The chairman, in an exclusive interview on Tuesday (Dec. 6, 2014) said that separation of the National Carnival Talented Teen Pageant from the Junior Calypso Competition has been a “good decision”. 

”We realized that, as a committee, the two needed to be separated, and I must say, both competitions went well apart from each other. We will now see how we can further enhance them,” Anthony said.

Earlier last year, the committee decided to have both the Talented Teen Pageant and the Junior Calypso competition separated from each other because of difficulties both presented operating as a single show.

“We removed the two because they were not compatible with each other. Years past, and we were contemplating whether to remove them, but from what we have seen with Sugar Mas 43, I think we made a good decision,” Anthony said.

During the Carnival celebrations in December 2014, the Junior Calypso Competition was paired with the reinstated Steel Pan Festival held on the Bay Road.

On the other hand, the chairman indicated that events such as International Night and Band Clash might be reinstated under different formats.

The committee, under the leadership of Anthony, removed the two major events in 2014, that were fixtures of the calendar in previous years.

“What we would find happening is that because Carnival had an international night, other private promoters who brought in the same international artiste felt the squeeze, so to say. So, we had decided that instead of hosting a night similar to private events, we would instead support them,” Anthony said.

With one more year to go in his contract as carnival chairman, Anthony revealed to this media house that although he has no problem continuing as chairman of the National Carnival Committee, the decision of his reappointment would be up to the Ministry of Culture.