St Elizabeth event proves contagious

The Jamaica Cultural Development Commission (JCDC), through its St Elizabeth parish office, will host the annual Festival Prince and Princess Pageant this weekend at the St Elizabeth Technical High School, Santa Cruz.

Commencing at 6 p.m. on Saturday, the competition seeks to identify young cultural ambassadors between the ages of 9 and 12 years. The aim is to develop the skills and talent of young Jamaicans through enhancing performance ability, communication proficiency and self-esteem.

Children are given a chance to broaden their knowledge, awareness and appreciation of Jamaican culture through the various training and other activities associated with the pageant.

This is in keeping with the JCDC's goal of unearthing, developing and preserving the creative talent and cultural expressions of our nation's people.

Brighter future for youth

Young, talented students across the Breadbasket Parish will participate in the event which, as pageants of this nature do, ensures that students do not only benefit from winning a crown and prizes but achieve personal and social growth. The end result is, of course, the creation of a brighter future for youths.

Each participant is required to research on his or her community or zone, and through this, develop a new creative performance item in any of the five sections of the performing arts: dance, drama, music, speech or traditional folk forms.

This will serve as the student's talent presentation in the pageant that will be showcased to a large audience from all over the parish.

The pageant began 11 years ago when it was first called the 'Mini Miss Competition' in St Elizabeth.

Over the years, the event grew larger and is now very popular among residents in the parish.

In an effort to expand this great opportunity for youth development, boys were included in the competition, which led to the name change in 2009 to the Festival Prince and Princess Pageant. The pageant has since spread to the neighbouring parish of Manchester, where the first competition of this kind will be staged in January 2012.