National Celebrations Commission Launches Theme Competition for September

The competition is on to determine what will be the theme for this year’s National Celebrations. The National Celebrations Commission (NCC) announced the launch of the competition today following its first meeting on Thursday. The winner will receive a thousand-dollar cash prize, and their theme will be prominently displayed throughout the celebrations, which commence in August and conclude at the end of September. Deputy Mayor Eluide Miller, who sits on the commission, says that the winning theme will need to creatively incorporate national pride and focus on the 44th anniversary of Belize’s independence.

Eluide Miller, Member, National Celebrations Commission: “In our view, this year is particularly significant, not only because we are celebrating four to four years of Belize’s independence, but we’re also marking the 50th anniversary of our carnival, right? Which is a huge cultural milestone. The call was open earlier today.  It’s open to the public and we’re inviting submissions of themes that will really define the tone and set the message for this year’s celebration. This year, the team must be centered around Belize at Forty four and it must invoke a sense of national pride but also it has to tell the story of Belize’s journey, of where we have come from and where we’re going as a country.  And so participants who wish to participate in this competition can submit up to two entries each and each entry must be no longer than 10 words, right?  And so that is essentially the criteria. And we’re inviting everybody, I said earlier, students, creatives, teachers, community leaders, absolutely everybody. Of course, I must highlight that the winner of this competition also receives  a $1,000 cash prize, right?  How it works is that once the submission deadline,  once May 9th comes, the subcommittee of the NCC then reviews all of the entries. They shortlist the entries, the best submissions, and then the commission together collectively they make a final decision in terms of the winning theme.”

Last year, the commission received over 600 submissions, and the winning theme was “A Nation Proud and Free: Belize at 43,” submitted by Corozal resident David Watson.