Wednesday, December 19th marked Anguilla’s 38th anniversary of its political separation from the territories of St. Kitts and Nevis. The event, now known as Heroes’ and Heroines’ Day, had in essence featured no significant national activities.
Notwithstanding, the night showcased one prominent occasion in that the Department of Youth and Culture (DYC) hosted its 3rd National Arts and Culture Awards Ceremony to recognize the outstanding contributions of some of Anguilla’s patriotic, civic-minded citizens.
The noteworthy, elegant event, dubbed the “Rock Awards”, was held at the newly constructed L.P. Rizzuto Ballroom at the Cuisinart Resort. The organizers took pride in the fact that the ceremony was the first function to be held at that facility since it opened just the day before.
That night, the Rock Awards organizers, under the directorship of Mr. Bren Romney, paid homage to 6 stalwarts of Anguilla’s development in the literacy, musical, sporting, and cultural arts. The MC for the night was local radio personality, Ms. Countess Lisa Rey.
The ceremony began with the singing of the National Song by singing celebrity, Roxanne Webster, followed by prayer which was offered by the Department’s Director, Bren Romney. Welcome remarks were made by the Hon. Minister of Home Affairs, Mrs. Cora Richardson-Hodge, followed by an overview of the selection process for awardees, which was presented by the Awards Committee Chairperson, Mrs. Jacqueline Bryan-Niles.
In her address, Minister Richardson-Hodge stated: “This Rock Awards ceremony recognizes and honors persons for their profound contribution to the development, promotion and preservation of the arts and culture of Anguilla. Our arts and culture is our way of life which provides us with an identity as a people. What we define as our culture, tangibles and intangibles, are the manifestations of who we are—our values, our beliefs and our norms.
“The arts and culture play a vital role in the livability of every nation. To our artists and cultural practitioners, this awards ceremony is evidence that we acknowledge your talents, that we value your contributions, and that we are inspired by your patriotism. For this we are grateful.
“In events like this, as we celebrate our culture, we are reminded that it is important that we take time out to reflect on our history and whence we came. We must reflect on this history during this season, and particularly on this National Heroes’ and Heroines’ Day. Our thoughts must dwell on those who have sacrificed self and made paths for us. These national icons have done much and have given more, and they are easily identifiable with the life, history and evolution of Anguilla.
“The Government of Anguilla congratulates the Department of Youth and Culture for setting the stage on this significant event. Through its work to preserve and strengthen our culture and creative industries, the Department will continue to partner with key stakeholders and communities to ensure that festivals remain a significant avenue for artistic and cultural expression development and promotion.”
In providing an overview for the Rock Awardees selection process, the Chairperson Mrs. Bryan-Niles noted: “The Committee was mandated to select five persons from the list of nominees to be awarded. However, this year the Department of Youth and Culture saw it fit to give a ‘first time’ special award of the Order of Merit to recognize the efforts of an individual for his or her far-reaching hard work in the communities — an extraordinary accomplishment as it relates to the arts in Anguilla. This additional award, therefore, resulted in a total of six (6) awardees.
“The criteria, as presented by the Department of Youth and Culture, were used as a guide to determine the best nominees for the awards. The criteria included: 1. that there be no restrictions as to how the categories should be selected, meaning that more than one awardee can be selected from the same category or the same awarded can be selected from more than one category. 2. that categories with only one nominee did not mean an automatic selection if the nominee did not meet the criteria. 3. that consideration would not be given to nominations of persons who had previously received a National Anguilla Day award for contributions made to Anguilla’s development.
“The categories were divided into two main segments, namely arts and culture. Under the arts segment there were categories such as music, dance, theatre, culinary, visual, and literature. The culture segment looked at the following categories: cultural development, cultural preservation, and cultural promotion.
The nominations received for the 2018 National Arts and Culture Awards were as follows: Under the arts segment, there were no nominations for the dance and visual arts categories; there were 4 nominations for music; for theatre there was 1 nomination; for culinary there was 1 nomination; and for literature there were 3. Under the culture segment, for cultural development there were 3 nominations; for cultural preservation there were 6; and for cultural preservation there were 4.”
Mrs. Bryan-Niles stated that in comparison to the last two years of awards presentations, there were some improvements in terms of the number of nominations for some categories. However, the persons who were nominated did not fully meet the criteria.
The issuance of the six Rock Awards made by Ms. Nordisia Lake, Program Officer of DYC, and assisted by Minister Richardson-Hodge, revealed the honoured recipients for whom the full-capacity audience made raving cheers and exuberant applause:
The Rock Award for Dance was bestowed upon Mr. Colin Johnson, a teacher at the Albena Lake-Hodge Comprehensive School and the founder and coordinator of the popular All-Ah-Wee drama and dance group. The Rock Award for Music was presented to the Mussington Brothers: seven siblings whose musical exploits had permeated the length and breadth of the musical arena locally, regionally as well as internationally, since the early ‘80s.
The Rock Award for Culinary Arts was conferred upon George Reid who has been acclaimed as one of Anguilla’s best Executive Chefs. He has made Anguilla proud over the years through his keen exhibits of culinary skills in the Anguilla National Culinary Team. The Rock Award for Literature was bequeathed to Dr. Oluwakemi Linda Banks who has contributed much to many areas of Anguilla’s development as an educator, clinical psychologist, communications specialist, human resource consultant, motivational speaker, and indeed, an author, poet and composer.
The late David C. Hodge was the recipient of the Rock Award for Cultural Development. His work in engineering, navigation and mechanics added to his passion for carpentry, carving and boat building attributed to the racing sea-crafts of Anguilla National Sport. The final Rock Award was issued to Anguilla’s proficient music teacher, Mrs. Daphne Jacobs Richardson, whose tutelage in the teaching of music has made an indelible mark, especially on the minds of the younger generation of Anguilla’s people who sat under her music instructions at the Albena Lake-Hodge Comprehensive School, as well as in other musical training settings. Mrs. Jacobs had been teaching music for the past 41 years, and has also been an avid choir coach and conductor.
According to the organizers of the ceremony, The Rock Awards derived its symbolic concept from the traditional reference to Anguilla itself, which in many conversations, has been colloquially called “The Rock”. And as is it is referred to in the words of a renowned national poet, Fabian M. Fahie, “Our fathers chose to starve, than to give up this rock for the for the promise of Demerara, and the sweet of sugar.”
