Photos by Winston Sill/Freelance Photographer
LEFT: Monique Long (left) is delighted to receive her first-place award for the Professor Juan Bosch Short Story, in honour of the late politician and short story writer. Dominican Republic Ambassador Filomena Navarro (right) presents Long with the award while Avelino Stanley, president of the jury that judged the entries, looks on. The presentation was made at the Gala Awards at King's House.
CENTRE: Kerry-Ann Mew (left) receives her second-place prize from Dominican Republic Ambassador Filomena Navarro (right). Looking on are Luisa Navarro (second left) and Avelino Stanley.
RIGHT: Governor General Sir Patrick Allen (right) and wife Lady Allen (left) hobnob with his predecessor Sir Kenneth Hall and Lady Hall at the Professor Juan Bosch Short Story Gala Awards, celebrating the centenary of the late writer/politician's birth, held at King's House, Hope Road on Tuesday.
Daviot Kelly, Staff Reporter
Though the main language, of the peoples may be different, the cultures of Jamaica and the Dominican Republic just got closer.
Professor Juan Bosch was a short story writer and politician of great acclaim from the Spanish-speaking country and one of the region's premier philosophers. Apart from inspiring countless writers and politicians, he was an agent of change, being the first democratically elected president of the Dominican Republic.
To celebrate the centenary of his birth, countrywoman, Ambassador Filomena Navarro, organised a short story competition. The awards were held recently at King's House. The participants got to learn about a great political and literary genius and get to express themselves through their writing. The pieces had to be based on one of Bosch's works with the protagonist being any of the main characters from the work. There were 20 participants and the report from the selection jury was that the pieces were all excellent. The competition was open to all ages and all nationalities, but they had to be living in Jamaica. Stories could also be written in Spanish or English. Monique Long, a student at the University of the West Indies, took the first prize, with Kerry-Ann Mew second, and Cuban Ambassador Gisela Garcia third. Guests out included Trinidad and Tobago High Commissioner Yvonne Gittens-Joseph, St Kitts and Nevis High Commissioner Cedric Harper, Belgian Ambassador Frederic Meurice, Haitian Charge d'Affaires Max Alce, Madai Hernandez and Marcelo Munoz, Dr Simon Clarke, Abraham Montes de Oca and Dr Karen Hilliard.