In the semi­fi­nal round of the First Cit­i­zens Na­tion­al Po­et­ry Slam, he stole hearts with his ode to TV pre­sen­ter De­sha Ram­ba­jhan, to se­cure his spot in the fi­nal. Then on May 1, he cap­tured imag­i­na­tions to rise to the top of his co­hort of 14 fi­nal­ists. He is the 23-year-old first-time fi­nal­ist Seth Sylvester–the 2016 First Cit­i­zens Na­tion­al Po­et­ry Slam Cham­pi­on and win­ner of $20,000.

Com­ing in sec­ond place was Kyle Her­nan­dez who won a cash prize of $5,000, and 2014 cham­pi­on Idrees Saleem in third place re­ceiv­ing $3,000. A re­lease said this is the fourth year that First Cit­i­zens has sup­port­ed the lo­cal spo­ken word move­ment but the sec­ond year of the Na­tion­al Po­et­ry Slam with its hand­some top prize along with prizes for all fi­nal­ists. As a bonus, the top three will be giv­en the op­por­tu­ni­ty to per­form at the Cas­cadoo In­ter­na­tion­al Spo­ken Word Fes­ti­val clos­ing show­case.

With this suc­cess­ful sec­ond run at the Globe Cin­e­ma, Port-of-Spain, the Slam has proved it­self the big-tick­et clos­ing event of the NGC Bo­cas Lit Fest, sell­ing out yet again to an an­i­mat­ed au­di­ence of es­tab­lished fans and new­com­ers.

"It's been so in­spir­ing to see this event grow each year from strength to strength. I have no doubt this is the best show we've had to date, both in terms of pro­duc­tion and per­for­mances. I be­lieve in these young peo­ple the 2 Cents Move­ment, the po­ets–I be­lieve be­cause they be­lieve," says founder and di­rec­tor of the Bo­cas Lit Fest, Ma­ri­na Sa­landy-Brown.

Al­so in the mix were Courts Bo­cas In­ter­col cham­pi­on, Shineque Saun­ders, who opened the show as the "sac­ri­fi­cial po­et" and Min­is­ter of Tourism Sham­fa Cud­joe, who de­liv­ered her piece penned es­pe­cial­ly for the event.

"It was tru­ly an ex­tra­or­di­nary event," re­marks First Cit­i­zens deputy CEO, Busi­ness Gen­er­a­tion, Ja­son Julien, "and a time­ly re­minder as to the depth and qual­i­ty of tal­ent that ex­ists here in T&T. We at First Cit­i­zens are tru­ly proud to be as­so­ci­at­ed with this unique fo­rum for young artistes to ex­press their voic­es in an un­fet­tered way. Po­et­ry, spo­ken word and the oral tra­di­tions chan­nel the voice of who we are as a na­tion and these voic­es must be pro­vid­ed with a cre­ative plat­form."

At the end of the show, Jean-Claude Cour­nand, founder of the 2 Cents Move­ment and Bo­cas Youth Out­reach co-or­di­na­tor, left the crowd with a pow­er­ful mes­sage about the mean­ing of the work be­hind spo­ken word–to him and to the wider na­tion­al com­mu­ni­ty.

"I re­alise more and more that this move­ment is not about po­et­ry, it is about peo­ple. My best friend was killed while I was or­gan­is­ing the Slam in 2015 and (as it comes) around again this year I am brought back to the fact that the core idea be­hind all this is out­reach–so deaths like his wouldn't hap­pen. Some­where in a po­em I be­lieve is the in­spi­ra­tion for some­one to make a bet­ter de­ci­sion. Tonight we cel­e­brate the po­ten­tial of art, and the prece­dence sto­ries take in shap­ing mean­ing­ful hu­man lives. In this coun­try, in this time, where the re­al re­ces­sion is the de­valu­ing of the hu­man life...stages such as this that place val­ue on peo­ple, mat­ter more than ever," Cour­nand said.

The fi­nal round of com­pe­ti­tion was judged by a pan­el of award-win­ning lo­cal and in­ter­na­tion­al ac­tors, au­thors and po­ets, led by ex­po­nent of sto­ry­telling in the re­gion and chief judge, Paul Keens-Dou­glas.

The First Cit­i­zens Na­tion­al Po­et­ry Slam was the fi­nale of the 2016 NGC Bo­cas Lit Fest, T&T's an­nu­al fes­ti­val of words, sto­ries and ideas. The fes­ti­val ran from April 23 to May 1, the fes­ti­val pro­gramme in­clud­ed well over a hun­dred events, from read­ings and dis­cus­sions to film screen­ings and work­shops.