"The Caribbean Writer," the international literary anthology published by the University of the Virgin Islands, recently announced its annual prizes for the year 2000 edition.
Prizes for Volume 14 will go to writers from the Bahamas, Guyana, the Dominican Republic, Cuba and St. Thomas. The David Hough Literary Prize, with an award of $500, will go to Lelawattee Manoo-Rahming, a Trinidadian who lives in the Bahamas. She has published poems and reviews in "The Caribbean Writer" since 1992.
The award is supported by Sonya Hough of Sonya’s, the jewelry designer based in Christiansted, and is named in memory of her late husband.
Fred D’Aguiar, a widely published poet originally from Guyana and now chairperson of the English Department at the University of Miami, won the $300 Daily News Prize for the best poem.
The Canute A. Brodhurst Prize, a $400 prize sponsored by the St. Croix Avis for the best short story, goes to Alexandra Nunez de Migoya. She is a originally from Santo Domingo and now practices law in Washington, D.C.
The Marguerite Cobb McKay Prize, a $100 prize for a Virgin Islands resident, went to Davida Siwisa James for her short story "The Commute." It is the story of a woman’s journey to work on St. Thomas, which juxtaposes the natural beauty of her life on St. Thomas with the life she lived before moving to the Caribbean.
The Isidor and Charlotte Paiewonsky Prize, a $100 award for first time publication in "The Caribbean Writer," went to Osvaldo Ortega Chinea. Chinea is a freelance writer from Cuba who currently lives in Louisiana.
"The Caribbean Writer" recently won a Pushcart Prize, a prestigious international honor, for a poem by Kwame Dawes that appeared in Volume 14.
"The Caribbean Writer" can be purchased at The Bookie, Kallaloo, Arabella’s, Memories of St. Croix, the Whim Museum and The Divi Carina Bay Gift Shop on St. Croix; Tropical Memories and Dockside Bookshop on St. Thomas; Heritage Books and Arts on Tortola; as well as in both UVI bookstores. It is available on Amazon.com and copies can also be ordered directly from "The Caribbean Writer’s" office by calling 692-4152 or e-mailing [email protected].
The 2001 edition, Volume 15, is currently in production.