The Freeport News - Junior and senior Junkanooers were rewarded for their efforts earlier this year during awards ceremonies on Thursday night and Friday morning.

At the event, the prizes were distributed for the New Year's Day Senior Parade, and the City of Freeport Council's Junior Parade, which was held on January 16.

Yesterday, during the Junior Awards Presentation, Minister of Culture Charles Maynard commended the schools for their efforts and congratulated the winners.

The parade was broadcast live on ZNS and, according to the Minister, blew the country away. He challenged the schools to try to top that performance next year.

"I am very proud of what you did. How do we top that?... We need more parents to volunteer time to help the teachers and the coordinators in the schools, we need more people from the community to get involved in the schools and help to make the parade even better than it was," he said.

"I know you have the potential to do better. All you need is the help and assistance. The money part, I'll work on, but it requires you to put in your time and effort."

Maynard revealed that his Ministry intends to host Junkanoo workshops at the various schools during the summer break.

"We're going to do something special for Grand Bahama this year. We're going to introduce some summer workshops so that you can get your programs started early, you could get some assistance, more money from the ministry, to make sure we get skilled people in there to teach you some of the tricks of the trade to make your job easier," he shared.

"We want to make sure that all of the kids get your hands glued up and learn... more about Junkanoo."

He also revealed that he will be distributing a DVD featuring a demonstration put on during the "Lest We Forget – The Triumph Over Slavery" exhibit which opened Thurs-day at the Charles Hayward Children's Library to all of the schools.

The DVD project was created by a father son team, on the history of the beating of the drums in Junkanoo from our African ancestry to today.

William Martinborough, co-chairman of the Grand Bahama Junkanoo Committee and City of Freeport Councillor (FCC) said the organization is proud that that they are able to sponsor the annual parade, adding that any program dealing with youth is high on its agenda.

Photo: Derek Carroll

National Junior Junkanoo Coordinator Percy "Vola" Francis shared that he had recently returned from Brazil's Carnival and was inspired by that country's success in promoting its culture.

Francis said that he would like to see Junkanoo schools instituted in The Bahamas similar to the Samba schools in Brazil.

In the preschool division of the junior parade, the Kindercare Learning Centre took home first place, while National Academy took second spot.

The West End Preschool and Letty's Paradise Preschool took third and fourth places, while St. John's Christian Academy rounded out the division.

Walter Parker Primary returned to their position as champs in the Primary A division after a year out of the competition, with Hugh Campbell, rounding out that division.

In the Primary B division, Martin Town Primary won the title of champions once more. They were followed by West End Primary, East End Primary and St. Vincent de Paul Primary.

Photo: Derek Carroll

The all-age division A saw two contenders – Bishop Michael Eldon School and Sunland Baptist Academy – place first and second respectively.

In the all age division B, the Beacon School took home the top spot, while Sweeting's Cay All Age came second.

Jack Hayward also returned to the parade after a one year hiaitus, rushing their way into first place in the secondary division over St. Georges.

During Thursday night's Senior Awards Presentation, Maynard acknowledged that there were several challenges to hosting this year's parade, including a route change and inclement weather.

"I am proud to say that faced with adverse weather conditions on New Year's Day, having to delay the parade until the wee hours of the morning, being advised by everybody in Grand Bahama that no way in the world people would show up to support Junkanoo at that hour as cold as it was, that we would be out there by ourselves, but all of you could testify that not only did they show up, but they stayed until the very last cowbell stopped licking," he said.

Photo: Derek Carroll

"And even before the challenges of the weather, we had the challenges of the Port Authority who insisted that we look at another venue to hold the parade and it was very easy for everybody to protest, hit the streets, boycott, or just decide that they would walk away, but instead the Committee sat down and negotiated with the Port, brought in all the Junkanoo leaders, looked at all the options and chose another location.

"Now depending on who you ask it was a good choice, or a bad choice, but the point is, the spirit of cooperation brought us to choose it and if it is a bad choice, that same spirit of cooperation could cause us to change it.

"And that means that Junkanoo in Grand Bahama has grown to higher heights."

Photo: Derek Carroll

In the senior parade, the Swingers group took home first place overall, followed by the Superstar Rockers, Majestic Crusaders, Classic Dancers, Bayshore Warriors and Kingdom Culture groups.

The Arawak Invaders and the Harbour Boys were both disqualified after failing to meet Division-A requirements.

In the Best Music Category, the Swingers and the Classic Dancers were tied; The Majestic Crusaders followed; then the Superstar Rockers, Bayshore Warriors, and King-dom Culture groups.

The Swingers won the Best Banner category, while the Majestic Crusaders; Super-star Rockers; Kingdom Culture and Bayshore Warriors followed in that order.

The Swingers also earned first place again in the execution of their theme, "Salute to 50 years of The Bahamas National Trust-Protect our Heritage."

This was closely followed by the Majestic Crusaders; Superstar Rockers; Bayshore Warriors; Classic Dancers; and Kingdom Culture.

Majestic Crusaders won both best group performance and best choreographed dancers.

In the B-Division, Rotary Club International took first place, followed by the Bushwhackers, Sting and The Victory Boys.