Taylor, who used the sobriquet, “Pink Panther” won the hearts of the judges and the massive crowd with his tunes “Travel Woes” a political satire of the performance of the coalition People’s Partnership government and “      in which he pays tribute to the number of calypsonians, masmen and panmen who have died during the Carnival activities over the years, including this year.

Taylor walked away with the one million dollar (One TT dollar = US$0.16 cents) prize, while early crowd favourite Kurt Allen received the second prize of half a million dollars after performing his tunes “Sin Phony” that poked fun at the government and “Stalin Says” a tribute to the veteran calypsonian and former monarch Dr. Leroy Calliste, who also appeared on stage.

In third position was Heather McIntosh, who lamented the decision of the government to disband the national symphony that had established by the previous Patrick Manning government.

Defending monarch Dwayne O’Conner placed a distant seventh at the competition and former multi-monarch winner, Dr. Hollis Liverpool (Chalkdust) placed ninth in the competition that was held for the first time on a Thursday instead of the regular Sunday night Diamache Gras activities.

Another former monarch Karene Asche placed fifth.

The Carnival activities continue on Friday, dubbed “Fantastic Friday” with the “International Soca Monarch and “Groovy Monarch” competitions that have attracted competitors from the neighbouring Caribbean islands and further afield.

The reigning Soca and Groovy Monarch holder, Machel Montano, faces a strong challenge for his titles from Super Blue, (Austin Lyons) a six time monarch, who makes a return to competition with his hugely popular tune “Fantastic Friday”

The panorama competition featuring 12 bands will take place on Saturday night.

Reprinted from Caribbean360