A Jamaican is among the top students who will be awarded for their academic achievements in this year's Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) examinations.

Lori-Ann Vaz of Wolmer's High School for Girls, attained distinctions in 11 subjects, including five humanities subjects - Caribbean history, English B, geography, social studies and Spanish.

A press release issued by the Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC) said Vaz will be the recipient of the award for most outstanding performance in humanities at the CXC's annual regional top awards ceremony scheduled for Thursday, December 4 at the Hilton hotel in Barbados.

Visual arts

Two visual arts awards will also be presented to Jamaican students. Tesha Chai of Campion College will receive the award for the most outstanding performance in visual arts, 2-dimensional work. For his part, Calvin Morgan of Manchester High School, will receive the award for the most outstanding performance in visual arts, 3-dimensional work.

Denise Denette of Westfield Girls' High School in St Vincent and the Grenadines, will receive a prize for the best short story submitted in the English A General Proficiency examination. Students from Queen's College, Guyana, are expected to steal the spotlight at the awards ceremony, when the school is recognised for the third consecutive year, for having the most outstanding candidate overall in the Region in the CSEC examinations.

Yana-Marisa Edwards, a student of Queen's College, achieved Grade I in 14 subjects. She will take home the coveted award, which was won by fellow students Wainella Isaacs in 2007 and Shivarnie Persaud in 2006.

Two other Queen's College students - Aaron Haralsingh and Suraj Mattai will also receive awards.