By Daniel Haynes
In a day of calypso and dramatic poetry, the National Cultural Centre was on Tuesday filled with pupils and teachers who came to cheer on their respective schools as the Annual Children’s Mashramani Competition entered Day 2.

Schools from across Georgetown, including the top secondary schools such as Bishops’, Queen’s and Rose’s, all showed their versatility at song, drama and poetry.
Perennial winners such as Green Acres Primary, North Georgetown Primary and Winfer Gardens were also vying for the first place trophies.
At the Nursery level, winners in the Dramatic Poetry Category were Green Acres which placed first, Precious Jewels which came in second and South Road Nursery at third.
In the Calypso segment, Precious Jewels copped another prize when it placed third; East Street nursery took home second place, and Happy Arts Nursery claimed the coveted first prize.
In the primary school category, Smyth’s Memorial claimed third, Green Acres brought second and North Georgetown emerged the winner.
While exciting, the secondary schools segment was where the most drama and excitement happened.
The 11-13 age group segment was tightly contested with St Gabriel’s coming out victorious with first and Christ Church and Winfer Gardens claiming second and third place respectively in the Dramatic Poetry Category.

The Dramatic Poetry Category was filled with drama in the 14-17 Category. Crowd favourite Jemima Holmes from The Bishops’ High School with a self-written piece titled “Reclaim Your Crown Guyana” was only given second place by judges.
This came as a shock to supporters since her piece was well performed and in addition to being well performed, she captivated the entire audience. First place went to E Morrison of St John’s College.
Also involved in drama was Queens College’s S Lewis, whose piece was perceived as spoken word and not an original piece.
Calypso in the 11-13 age group was the highlight of the day with T Gouveia of David Rose Special School claiming a well-deserved first place. South Ruimveldt took both third and also second place in this category. In the 14-17 age group, Bishops’ showed their talent with a piece titled “Tek she life” where lead singer Roshell Bynoe told the tale of suicide from the viewpoint of implements used such as a rope, knife and poison.
Spectators voiced their disapproval of the results which saw Tutorial High taking first place and Rose’s taking second.
Other outstanding performers were Brittany Eversley of Christ Church, who also spoke of suicide and Aliyah Moore from North Ruimveldt Multilateral whose energy impacted the crowd. The competition continues on Thursday, February 11 at the Cliff Andersen Sports Hall from 09:00hrs.