THE winners of ‘The Guyana Annual’ competition were honoured at a simple but lively presentation at the launch of the 2018 edition of the magazine at the National Library on Thursday.

Among the awardees was Guyana Chronicle journalist Vishani Ragobeer, who placed third in the Oil-and-Gas essay contest.

Awards were given out in 11 categories which included new additions of photography, journalism, cartoon, drama and oil and gas.
The oil and gas essay competition was sponsored by Dr. Tulsi Dyal Singh, who is credited with resuscitating ‘The Guyana Annual’ back in 1998, with the help of Petamber Persaud, who has been the magazine’s editor since 2004.
This new category of competition sponsored by Dr. Singh had a first place prize of $250,000, with the second and third place winners to receive prizes of $100,000 and $50,000, respectively.

Persaud said the magazine has outlived many other such publications, undergoing numerous modifications to meet the need of its readership and to carry out its mandate of cultural integrity.

“The main noticeable change to the publication over the years was its name; started as the Chronicle Christmas Annual [in 1915], it was renamed the Guyana Christmas Annual and finally in the new millennium it was labelled The Guyana Annual becoming a truly national magazine while maintaining its traditional year-end Christmas-oriented flavour,” Persaud noted.

Persaud, a television producer and columnist said that for all of its 100 years of service, the magazine was the prime launching pad for ‘every Guyanese writer who eventually wrote his name into regional and international recognition’.

Magazine Editor Danielle Swain said the event was important since it marked 20 years since the magazine was reinstalled, and the return of the competition aspect.
“The Annual has come home. She has returned to her roots, which was and still is, to nurture and sustain emerging talents whilst honouring those who have come before us,” Swain said.

She noted that the judges selected for the contest were among those who have excelled in the creative industries over the years.
With the outsourcing of print magazines, the Guyana Annual aims to keep alive the traditional style of print medium.

“Our stories need to be told, whichever medium we use to tell it. Our wish is that contributors and readership alike see the importance of the creative industries to the development of Guyana,” Swain noted.
The magazine is available at Austin’s Bookstore, the National Library, Amazon and Guyenterprise at a cost of $1000.