At 71 years old, Jeffrey Walcott is entering another season of his life. Well, sort of. As he puts it, he’s experiencing “a burst of latent potential” and has resumed writing, bringing joy to himself, his family, and friends who believed in him.
Last year, he entered three essays and three poems in the NIFCA Goddard’s Literary Arts competition. He not only scored a precious gold award for his essay Ode to the Bajan Blackbirds, but he received the John Wickham Award for Excellence in Non Fiction Prose award for the cleverly written, witty piece.
In it he questions why the Pelican, “a stranger” to Barbados, is on the Coat of Arms and not the blackbird.
Furthermore, the judges headed by chief judge Adonijah also awarded him bronze medals for his Bajan Nicknames and Stranger Than You Think, a “spiritual thing”. And, he also received an incentive award for his poem Oh My Son My Son.
His bronze award entries in 2017 were Thoughts of the Unborn Son and My Lil Man. (GBM)
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