Tortuga, St Ann’s groups win Tidy TT contest

Community groups vied for $1 million  in prizes at the awards ceremony for the first pilot Tidy TT competition run by the Rotary Clubs of Trinidad and Tobago held on Wednesday at Cascadia Hotel, St Ann’s, to mark yesterday’s World Environment Day. Noting that “entries were received from every part of the country from Charlotteville in Tobago to Cedros in South West Trinidad,” Tidy TT planning committee chairperson, Joan Ferreira, told guests that the competition had 150 entries, of which 42 were eventually selected for judgment. Best overall project was adjudged to be tied between Fondes Amandes Community Reforestation Project and the Friends of Tortuga RC Church, who were each awarded $75,000.  Ferreira explained: “It is a joint environmental project of all 19 Rotary Clubs in Trinidad and Tobago, sponsored by the Ministry of Public Utilities and the Environment. It is based on a very successful programme called ‘Tidy Towns’ initiated and run by the Irish Tourist Board for over 40 years and adapted to suit our local situation.. The project is a national environmental improvement drive intended to benefit all communities by capturing the popular imagination and encouraging an increased awareness and sensitivity to environmental issues through the medium of a competition”.

She said its aims included improved national environment, community empowerment including encouraging ‘gayap’ or lend-hand, and strengthening of NGOs and CBOs. Entries were submitted in five categories, the winner of each earning $50,000. For Environmental Literacy, Soroptomist International Scarborough Tobago won the best project for its Know Your Tobago Environment (KYTE) project. The category of Litter Control/Tidiness was won by Environment Tobago for changing a swamp in south-east Tobago from a dumping ground back to a wetland. The best Heritage/Built Environment project was by Friends of Tortuga RC Church for a restoration of the edifice.