Jamaica’s richest story contest gets even more popular
HAVING NEARLY $1 million in prize money, the What’s Your Story Jamaica? storytelling competition is easily the island’s richest of its kind, and now in its third year, it’s becoming more popular. This positive news was given to the audience at this year’s finals, held on Sunday at the University of Technology (UTech), Jamaica.
Orgnaiser Debra Ehrhardt, who is also a playwright and actress, revealed the competition has a new source of funding: “Because of the growing awareness and popularity of the What’s Your Story Jamaica? competition, this was the first year that I was able to open up crowdfunding in the USA and Jamaica to people who want to support the arts. Almost 100 per cent of the money was donated through our GoFundMe page.”
She also said that there were “significantly more entries this year” — nearly 300 — and she declared happily that “people are more willing to open up and share their stories. It’s wonderful that the audiences are all coming back and bringing new people to see the show. We are continuing to extend our reach, and even had a finalist this year from the hills of Westmoreland”.
Nine finalists gathered at UTech on Sunday afternoon, where civil servant Duane Harris, who was entering the competition for the third time, emerged the winner, receiving a US-dollar cheque for the equivalent of $375,000. His amusing, dramatically delivered six-minute tale, Ms Jamaica’s Long, White Dress, was largely about his simultaneous flirtation with two young women, one from Trinidad & Tobago and the other from Jamaica. Eventually, though, he said, he married another Jamaican, whom he pointed out in the audience.
Chatting to me after the event, he opined, “There’s a story in every one of us. We just need to know how to organise it.”
Second-place winner of the US-dollar equivalent of $225,000, Deanne Logan-Johnson, told a hilarious story about dropping a boyfriend because he was not happy with her keeping her hair natural. Ironically, the teller of the story, titled Big and Natural, now wears faux locks.
Kaci Garvey’s touching story, In the Palm of His Hand, earned her third place and $150,000. It is about how, in her opinion, her husband’s prayer for safe travel before she set off on a car trip saved her life. She survived, without a scratch, a motor vehicle accident which left many dead.
Other well-delivered stories — the result, no doubt, of fine coaching by Ehrhardt and many rehearsals — came from the remaining finalists. They and their stories were: Yolande Branwell ( The Man With The Scar), Kenneth Grant ( The Gold Rope Chain), Jeffrey Heywood ( Shark and Scorpion), Elenda McKenzie ( One Day at a Time), Renardo Lewis ( Never Give Up), and Yvonne Bailey (Shambalaca).
Interesting though the stories were, even more gripping were the others we heard at the event, one by Ehrhardt and another by the second producer, Dr Basil Waine Kong. She told of her few short weeks spent as a caregiver to a wealthy American woman who was raging against her fatal illness and initially wished it on Ehrhardt instead of herself. Fortunately, Ehrhardt kept her cool and as the woman’s life faded, the two became close.
Dr Kong’s story was of his leaving Woodlands, St Elizabeth, as a teenager to join his mother in New York. Though he was not a good student, at first, he was a good runner and got a track scholarship to college. He went on to become a lawyer, a psychologist, and the author of several books. His desire now is to return to Jamaica and “golf to his heart’s content”.
Next year’s competition will be on the north coast. Ehrhardt explained in an email to me: “Half Moon hotel has graciously offered to host the competition next year, as they are big supporters of the arts and value developing cultural awareness as much as indelible vacation memories.
“This location will allow for a much larger audience, as well as increased accessibility to contestants in Montego Bay and the north coast.”