Anthony Alleyne overcomes medical challenges to win Mr Sanfest 2023

ANTHONY Alleyne of Princes Town West Secondary and Kurtijah Ross of Naparima Girls’ High School are the winners of the Mr and Miss Sanfest Teen Talent competition 2023.

The two were crowned at the final leg of the competition at the Naparima Bowl on December 3. It also brought the curtains down on this year’s National Arts Festival, Sanfest.

In disbelief when he was announced as Mr Sanfest 2023, Alleyne placed his two hands on either side of his head and widely opened his eyes and his mouth to express his excitement, but no sound emanated.

For this upper six science student, being speechless is unusual as Alleyne, a dramatist, immerses himself in expressing his art verbally and fluidly.

He regained his voice minutes later after being crowned and sashed, to confess to the Newsday, “I was just caught off guard.”

Although one of ten finalists (five males and five females), he did not think his chances of winning were great as he was confronted with a severe medical challenge just before the semifinal leg of the competition.

“I came out of the hospital the night before the semifinals. I was not even sure I was going to participate. I was on medication, I was drowsy and did not know what I was going to do.”

With encouragement from his teachers and family, Alleyne, 18, managed to make it to the finals.

That also proved to be challenging but determination to succeed drove him to the limits.

“Preparing for the finals was a roller coaster of emotions. One morning I get up and I am happy and then, when I could not remember a part (of his monologue for the talent segment), I was crying.”

He said the host wanted to mention his medical challenges on the night of the semifinals, but he insisted, “I did not want any sympathy vote. I wanted to work hard for what I wanted.”

That’s exactly what he did with his self-written monologue titled The Charade.

It did not earn him the Best Talent award, which Jeremy Greene of Presentation College, San Fernando, copped, but it helped to push him to succeed.

Alleyne’s future goal is to become a doctor, specialising in cardiology.

Being a regular Sanfest competitor since 2018, Alleyne believes that visual and performing art should be a compulsory subject on the school’s curriculum.

“As a student of science, it is my stress reliever from lab work. With art, there is no right way or wrong to express oneself. Yes, there are structures to follow, but it is not like a graph or calculations that are either correct or wrong. Giving prominence to creatives, is also a dream and passion Ross, 17, embraces.

An upper six student studying French, literature and performing arts, Ross visualises her future self as a strong creative who can further exploit TT’s culture in the international artistic sphere.

“I want to assure other young creatives like me that they can make art their reality. It does not have to remain a dream.”

An actress, Ross has acted in many plays, both at school and with multiple production companies.

Within the last three months, she said, she has worked with DNA production in the play, The Inspector, with D Mad Company, which also doubled as a fundraiser and, with the Cropper Foundation Crime and Justice Festival.

For her talent segment Ross did a dramatic interpretation of Once Upon a Time by Nigerian poet Gabriel Okara in which the author expresses distress about the false and dishonest behaviour of grownups.

Ross said something about the poem resonated with her and changed her perspective.

“It taught me that we are indeed fake. We show different faces all the time. We should change that and show the more realistic sides of ourselves.”

In addition to be crowned Miss Sanfest Teen 2023, Ross also copped the prizes for best cultural wear and best project,

Winners

Mr Sanfest

Anthony Alleyne (Princes Town West Secondary School)

Miss Sanfest

Kurtijah Ross (Naparima Girls’ High School)

Best Talent (male)

Jeremy Greene

Presentation College, San Fernando

Best Cultural Wear (male)

Emmanuel Stewart (Malick Secondary School)

Best Talent (female)

Nissi Henry (Tableland Secondary School)

Best Cultural Wear (female)

Kurtijah Ross (Naparima Girls’ High School)

Best Project (overall)

Kurtijah Ross (Naparima Girls’ High School)