By Clay­ton Clarke

Free­lance Cor­re­spon­dent

Two voic­es stood out at this year’s Catholic Charis­mat­ic Re­new­al Bi­en­ni­al Gospe­lyp­so Com­pe­ti­tion, as Ker­ine Williams-Fi­garo and Em­ma-Ruiz Charles sang their way to vic­to­ry be­fore an ap­pre­cia­tive au­di­ence at the Lord Kitch­en­er Au­di­to­ri­um, Na­tion­al Acad­e­my for the Per­form­ing Arts (NA­PA), Port-of-Spain, on Sun­day, Oc­to­ber 19.

Williams-Fi­garo cap­tured the Se­nior cat­e­go­ry ti­tle with her rous­ing ren­di­tion of “Hope is Alive,” earn­ing the $5,000 first prize ahead of sev­en oth­er con­tes­tants. Per­form­ing fifth on stage, the Guaico, Tamana res­i­dent and mem­ber of the Coryal Parish Church de­liv­ered a pow­er­ful, so­cial-com­men­tary-style per­for­mance that urged the faith­ful to share hope dur­ing the Ro­man Catholic Church’s Year of Ju­bilee.

Sec­ond place went to Cindy-Ann Big­ford with “Re­joice! The Year of Ju­bilee,” while Mark How­ell placed third with his ver­sion of “Year of Ju­bilee.”

In the Ju­nior cat­e­go­ry, Em­ma-Ruiz Charles won the crowd and judge with her en­er­getic per­for­mance of “Jump for Je­sus.” Dressed in a shiny red out­fit, Charles out­per­formed Alay­na George and Nathaniel Came­jo, who both pre­sent­ed songs ti­tled “Pil­grims of Hope.”

The win­ners re­ceived their awards from Arch­bish­op of Port-of-Spain, Ja­son Gor­don, who praised the com­pe­ti­tion as a vi­tal tool for evan­ge­liza­tion through cul­ture.

“The Gospe­lyp­so com­pe­ti­tion is a won­der­ful event that re­minds us Chris­tian­i­ty on­ly reach­es the depth of a cul­ture when it can be ex­pressed in a way that peo­ple can hear, ap­pre­ci­ate, and re­late to — where it is true both to the cul­ture and to the gospel,” Arch­bish­op Gor­don said.

“When the Good News of Je­sus Christ reach­es ca­lyp­so, you know it’s tak­en root — be­cause it’s now be­ing ex­pressed in our own lan­guage, through an art­form born of our soil and his­to­ry.”

He en­cour­aged par­tic­i­pants to con­tin­ue us­ing mu­sic to “fire the imag­i­na­tion” and bring the mes­sage of faith to life.

“We had many dif­fer­ent ren­di­tions tonight,” he added. “So if, at the end of this evening, you are not a ‘Pil­grim of Hope,’ I don’t know how else to bring the mes­sage to you.”

Catholic Charis­mat­ic Re­new­al Bi­en­ni­al Gospe­lyp­so Com­pe­ti­tion 2025 Re­sults

Ju­niors

Em­ma-Ruiz Charles – Jump for Je­sus

Alay­na George – Pil­grims of Hope

Nathaniel Came­jo – Pil­grims of Hope

Do­minic Luces – His Promise Land

Se­niors

Ker­ine Williams-Fi­garo – Hope is Alive

Cindy-Ann Big­ford – Re­joice! The Year of Ju­bilee

Mark How­ell-Paul – Year of Ju­bilee

An­dre Nel­son – Yuh Cah Go Wrong with D’ Man Above

Es­ther­li­ta Una Low­mans – Year of Ju­bilee

Kyle Cowie – Pil­grims of Hope

Cyn­thia Bastal­do – Hope in His Promis­es

Amor­is Cum­ber­batch – The World – Our Hope