Nominations are being invited from Guyana for the 2017 Anthony N Sabga (ANSA) Caribbean Awards for Excellence.
According to a press release issued by the ANSA Caribbean Awards, seven outstanding Guyanese have been recognised over the last decade and more are being sought.
Each territory of the region (Barbados, Guyana, OECS, Jamaica and Trinidad & Tobago) has a nominating committee which is mandated to bring forward nominees of merit for consideration. However, individuals may also be nominated by members of the public using the forms and following the instructions from the website www.ansacribbeanawards.com.
The awards have been in existence since 2005, with the mission of honouring the best Caribbean scientists, artists, public activists, advocates and entrepreneurs.
The release noted that Annette Arjoon-Martins was one of the first pair of Guyana’s laureates. She was named (joint) Public and Civic Contributions laureate in 2008, when she shared the prize with Claudette Richardson-Pious, of Jamaica.
Arjoon-Martins is the founder of two significant institutions in Guyana: the Guyana Marine Turtle Conservation Society (co-founded with Dr Peter Pritchard), and North West Organics, a cooperative of Indigenous Peoples producing organic food and personal care products for export and to service the domestic market. She also chaired the Guyana Mangrove Restoration Project in 2011.
The other Guyanese laureates are Prof David Dabydeen, Sydney Allicock, George Simon, Karen de Souza, Dr Paloma Mohamed and Prof Suresh Narine. Dabydeen was named a laureate (in Arts & Letters) the same year as Arjoon-Martins.
