Derek Achong

Se­nior Re­porter

derek.achong@guardian.co.tt

A pair of past win­ners shared this year’s Ju­nior King of Car­ni­val ti­tle, cre­at­ing a rare tie at the Queen’s Park Sa­van­nah on Wednes­day night.

An­to­nio Ram­per­sad and Jarel Pe­ters were joint­ly crowned af­ter both amassed 400 points in a fierce­ly com­pet­i­tive fi­nal.

Ram­per­sad, the reign­ing monarch who al­so cap­tured the ti­tle in 2024, se­cured his third con­sec­u­tive win. Pe­ters, who first won in 2023 be­fore Ram­per­sad’s re­cent run of dom­i­nance, claimed his sec­ond crown.

The duo en­tered the com­pe­ti­tion as clear favourites and leaned on their ex­pe­ri­ence to de­liv­er pol­ished per­for­mances that won over the judges and a larg­er-than-usu­al Grand Stand au­di­ence.

Ram­per­sad’s por­tray­al, So­lar­i­an, Fire­bird of Life and Light, de­pict­ed an or­ange winged crea­ture with eerie glow­ing eyes. The pre­sen­ta­tion utilised a sig­na­ture wheel-less de­sign fre­quent­ly de­ployed by his grand­moth­er, Glo­ria Dalls­ingh, and his par­ents, Mar­lon and Lau­ra, in the se­nior com­pe­ti­tion.

He car­ried the ex­pan­sive cos­tume with ease, danc­ing across the stage be­fore the judges while show­cas­ing the flu­id move­ment of its wings.

Pe­ters’ African-themed pre­sen­ta­tion, Ba­batunde Olatun­gi – Mas­ter of the Drums, fea­tured over­sized drums which he mim­ic­ked play­ing to a cus­tom score that ac­com­pa­nied his per­for­mance.

Justin Har­ris, rep­re­sent­ing St Mar­garet’s Boys An­gli­can School, fin­ished third. His sailor mas-in­spired cos­tume was not among the largest in the com­pe­ti­tion, but he im­pressed with smooth dance moves syn­ony­mous with the tra­di­tion­al mas style he ho­n­oured.

In a tele­phone in­ter­view yes­ter­day af­ter­noon, Ram­per­sad said he was thrilled with his per­for­mance, which adds to his fam­i­ly’s al­ready im­pres­sive Car­ni­val lega­cy.

“It felt amaz­ing to se­cure that hat-trick. We worked hard, and I am grate­ful for the work of my par­ents and thank­ful to my grand­moth­er who passed on that cul­ture,” he said.

Re­spond­ing to claims from some spec­ta­tors that his per­for­mance re­sem­bled his fa­ther’s por­tray­als, Ram­per­sad said, “It is not a mat­ter of prac­tis­ing and copy­ing him. When I feel that spir­it, it just takes you.”

“When I dance on stage, I just flow with it,” he added.

Ram­per­sad, who is sched­uled to sit CXC ex­am­i­na­tions next year, de­clined to say whether he would at­tempt to de­fend his crown again.

“When that time comes, we will see if I’m there,” he said.

In the Ju­nior Queen of Car­ni­val com­pe­ti­tion, Jae-Marie Mo­hammed cap­tured her first ti­tle with her pre­sen­ta­tion, Iya Lor­isha Priest­ess of the Orisa. She por­trayed an African dancer in a large flow­ing skirt, with sun­flow­ers promi­nent­ly fea­tured in the cos­tume’s de­sign and colour scheme.

Zoe Walk­er, one of the youngest com­peti­tors, placed sec­ond with an in­tri­cate­ly de­signed cos­tume that she ex­pert­ly ma­noeu­vred de­spite it dwarf­ing her pe­tite frame.

Last year’s win­ner, J’Nai Ed­wards, did not de­fend her crown.

Un­like oth­er Car­ni­val com­pe­ti­tions, reign­ing Car­ni­val Kings and Queens — in both the ju­nior and se­nior cat­e­gories — are not guar­an­teed a place in the fi­nal and must com­pete in the pre­lim­i­nary round to qual­i­fy.

So­ca su­per­star Machel Mon­tano’s Road March con­tender En­core was the most pop­u­lar se­lec­tion among mas­quer­aders cross­ing the stage, fol­lowed by Cap­i­tal by Mi­cal Te­ja and Patrice Roberts.

Re­sults

Ju­nior King of Car­ni­val

1. An­to­nio Ram­per­sad - So­lar­i­an, Fire­bird of Life and Light - 400

1. Jarel Pe­ters -  Ba­batunde Olatun­gi - Mas­ter of the Drums - 400

3. Justin Har­ris - Ja­son Grif­fith Cul­tur­al Icon - 399

4. Liam Fran­cis-Doyle - Bele Drums Ah Roll - 376

5. Kevon Greene - Drakon-Prince of All Drag­ons - 374

5. Justin Ramkalawan - Rhythm of the Drums - 374

7. J-Vion Moses - Pan in the Galaxy - 372

7. Kay­den Jacques - Prism Flight - 372

9. Khayri-Jaalam Williams - Spar­ta­cus, The Mighty Glad­i­a­tor - 367

10. Jael For­tune - Mon­sieur Pa­role (Mohn-Syuh Pah-Roll) 

10. Deyjon Carabon - Kael, War Bird of De Ro­man Em­pire 

Ju­nior Queen of Car­ni­val

1. Jae-Marie James - Iya Lor­isha Priest­ess of the Orisa

 2. Zoey Walk­er - Princess Tama­ra “Jew­el of Jerusalem” - 421

3. An­nalee Ram­per­sad - D But­ter­fly Princess - 420

4. Melo­di Maun­dy - Man­goes Man­goes - 406

5. Danae Stew­art - It’s a Par­ty- Let’s Cel­e­brate - 403

6. Ja­da-Marie Mo­hammed - Ani-Sha-Naabe (The Thun­der­bird) - 402

7. Amarie Jar­dine-Sir­joo - Lu­mi­nous Mo­sa­ic - 400

8. Mc Ken­zie Far­in­ha - Danse K Danse- A Trib­ute to Tourist An­nie - 394

9. Ne­tanya Phillip - Raise Me Up - 390

10. Shaniya Far­ri­er - Chi­nese Pi­pa Em­press