Twelve semi-finalists were selected out of 15 applicants and Coordinator Nigel Worrell said the competition has come a long way since three of the 12 selected are overseas-based Guyanese. There are also four newcomers to the competition.
The semi-final showdown is billed for January 30, at the Mackenzie Sport Club in Linden where three of the participants will be eliminated and the remaining nine along with reigning monarch, Shellon ‘Shelly G’ Garraway will vie to be this year’s monarch.
Meanwhile, Ansa McAl’s Marketing Director, Troy Cadogan said the first prize has not been settled yet but the winner could walk away with either a car or a million dollars. The actual prize, Cadogan said will be sorted out later in the week.
Second and third place will receive $500,000 and $250,000 respectively with all participants receiving a fee for participating in the competition.
Meanwhile Demerara Distillers Limited (DDL) is co-sponsoring the competition for the sixth year and its representative Alexis Crawford said that DDL is pleased to be on board. She pointed to the company’s dedication to promoting local talent. She also encouraged the public to come out to the competition and support local talent.
Guyana Telephone and Telegraph (GT&T) Senior Marketing Officer Rhonda Johnson said that GT&T would include in this year’s competition the People’s Choice monarch. Persons can text in to say who they think should be the monarch at $30 per text.
This does not affect the judging of the finals and who turns out to be the winner but rather this would be the person that followers of the competition wanted to win. She also encouraged the public to support the participants of the competition.
The 12 semi-finalists for this year’s competition are Barbara ‘Lady Barbara’ Nedd performing “I Want You”; Jackie Hanover performing “Festival Time”; Simeon Sam performing “Love Over Hate”; Jermaine ‘Cyclone’ Bailey performing “Celebration Time”; Tomeka Thomas performing “Balloon”; Atiola ‘Attie’ Peters performing “Leave Me Alone”; Pierre DaSilva performing “Mad! Mad! Mad!”; Beverley ‘Little B’ Williams performing “Back Wine Time”; Melissa ‘Vanilla’ Roberts performing “High”; Wilbur ‘B52’ Levans performing “Carrying On” and Orlando ‘Bonesman’ Johashen performing “Is We Own”.
