The Ministry of Tourism, Industry and Commerce held an awards ceremony yesterday at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre to honour the winners of its video village competition, a release from the Department of Public Information (DPI) stated yesterday.
According to DPI, the winners were; 1st place, 22-year-old Shannon Holland of Yupukari, Region Nine; and 2nd place, Darrin Smith of Wakapoa Village, Region Two. Eleven-year-old Hannah Andrews was also awarded a prize
First place winner, Holland, told DPI that he was elated to finally win something and see his hard work pay off.
“I started filmmaking about four years ago and I was self-taught really, I was curious to know how films are made so I started slowly but surely. I borrowed my dad’s camera and stuff like that, just trial and error and learning from early people, other filmmakers.”
He also plans to continue making videos that showcase Guyana.
“This whole idea with Guyana is trying to get it out there right and we are only now starting and there are still ways to go and I think that I want to continue promoting Guyana,” Holland declared.
And Smith who won second place, said he was happy he entered the competition.
“It was a last-minute entry but I really wanted to showcase Wakapoa, I didn’t even know about the competition, was someone told me about it and, somebody said I had to enter and I’m glad I did, I showcased Wakapoa to the world, to Guyana.”
Andrews, whose video received a lot of traction, told the DPI, “I’m very surprised because I just entered it for the experience and what an experience it was,”
She added, “I intended to showcase just my benab it wasn’t just one subject, I was trying to cover the entire community in three minutes because it’s such an amazing place to go and enjoy yourself whether it’s a long vacation or just a short visit.”
Meanwhile, Minister of Tourism, Industry and Commerce, Oneidge Walrond, in her remarks at the ceremony noted that there is great tourism potential in all parts of Guyana which the entries showcased. The government, she said, has been making significant investments in developing tourism in all the administrative regions.
“It is important that we understand this competition and the tangible outcomes that can be derived, first the competition seeks to showcase the beauty and diversity of our country. It affirms our point that every region of our country has tourism potential.”
She also noted that the competition also opens new opportunities for the participants, especially the winners.
Walrond pointed out that the ministry has been advocating for greater partnerships with international agencies to utilise the services of local content creators for social media and other publications. She stated that many of the producers of these videos have demonstrated that the capacity is available locally to produce quality content. She also assured that the ministry would continue to “facilitate initiatives like these to enhance content creation, to be able to identify them as well, with the objective of facilitating lucrative opportunities for Guyanese while exposing our tourism product to a global audience.”
The competition aims to showcase Guyana from the lens of the locals and this has proven successful with more than 300,000 views from all around the world, the release added.
