The Em­bassy of France, the High Com­mis­sion of Cana­da, the Hon­orary Con­sulate of Lebanon and the Hon­orary Con­sulates of Mo­roc­co and Bel­gium, along­side the Al­liance Française, re­cent­ly host­ed a spe­cial re­cep­tion to cel­e­brate the unique cul­ture of Fran­coph­o­nie mem­ber coun­tries.

The re­cep­tion at Full Bloom Cafe al­so ho­n­oured in­di­vid­u­als who have made out­stand­ing con­tri­bu­tions to the pro­mo­tion of the French lan­guage and Fran­coph­o­ne cul­ture in T&T and award­ed in­ter­na­tion­al­ly recog­nised DELF French lan­guage diplo­mas to stu­dents who demon­strat­ed ex­cel­lence in their pro­fi­cien­cy ex­ams.

A high­light of the evening was the be­stow­al of the pres­ti­gious French Na­tion­al Award, Les Palmes Académiques (Cheva­lier rank), on Nicole Tay­lor, a re­tired UWI French lec­tur­er, in recog­ni­tion of her ex­cep­tion­al ded­i­ca­tion to French lan­guage ed­u­ca­tion and cul­ture.

Es­tab­lished by Napoleon Bona­parte in 1808, the Palmes Académiques is one of the high­est dis­tinc­tions con­ferred by the French gov­ern­ment on ed­u­ca­tors and cul­tur­al fig­ures world­wide.