GEORGE LAMMING, the renowned Caribbean novelist and social commentator, has been awarded the “ALBA Literature Prize for 2011, having been chosen by a five-nation jury from the list of nominees from various regional academic and cultural institutions of the region. This is the fifth occasion of such an award by ALBA– the Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas based in Caracas– under the Literature and the Arts segment of its “Grand Cultural Project”.
In announcing their unanimous decision, the jury said they granted the prize to the Barbados-born author “in consideration of his status  as classic of the Caribbean literature, recognition of Creole as a language foundation in the culture of these islands and the weight of Africa in the region, as well as his contribution to the Caribbean Studies Program of Casa de las Americas (Cuba’s publishing enterprise) and the creation of the New World Group, which redefines the notion of the Caribbean”.
Each prize in the field of Literature and the Arts consists of a symbolic trophy and cash prize of US$75,000. (RS)