Samara Dolabaille wins GCCA+ Bocas youth essay competition

Seventeen-year-old Samara Dolabaille is the first-place winner of the GCCA+ Bocas Ways of Sunlight Youth Writing Competition.

Administered by the Bocas Lit Fest in partnership with the EU-funded Global Climate Change Alliance+, the writing competition for young authors aged 12-18 celebrates the centenary of iconic Trinidad and Tobago writer Sam Selvon, taking its name from one of the late TT author’s best-loved books.

It is intended simultaneously to raise awareness of the global climate Change Alliance+ goals, and offer a creative outlet for young writers, a media release said.

Dolabaille, a student of Providence Girls’ Catholic School, won for her essay titled Who Are You? exploring questions of identity and equality in TT.

In second-place is 17-year-old Jada-Marie Giles of Arouca, with an essay titled Trinbagonian Culture. Sixteen-year-old Rebekkah Murray of Carnbee, Tobago, placed third, with Next Flight out of Trinidad and Tobago.

The youth writers will receive cash prizes of $6,000, $3,000, and $1,000 respectively.

The judges, writers Tracy Assing and Rawiya Hosein, also singled out one of the younger entrants, 12-year-old Siddiq Ameeral, for special mention, the release said.

The GCCA+ Bocas Ways of Sunlight Youth Writing Competition asked young authors to write and submit essays exploring contemporary life in TT through themes similar to the ones Selvon wrote about in his book Ways of Sunlight. These include family and community, education and personal development, social and cultural change, migration, relations across boundaries of ethnicity and class, and personal and collective identity.

Hosein said, “Many of these essays displayed an impressive understanding of craft and structure, and made creative use of language. Some notable entries explored current socio-cultural issues with nuance, and also managed to connect these issues to Selvon’s work.”

“These entries were humorous, imaginative, and considered,” Assing added. “Many entries focused on migration and tradition, which were Selvon's favourite themes.”