At prize-giving ceremony…
Guyana’s 40th Republic Anniversary Mashramani activities, according to Culture Minister Dr. Frank Anthony, was “a tremendous success”.
Commending the Central Mash Committee, the Regional Mash Committees, as well as all the various sub-committees for their hard work, Minister Anthony said that the success of the various events was as a result of well-coordinated teamwork by everyone, with round-table sessions held with stakeholders from every category so that the activities were planned in minute detail.
“This year I think we can safely say that the Mash competitions were bigger, better, and more improved”, said the Minister.
He ascribed the improved quality of the competitions to better organization, more volunteers and participants, and better judging, and said that there were larger audiences to all the competitions, especially during the float parade.
Speaking of the attempts by his Ministry last year to embrace more partnerships, the Minister said the success was evident from the active participation of the Regions, the RDC’s, NGO’s, some of which assisted with organizing the events.
He singled out the Red Cross for special mention, as well as FITUG, which was one of the larger bands from the NGO sector.  The Minister also mentioned the religious organizations that came out, with “The Body of Christ” being a consistent participant.
Minister Anthony showered praise on the Private Sector, which he said came out in strong numbers, with some of the largest bands.
He expressed appreciation for their sponsorship of various events and competitions.
Two private firms that came in for special mention from the Minister were Banks DIH, which sponsored the Calypso Competition in partnership with the Ministry, and Republic Bank, which has been working to develop steel band in Guyana and which partnered the Ministry to sponsor the Steel-band Competition.
He named some of the several ways the many agencies of the Private Sector participated in the Mashramani activities.
The Minister said that this year the Private Sector’s contribution was well-regarded and that because of their input, Mashramani 2010 was a “much more successful celebration.”
He said the University of Guyana sought to ensure that, even as there was song and dance, that the somber aspect of these celebrations were not lost, and that  Guyanese reflected on the distance the nation travelled during the last forty years and the accomplishments over those years; and these reflections were done through discussions and lectures, which the Minister suggested should be published in a booklet to show that, as a people, we have accomplished “quite a lot.”
The exhibition of the museum, the countrywide photographic exhibitions the Ministry has ongoing in collaboration with GINA, the art exhibition at Castellani House, all were acclaimed by the Minister.
The Joint Services also were highly-praised by Minister Anthony, who applauded the countrywide flag-raising ceremonies at which the joint services fully participated, saying that this year’s parade at the flag-raising ceremony at Parliament Buildings by the joint services was the best he had seen so far.
The work of the Ministry of Education had resulted in excellence of quality in the various children’s categories, and the Minister lauded the Children’s categories for being able to bring out forty bands, which the adult categories were unable to pull off.
“I want to record the Ministry’s and the Central Mash Committee’s thanks for the profound work that the Ministry of Education has been doing over the years. Of course there are other Ministries that have been involved, and I want to thank all of them, and some of them have become habitual winners, and it shows that they are sticking to that consistency of quality”, said Minister Anthony.
Special mention was made of the first time entry of the PPP-Civic, which the Minister said had won quite a big prize with their very large float.  He invited other Political Parties to get onboard next year.
He also invited the Diaspora to participate in a bigger way next Mashramani.
The winners of the Children’s Competition were, in the category of schools: Happy Hearts Nursery, Rama Krishna Primary, and Dolphin Secondary.
The Hinterland Scholarship Programme won in the Children’s organizations category, while Newen Glenn came first in the Individual category.
Winning the Illuminated and Decorated Buildings Competition were: Ministry for Non-commercial – Decorated, GWI for Commercial – Decorated, Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport for Non-commercial – Decorated and Illuminated, Mayor & City Council for Commercial – Decorated, Hand-in-Hand for Commercial – Illuminated, South Ruimveldt Primary School for Decorated and Illuminated School, St. Ambrose Primary for Decorated Schools.  A special trophy was awarded the Linden Hospital Complex.
The Chutney Competition was won by Suchitra “Fiona” Singh, with Bunty Singh winning a prize for Most Promising Artiste.
Token prizes were awarded to masquerade bands “Joker is Wild” from Region Four, and “Torch” from Region Ten.
In the Full-Costune Band Category  (Large) the winner was Banks DIH, (Medium) Ministry of Health took the first prize, and in the (small) bands the winner was Ministry of Education.
In the individual prizes category, Digicel had a walkover, taking the prizes for Male, Female, and Queen, while Banks DIH was awarded the King’s prize.
Tenecia DeFreitas won the Calypso/HIV/AIDS song competition.
Banks DIH won the Financial Floats competition, while the National Library took the prize for the Non-commercial category.   The PPP did well this first time that it entered the competitions, placing second in the large-band category.
Trevor Rose was voted Designer of the Year.