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Caribbean women win big at Caribbean Media Exchange conference

ST. LUCIA – Three women journalists walked away with honous from the Ninth Caribbean Media Exchange on Sustainable Tourism (CMEx) held in Rodney Bay, St. Lucia this weekend.

From Guyana, Miranda La Rose, for the third time in the five year-history of CMEx, was honored for her work in Stabroek News on the relationships between Cricket World Cup, the expansion of ecotourism at Kaieteur National Park, and the involvement of the indigenous peoples of the region in preserving the environment.


Guyanese Miranda La Rose (right) receives her award from chairman of the judges panel, Ian Williams.
Photo by: Clayton Sizemore, SpeakEasy M.E.D.I.A. Inc.

Barbadian Marsha Branch, managing director of Avant-Garde Media, won for her contribution to the international BBC Programme called ‘Our Planet’.


Marsha Branch of Barbados in winners’ row.
Photo by: Clayton Sizemore, SpeakEasy M.E.D.I.A. Inc.

Kristy Ramnarine of the Trinidad Guardian excelled for her examination of the importance of tourism to Tobago – and the vital importance not just of crime but of perceptions of crime to the industry.


Trinidadian Kristy Ramnarine was a double winner at CMEx.
Photo by: Clayton Sizemore, SpeakEasy M.E.D.I.A. Inc.

At the ceremony held at Sandals Grande St. Lucian in front of a packed and distinguished audience of media, industry and government professionals, chairman of the judges panel, Ian Williams, described their work as being in the best traditions of a profession increasingly under siege from media moguls and trivialization and also in the best traditions of CMEx, whose purpose is to foster insightful journalism in the field of sustainable tourism.

Counterpart International, producers of CMEx, also bestowed honours on St. Lucia’s Minister of Tourism Philip J. Pierre; Allen Chastanet, Managing Director of Coco Resorts; Ignacio Perez, Regional Director of the Eastern Caribbean for Sandals Resorts International; Berthia Parle, General Manager of Bay Gardens Resorts; and Chairman of Almond Resorts, Ralph Taylor, for their continued commitment to sustainable tourism development.

The highly coveted Counterpart International Emerald Award for high-end resorts combining a commitment to luxury and to the use of tourism to improve the destination, its people and the environment, went to Nick and Karolin Troubetzkoy for their new Jade Mountain at Anse Chastanet in St. Lucia.

Counterpart president, Lelei LeLaulu, said the resort had vaulted to the top of the world’s most exclusive properties for its use of recycled material, water, and its dedication to conserving the environment, going so far as to send resort managers to the rainforests of Guyana to select the trees for use. Top marks also went to the resort’s treatment of staff and a very low turnover. On top of all this, said LeLaulu, was “a design of extraordinary vision and boldness.”

Kristy Ramnarine also captured the Talent competition a day earlier at Almond Morgan Bay with a catchy rendition of an original calypso called “Left to Right”, while “No-Talent” honours went to the humorous duo of Ernie Seon of St. Lucia and Vincentian Don Bobb who sung a “re-mix” of Harry Belafonte’s Banana Boat Song (Day-O).

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