Barbados’ top two talented teens are Meghan Green and Dequon Alleyne.
Screams and cheers erupted when the pair, favourites from the outset, were announced as the winners in the annual Barbados Talented Teens pageant after 11 p.m.
The show, themed This Is Festival, was held recently at the Lloyd Erskine Sandiford Centre. The four males and six females who faced the judges all came to win, but Green and Alleyne stood out.
They walked away with the Best Introduction and Best Overall Interview titles after nailing their questions. After answering questions based on the biographies they submitted, the top three female and male contestants had to answer another question.
The females were asked to name something they had done and would never do again, and the males responded to, “If you could trade your life with anyone in history who would it be and why?”
Green’s answer was that she would never believe she was a failure because of her disability and Alleyne said he would not trade himself with anyone as he is who he is for a reason.
Green also won the Best Talent category with a Justin Poleon choreography, and Alleyne went home with the Best Project and Best Formal Wear titles. The waistcoat of his suit featured a hand-painted scene of different aspects of the Holetown Festival.
Many people expected the smooth Lijani Cherry and captivating Kiara Williams to win as both were front-runners through the contest. They both came second, however.
Cherry won the People’s Choice Award, Mr Congeniality, Award Of Excellence, and Best Talent with his monologue A Boy Like Me. Williams copped the People’s Choice Award among the females, Miss Photogenic, and Best Formal Wear in a stunning, glittering Lester Welch-fitted gown.
Third place went to Mr Photogenic, Shakeem Boyce, and Best Project female winner Asmara Lynch whose dramatic monologue, Maid/Made Of Honour, examined the working conditions of domestic workers in Barbados. Taking on the persona of general secretary of the Barbados Workers Union, Toni Moore, and with placards at the front of the stage, she asked everyone to respect the domestic worker. Boyce sang John King’s How Many More for his talent piece.
The other contestants were Josh La Rose, Trinity Joseph who was voted Miss Congeniality, Mya Brathwaite, who wore a gorgeous yellow gown designed by Lester Welch, and Akeba Pollard, who performed the humurous The Granny Lucky Dip, which not only took the audience down memory lane with the oil lamp, an LP, postcards and a topsy but it showed how much society has changed. In the valise that came from her granny she was expecting to find the iPhone she requested, but did not.
Barbados’ Talented Teens was one of two contests organised by KoBra Management and held at the same time. The other was the inaugural Barbados Junior Prince and Princess. (GBM)
