A Saint Vincentian and a Saint Lucian living in Taiwan were among the winners of an Emancipation Day creative writing and art competition organized by the embassies of Taiwan’s English-speaking Caribbean allies, the countries said on Friday.
The embassies of Belize, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines in a joint statement announced the winners of the painting, poetry and short story categories, after receiving 22 entries from Caribbean nationals living in Taiwan before the deadline on Monday.
The competition was organized to celebrate the countries’ histories and cultures, while also sending a special message to their citizens, the statement said.
The entries were required to “reflect the process, concept and meaning of emancipation with regard to Anglophone Caribbean countries and peoples,” it said.
Saint Lucian Lance George, a university undergraduate in his final year, won the painting and poetry categories for his works Verity and The Whip respectively, while Saint Vincentian Cassica Hutchins, an English teacher, won the short story category for An End to the Whip, it said.
Winners of each category are to receive NT$5,000, it said.
They announcement came just ahead of the 139th anniversary on Monday of Emancipation Day for English-speaking Caribbean countries.
On Aug. 1, 1834, Britain officially emancipated all enslaved Africans in British colonies, although the meaning of that freedom would not be realized and actualized until centuries later, the joint statement said.
Many English-speaking Caribbean countries commemorate the day with events that celebrate their histories, cultures and peoples, it said.
In addition to wishing their citizens in Taiwan a happy and thoughtful Emancipation Day, the embassies also sent a special message: “United, we can continue to break any chain that threatens to bind us in bondage.”
There are an estimated 800 people from English-speaking Caribbean nations living in Taiwan, the Saint Lucian embassy said.
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