Prof Christine Carrington receives Anthony N Sabga Award

UWI scientist Prof Christine Carrington, who has been on the frontline of TT's covid19 response, is a recipient of the Anthony N Sabga Caribbean Award for excellence in science and technology.

Carrington specialises in virology and molecular genetics. She received the award from President Paula-Mae Weekes in a ceremony on June 14 at President’s House, Port of Spain.

The science and technology prize is one of four awarded annually by the Anthony N Sabga Awards, Caribbean Excellence. The others include arts and letters, public and civic contributions, and entrepreneurship. The other laureates for 2022 are Dr Kim Jebodhsingh and Anuskha Varsha Sonai of Barbados and Suriname, respectively, in public and civic contributions; novelist Marlon James from Jamaica in Arts and letters; and environmental consultant Shyam Nokta from Guyana in entrepreneurship.

Andrew Sabga, chairman of the Ansa McAl Foundation which funds the prizes, also spoke briefly about the awards being the realisation of a dream of his father, the late Anthony N Sabga, who was one the region’s most successful businessmen. He was the founder of the Ansa McAl conglomerate, which is based in Trinidad, but which has interests throughout the region, including Barbados, where it employs about 700 people.

Sabga said of the awards, “We have the skills, resourcefulness and talent within our region to transform our lives and the well-being of our people here in the Caribbean.”

The Anthony N Sabga Awards, Caribbean Excellence (formerly known as the Anthony N Sabga Caribbean Awards for Excellence), were launched in 2005, and the first three laureates were named in 2006. Since then, 54 laureates, including the current year’s four, have been named from Jamaica, Barbados, the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States, Guyana and TT. This year, 2022, marks the first year a laureate from outside the traditional territories has been named – that is Sonai, who is from Suriname.

Seventeen other Trinidadians have received awards in all fields. Two recent Trinidadian laureates were Maria Nunes (arts and letters) and Dr Carla Ayanna Phillips Savage (science and technology) last year. The prize comprises a medal, cheque for TT$500,000, and a citation. More details about the awards can be found on ansacaribbeanawards.com, or on Facebook.