The Caribbean Writer – the University of the Virgin Islands’ international, refereed, literary journal with a Caribbean focus – has announced its annual prize winners for Volume 27, which highlights music and visual arts. Topping the list is a new annual prize: The Cecile deJongh Literary Prize ($500) awarded to an author whose work best expresses the spirit of the Caribbean. This new annual prize is donated by Governor, John P. deJongh in honor of his wife's commitment to literacy. It was awarded to Luvia Jane Swanson, who resides on St. John. Her stories have appeared in the Fairy Tale Journal, Cabinet des Fees, and in the Sam’s Dot Publications, Beyond Century and Aiofe’s Kiss.
The David Hough Literary Prize was awarded to Denise Campbell Laidler, a Jamaican born writer. This $500 prize is awarded to an author who is a resident of the Caribbean. It is donated by Sonja Hough, owner of Sonja’s Designs, the handmade jewelry designer in Christiansted, St. Croix, in memory of her late husband.
The $300 Daily News Prize for Poetry was awarded to Ernestia Fraser, a writer from Nassau, Bahamas. The Canute A. Brodhurst Prize for fiction of $400 was awarded to Leiso Edwards, a writer from May Pen, Jamaica. The $250 Charlotte and Isidor Paiewonsky Prize for first time publication in The Caribbean Writer went to Caribbean writer, Mary Slechta who lives and teaches in New York City.
The Marguerite Cobb-McKay Prize to a Virgin Islands author, of $200, went to Kate Melone of St. Croix, U.S.V.I., who has degrees in both literature and visual arts. Her poems have been widely published in several volumes of The Caribbean Writer.
The 2014 edition of The Caribbean Writer, Volume 28, with the theme “Contradictions and Ambiguities in the Caribbean Space,” will be published in August. The biographies and photographs of Volume 27 winners will be featured in that journal.
A call for submissions has been issued for Volume 29. The deadline for submissions is Dec. 31, 2014. For more information on The Caribbean Writer, please visit www.TheCaribbeanWriter.org.