Young poets get their CLICO awards

Patricia Dwarika of Colonial Life Insurance Company (Clico) quoted English novelist Edward George Bulwer, as she addressed more than 300 entrants at the prize-giving ceremony of Clico’s annual poetry competition — Put It In Poetry — held at the Hilton yesterday .

Dwarika stressed that words were more powerful and effective than weapons in accomplishing a purpose and applauded all the entrants for their enthusiastic participation in the competition, saying that it "demonstrated compassion beyond self, and showed a concern with values and meanings."

The topics for the poems included: The Right Choice, History in the Making, Nightmares and Dreams, and Beyond the Horizon. The competition, which ran from September 12 to October 5, was open to full-time secondary school students from Forms 1-6 from schools throughout the nation, but St Joseph’s Convent and St Georges College dominated the awards.

In the Junior Category and in the Senior Category, there was a tie between Breanne McIvor of St Joseph’s Convent, Port-of-Spain, and Brendon Best of St George’s College. In second place, Alexander Johnson of Presentation College, San Fernando, won the award for the Junior Category and Rachel Fernandez of St Joseph’s Convent, Port-of-Spain, won in the Senior Category. However, the overall winners of the competition were two female students: Katheryn Christopher of Bishop Anstey High School (BAHS) in the Junior Category and Alexia McIntyre of St George’s College in the Senior Category.