Bishop’s High School, Tobago, topped the 2016 Courts Bocas Spoken Word Intercol!
In a hotly-contested final between five victorious secondary schools in the Tobago, East, West, Central, and South regions, the Bishop’s quartet of Camryn Bruno; Oshun Trim; Cindy Andrews, and Soyini Greig impressed the judging panel, headed by Penelope Spencer.
The event took place on November 11 at City Hall, San Fernando.
Bruno is no stranger to the spoken word winner’s row, having placed second in the 2015-2016 singles competitors Intercol, held in March 2016.
The competition has undergone historic shifts, and for the first time in the four years of the annual high-stakes contest, school teams, not individual competitors, took to the stage. The champions took home a winner’s purse of $7,500 from Courts, second-place winners St George’s College received $5,000, and Bishop Anstey High School and Trinity College East, in third place, won $2,500. Presentation College, Chaguanas and San Fernando Central Secondary earned fourth and fifth places respectively.
Giving judges’ remarks during the prize announcement, Spencer said that the standard of competition was extraordinarily high and praised all the participating schools. Public relations officer of Unicomer, Nicole Loney-Mills, expressed Courts’ dedication to intercollegiate spoken word excellence, saying that the contest has grown from strength to strength.
Founder of the NGC Bocas Lit Fest, Marina Salandy-Brown, echoed Loney-Mills sentiments, lauding the bravery of secondary school students’ poetic expressions across Trinidad and Tobago, said a media release.
The Courts Bocas Spoken Word Intercol is a landmark Bocas Lit Fest project that works with the dynamic youth group, 2Cents Movement, in over 50 schools each year to expose secondary school students to a creative form that allows them to express their thoughts and engage with matters of personal, social and political interest.
The Intercol final got the 2016 NGC Bocas Lit Fest South underway.
The free festival, held last weekend on San Fernando Hill attracted a large and varied audience for readings, debate, spoken word, drama, extempo, open mic and more plus a full children’s festival of storytelling, workshops, reading, writing, magic and fun learning.