Scott Leon Ting-A-Kee, an up and coming writer from Guyana, has been shortlisted for the Johnson and Amoy Achong Caribbean Writers Prize (JAAWP) by the Bocas Literature Festi-val, the Caribbean’s only prize for emerging writers.
Of the ten writers who have been longlisted for the third and last edition of the Johnson and Amoy Achong Prize, eight are from Trinidad and Tobago, one from Guyana and one from Barbados. This award is dedicated to advancing the work of emerging Caribbean voices in the poetry genre. A total of 35 submissions were received from 8 Caribbean countries – Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, Barbados, Grena-da, Bermuda, British Vir-gin Islands, the Bahamas and Guyana. As in previous years, the prize’s judging process was blind, so that the names and nationalities of the entrants were only revealed once they had made the cut.
The winning entry prize consists of a cash award of US$3,000 and attendance at an intense creative writing course at one of Arvon’s internationally renowned writing houses, plus a three-day stay in London to network with editors and publishers, hosted by Arvon and in association with the Free Word Centre. The winner is also mentored by an established writer in the genre and gets the chance to be agented by Aitken Alexander Associates literary agency in the UK. The 2021 winner will be announced during the upcoming virtual NGC Bocas Lit Fest, T&T’s annual literary festival, which takes place from April 23-25, 2021.
The prize has been sponsored for three editions by philanthropist and medical practitioner Dr Achong Low, in memory of his parents and is administered by the Bocas Lit Fest in Trinidad and Tobago and the literary charitable trust Arvon in the UK. This is the last year of the JAAWP; the 2019 and 2020 prizes were for fiction and non-fiction respectively. In order to adhere to travel restrictions imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic, the mentorship and course may be administered virtually, as was done for the 2020 winner, Trinidadian Amanda Choo Quan. The names and countries of all the shortlisted writers are:
Akim Alexis – Trinidad & Tobago
Kamille Andrews – Trinidad & Tobago
Wendy Brewster – Trinidad & Tobago
Linda Deane – Barbados
Jannine T. Horsford – Trinidad & Tobago
Jay T. John – Trinidad & Tobago
Kirese Narinesingh Trinidad & Tobago
Derron Sandy – Trinidad & Tobago
Desiree Seebaran – Trinidad & Tobago
Scott Leon Ting-A-Kee – Guyana
