NEWS FEED: Lorna Goodison cops Wyndham Campbell Prize + GraceKennedy pumps $US4M into Champs + Gov-General says social media can be harmful
ARTS: For the second consecutive year, a Jamaican writer has been chosen to share in the multi-million-dollar Wyndham Campbell Literary Prize. In 2017, Erna Brodber was selected for the prestigious award, and it’s just been announced that Lorna Goodison, reigning Poet Laureate, is among eight authors from around the world who will each receive US$165,000 (J$21M) to pursue their writing projects without worrying about financial challenges. “I’m incredibly grateful,” Goodison, based in Canada, told Nationwide News on Wednesday. “It’s completely anonymous; they don’t know you. They judge you solely on the work. I worked long and hard on my poems for years. I wrote them because I had to. Even if nobody was going to read one of those poems I was still going to write them. And [for this award], you are judged on the work alone. For me, that is the biggest compliment.” Established in the United States in 2013, the Wyndham Campbell Literary Prize is awarded to English-speaking writers. Goodison’s latest work, her jumbo-sized Collected Poems, (featuring classics and new pieces) was published last year by Carcanet Press.
SPORTS: GraceKennedy and the Inter-Secondary Schools Sports Association (ISSA) have inked a deal for the corporate giants to remain title sponsors of the annual Boys & Girls Championships, to the tune of US4 million (half-a-billion Jamaican dollars). The contractual arrangements will last for the next seven years. According to Grace CEO, Don Wehby, it’s yet another investment from the 96-year-old company in youth and national sports development. “That’s a lot of money for Grace,” Wehby said, addressing the #Champs2018 launch at the Spanish Court Hotel in New Kingston on Wednesday. “But at the end of the day, we believe in Jamaica, and we believe that it is the greatest country in the world.” #Champs2018 is set to bring pulsating track-and-field action to the National Stadium from March 20-24.
TECH: Governor-General Sir Patrick Allen is admittedly a fan of technological advancement that keeps us moving forward as a people. But when it comes to the prevalence of social media, he believes there is cause for concern. “This is the most exciting time to be alive, with all the inventions, modern technology and access to education, and yet it is the most dangerous time to be alive,” he notes. “Social media is used to eliminate personal experiences and to abuse and exploit self-esteem issues. I will pose one question for you to think about: Can we start a new trend where your time is consumed by being positive and productive, and where social media becomes the tool it was meant to be rather than the master we make it out to be?” Sir Patrick was speaking at the recent 160th anniversary celebrations at Hampton School in Malvern, St. Elizabeth.
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