The Ministry of youth, Sports, and Culture yesterday presented  cheques  to the winning Junkanoo groups of the 2018 Boxing Day and 2019 New Year’s Day parades, which doubled the amounts in previous years.

The  Minister Lanisha Rolle referred to  the Minnis Administration’s 2017 manifesto, which indicated a commitment to the development of Bahamian culture by providing opportunities for “full and unbridled understanding and expressions of our history and heritage”.

She said, “according to that particular document, our goal is to implement a set of coherent objectives to foster, to protect, and to promote the cultural expression of our people.”

She added, “to do this, we committed in the manifesto to allocating additional resources to the junior and senior Junkanoo parades throughout the country.”

Prime minister Dr. Hubert Minnis announced during the 2018/2019 budget cycle that the government will match or double the prize money for parades.

“We  are here today—promise made, promise kept.”, Minister Rolle said.

Junaknoo groups received as much as $76,200  in prize money, while two a groups and one B group received an additional $10,000 for the Prime Minister’s Best Music award.

The minister congratulated all Junkanoo groups in attendance for a “fantastic senior Junkanoo parade season.”

“The government of the Bahamas believes that this increase is well deserved.”, she said.

“The Bahamas has much to celebrate. The art of Junkanoo brought thousands to our shores for the Christmas and New Year’s holidays for decades to witness the fascinating display of untold creativity with colorful costumes accompanied by choreographed dance, the rhythmic sounds of goatskin drums, whistles, and percussion.”, she added

“Junkanoo can be described as one of the most colorful festivities in the world and one of the greatest shows on earth.”, she said.