ELEVEN-TIME Barbados Music Award winner Shontelle Layne is to be presented with the 2011 COSCAP Foundation Award of Excellence.
Shontelle, who has two platinum singles in T-Shirt and Impossible, is expected to be in Barbados to receive her award at the foundation’s gala on April 23 at Hilton Barbados.
Board member Derek Wilkie said Shontelle was one of the most successful COSCAP writers.
He said there were a lot of young members of the foundation who were excelling globally, even if their names were not on the lips of Barbadians.
An artiste showcase, which will feature a range in genres, will be one of the highlights of the gala. Artistes include Allison Norville-Forde, John King, Vacant Head Space, Malissa Alanna, Indrani, Kite, Alex M and Garvie.
The announcement about Shontelle’s award was made yesterday during a Press conference, at which details were given of an arrangement between the COSCAP Foundation and the Harris Institute in Toronto that should see two Barbadian students being awarded one-year scholarships in 2012.
Chairman Glyne Murray said the negotiations with the Harris Institute commenced after a technicality with a border requirement for the Brit School in England, at which two two-year scholarships were on offer, put things on hold.
“Negotiations with the Harris Institute have been moving very swiftly, smoothly and satisfactorily and the COSCAP Foundation is very confident that these arrangements will be favourably completed shortly and well in time for the scholarship winners to be selected for the start of the 2012 school year,” Murray said.
The scholarships will be for study in the areas of audio production and arts management. Students will also have the opportunity to intern at a major label or publisher “for exposure to the hands-on realities of the music business”.
