile wide with a rotting tooth of sleaze.
Last Modified: October 25, 2023
