Cacique nominees: Chef Addiemae Rolle-Farrington and Pamela Stubbs-Colins.

Nassau, Bahamas - From the kitchen to the studio, College of The Bahamas faculty are mixing passion with imagination to produce inspiring masterpieces.

Although creatively different, Pamela Stubbs-Collins and Addiemae Rolle-Farrington – both of whom are faculty at The College of The Bahamas – share the same intrinsic motivation to make splendid works of art.

A culinarian par excellence, Chef Addiemae's natural ability to create palate-pleasing delights and Pamela's skill as an effervescent gospel singer have earned them nominations in the 16^th Cacique Awards, the Bahamas Ministry of Tourism’s prestigious honours. They have also advanced as finalists in their respective categories – Addiemae in the Chef of the Year division and Pamela in the gospel category of the People’s Choice Music Award.

The both are humbled, yet honoured.

“I was overwhelmed and happy because it seems that this 2014 seems to be the year when persons start to recognize you while you are still here. It’s just an honour for that to happen while I am still alive. It’s a privilege after 35 years to be recognized in such a grouping and selected in the top three. Win or not it’s a joy,” said Addiemae, a Chef Instructor at The College’s Culinary and Hospitality Management Institute (CHMI).

Earlier this year, international chefs voted to induct Chef Addiemae into the American Academy of Chefs (AAC) of the American Culinary Federation as an Honorary Fellow. With this honour, she became the first female from the Caribbean and the second Bahamian to be inducted into the culinary honor society. She has travelled the world as a culinary competitor, coach and judge.

Acting Executive Director of the Culinary and Hospitality Management Institute Dr. Sophia Rolle called her colleague one of the premier chefs in the country. She said she is honoured to have her as a member of the food and beverage faculty.

“She has made a significant contribution over the years to her profession and has impacted the lives of many of the more accomplished chefs in The Bahamas, regionally and globally. Chef Farrington is very deserving of this award and winning this award would be singular honour for her as well it will speak well to the quality of instruction rendered by faculty in CHMI,” she noted.

The Bahamas Hotel and Tourism Association said for Chef Addiemae to be singled out as one of the finest among thousands of industry professionals is a “lofty tribute to her dedication and high-level performance.”

In The College’s School of Communication and Creative Arts, Head of the Foreign Languages Department Pamela Stubbs-Collins is the songbird. She has embraced this passion since she was three-years-old when she would precede her father’s many sermons. In adulthood, her appetite for presenting the gospel in this melodic way has mushroomed.

“I just love singing. I am not a person who is in to it for financial gain or anything like that. I just see myself singing as many places as possible. Wherever people invite me to sing, I just want to sing,” she said.

Her rendition of the song “Cleanse Me” is competing against Monique Terez’ “I Surrender All” and Nehemiah Heild’s “One More Hallelujah”. The song is a modern musical representation of a traditional anthem, and is punctuated with what is called a “Junka beat.”

Pamela said she was surprised when she realized that she was nominated for the Cacique Award.

“I couldn’t believe it because it was two consecutive times of being nominated. I am like wow, so I must be doing something good. I was surprised, I was really surprised. You know we have hundreds of gospel artist out there and I never ever for one day expected that I would be nominated out of all those hundreds of people,” she said.