Festival, Gospel Star, Festival Queen competition entries close at midnight

Persons who are interested in entering the 2021 Jamaica Festival Song, the Jamaica Gospel Star and the Miss Jamaica Festival Queen competitions have until midnight, today, May 31 to submit their entries to the Jamaica Cultural Development Comission’s (JCDC) website, www.jcdc.gov.jm.

The Jamaica Festival Song Competition, which regained international popularity last year with reggae superstar Buju Banton’s win, is Jamaica’s longest running professional song competition and has produced many notable Reggae artistes over its almost six decades.

“We are excited for this year’s staging of the Jamaica Festival Song Competition as we have been receiving exceptional feedback from the public and our potential entrants. The deadline for entries is midnight tonight, so all our entrants need to be in the final mix down mode of their winning songs at this point to still qualify to be a part of this year’s competition,” said Orville Hill, chairman of the Jamaica Festival Song Committee.

The Jamaica Festival Song Competition, which started in 1966, has helped to launch and advance careers of some of Jamaica’s acclaimed singers and songwriters. Winners of the competition have included Toots and the Maytals, Desmond Decker, Eric Donaldson, Roy Rayon, Buju Banton and Stanley Beckford.

A rebrand of the iconic Gospel Song competition, which has touched the lives of countless gospel singers and song writers for over three decades, the Jamaica Gospel Star competition focuses on the vocal talents and performances of the contestants, and accepts both original and unoriginal song entries.

“This competition has been Jamaica’s premier Gospel Song competition for 34 years and it is one of, if not the most successful gospel competitions in Jamaica. It opens doors for a lot of new artistes both local and internationally every year, and a lot of our entrants have gone on to build a solid music career, including Kerron Ennis, Kevin Downswell, Lubert Levy and Glacia Robinson, to name a few,” said Andrew Clunis, director of marketing and public relations at the JCDC.

Clunis further stated that the rebranded competition is also being hosted virtually, from entry to final show, which is the standard for all the JCDC competitions for the 2021 cycle.

The Miss Jamaica Festival Queen competition is open to empowered young women between the ages of 18 and 25, who are intelligent, culturally-aware, poised and are seeking a platform to make their contributions to nation building. The competition which is free for entry is being staged virtually this year, and young women who qualify may submit their entries at the JCDC’s website www.jcdc.gov.jm.

Jamaica’s premier national pageant competition, the Miss Jamaica Festival Queen Competition saw a hiatus last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but has returned to crown a new queen for the 2021 competition cycle.

Persons interested in entering the 2021 competition must first register for a JCDC ID number on the JCDC’s website, as that will be required to complete their entry for submission. Potential participants should also note that their entry should include a passport sized photo of themselves, a brief introductory video of maximum two minutes duration and a video of their cultural performance item, which should be a maximum of three minutes in length. Additional information regarding the entry process and competition guidelines may also be found on the JCDC’s website.

Since its inception in 1963, the Miss Jamaica Festival Queen Competition has provided opportunities for outstanding young women to leave their mark on not only Jamaica’s culture but all spheres of the nation’s development. Some of the past queens include Dr. Marsha Barnett, Jennifer ‘Jenny-Jenny’ Small, Jacinth Hall-Tracey, Dahlia Harris, Krystal Tomlinson and Kaysia Johnson.