The Central Bank Announces the 38th Annual High School Art Competition Virtual Exhibition and Results

Published: Friday February 11th, 2022

The Central Bank Announces the 38th Annual High School Art Competition Virtual Exhibition and Results

Each year, through its cultural initiatives, the Central Bank of The Bahamas allots several awards for a variety of mediums, like painting, sculpture, works on paper, video, and poetry via its art competitions, with 2021 being no exception. Over one hundred students submitted works to the 2021 High School Art Competition under the theme, “A Moment in Time.”

As is tradition, the Central Bank Governor personally selects a piece of work, which receives the Governor’s Choice Award. The 2021 honour went to twelfth grade Temple Christian School student Antonio Rose for his Minecraft-animation, “Wear Your Mask.” The piece pays homage to frontline workers and encourages Bahamians to comply with the COVID-19 safety protocols.

For the first time, the Central Bank collaborated with internationally renowned Bahamian artist Lavar Munroe, a former “alumnus” of the competition, who founded the Beverly Ann & Lavar Munroe (BALM) Scholarship for high school students. Munroe expresses, “The scholarship seeks to enable, promote, and encourage young artists to use creativity as a means of enduring, coping, and living in a new world.” This prestigious award went to eleventh grade Aquinas College student Aaron Makai Poitier.

Poiter’s winning short film “Christopher Columbus Retold” questions the version taught through traditional educational mediums. The jury saw “a solid command of the elements of storytelling, editing, and the understanding of audio and video manipulation”. Lavar Munroe, along with Ian Fernander (Central Bank) and Gio Swaby (artist Toronto/Nassau), comprised the 2021 jury.

Furthermore, the jury selected Kingsway Academy’s Alyssa Clarke and Windsor School’s Sahra Powell, in a tie for first place in the Senior High Division. Queen’s College student Shelby Sears joins them, securing a first-place prize in the Junior High Division. Second place winners include Doris Johnson Senior High student Lalique Poitier and Andros native Hunae Moss. Five students won honourable mention prizes. These students include C. I. Gibson’s Brian Dickerson, Aquinas College’s Shiloh Smith and Timea Adderley, C. V. Bethel’s Nelson Gray, and Queen’s College student Hailey Treco.

Finally, the Central Bank named Kingsway Academy as the most outstanding school. Central Bank Curator Ulrich Voges expresses, “Although we recognize tremendous effort and hard work of all the art educators, this year Kingsway encouraged a large number of their students and placed also in the award section.”

The virtual exhibition for the competition launches on Tuesday, 15 February 2022 at www.artcentralbankbahamas.com/high-school. For further detailed information, please contact us directly at [email protected]

11 February, 2022