Caribbean Intelligence© is pleased to announce that Jennie D’Ambra from Victoria, Australia is the winner of our first short story competition held in late 2012.

 

Jennie’s story Box, which takes its inspiration from Guyanese-born, Barbadian-raised boxer Joe Walcott (later known in the US as Barbados Joe Walcott) was chosen unanimously by the team of judges.

 

Her story was described by one judge as having “the mysterious power of a folk tale and the excellent writing evokes first the harsh, cold life of the poor in Boston and then the brilliant sunshine of the Caribbean”.

 

The runner-up is Delroy Williams from Dominica for his story Cricket in the Streets, which tells a tale of a young boy facing down his fear, both with a cricket bat and beyond the field of play.

 

Delroy describes himself as a poet, but adds that he also enjoys writing short stories and that his influences are George Lamming, Michael Eric Dyson and Louise Bennett.

 

The theme set for the competition was to write about being “Connected to the Caribbean”.

 

Judges from British and Caribbean literary circles chose Jenni and Delroy from the global entries.

 

One of the judges, Elizabeth Smith, who runs the broadcasting consultancy Transforming Broadcasting and ran the Commonwealth Short Story Competition, said:  “The standard of the entries was high, evoking Caribbean imaginings and experiences. There is something special about the Caribbean that triggers exceptional short stories.”

 

Read about our winners.