Winners at a glance
The response to part one in this series of articles on The Guyana Prize was overwhelming and encouraging; some of the criticism I am not in a position to handle but the commendations for what The Prize has achieved thus far outweighs the niggling negatives. Here I am yielding to a number of requests to publish the results of The Prize in at-a-glance format:

TOP MARKER
Fred D’Aguiar has won The Prize on four occasions - the most times any writer has done so up to date. He won in 1987 for poetry with his book, ‘Mama Dot’ and in 1994, 1996 & 2004 for fiction with the books ‘The Longest Memory’, ‘Dear Future’, and ‘Bethany Bettany’ respectively. D’Aguiar was born in London, came to Guyana in 1962, and spent his formative years at Airy Hall, Mahaicony, and at Kitty Village, before returning to England in 1972. He is now attached to the University of Virginia, USA.

THREE-TIME WINNERS
David Dabydeen has won The Prize on three occasions – 1992, 2000 & 2004, all in the category of fiction; all novels, namely, ‘The Intended’, ‘A Harlot’s Progress’, and ‘Our Lady of Demerara’.

Paloma Mohamed is also a three-time winner and all in the category of Drama, carting off The Prize in 1998 (‘Duene’), 2000 (‘Father of the Man’) & 2004 (‘Nancy Story’). Mohamed is the youngest female winner and the only female writer to have won The Prize on three occasions.

TWO-TIME WINNERS
Persons who have won The Prize on two occasions include Ian McDonald, both for poetry, Harold Bascom, both for Drama, Michael Gilkes, Drama & Poetry and John Agard for Poetry. McDonald won in 1992 with ‘Essequibo’ and in 2004 with ‘Between Silence and Silence’. Bascom won in 1994 with ‘Two Wrongs’, and in 1996 with ‘Makantali’. Gilkes won in 1992 with ‘A Pleasant Career’, and in 2002 with ‘Jonestown’. Agard won in 1998 with ‘From the Devil’s Pulpit’ and in 2000 with ‘Weblines’.

ONE-TIME WINNERS
One-time winners include Wilson Harris (1987 – ‘Carnival’), Martin Cater (1989 – ‘Selected Poems’), Roy Heath (1989 – ‘The Shadow Bride’), Janice Shinebourne (1987 – ‘Timepiece’), Grace Nichols (1996 – ‘Sunrise’), Denise Harris (1996 – ‘Web of Secrets’), Brian Chan (1989 - ‘Fabula Rasa’), Mark McWatt (1994 – ‘The Language of Eldorado’), Pauline Melville (1998 – ‘The Ventriloquist’s Tale’), Gokarran Sukhdeo (1998 – ‘The Silver Lining’), Dennis Craig (1998 – ‘Near the Seashore’), Raywat Deonandan (2000 – ‘Sweet like Salt Water’), Maggie Harris (2000 – ‘Limbolands’) Stanley Greaves (2002 – ‘Horizons’) and Berkley Semple (2004 – ‘Lamplight Teller’).

‘MANUSCRIPT’ WINNER
Two manuscripts won The Prize in fiction; ‘Cosmic Dance’ by Harischandra Khemraj and ‘Ariadne & Other Stories’ by Ruel Johnson and, one in poetry, ‘Near the Seashore’ by Craig.

In 2004, for the first time in the history of The Prize, the heavyweight of the prize – Best Book of Fiction – was shared; this category was shared between D’Aguiar (‘Bethany Bettany’) and Dabydeen (‘Our Lady of Demerara’).

YOUNGEST WINNERS
Ruel Johnson is the youngest person to have won The Prize, winning in the year 2002, with a collection of stories, ‘Ariadne & Other Stories’.

Paloma Mohamed is the youngest female winner.

There are more good things to The Prize than what meets the eye, but more of that later.

Literary update
* The tenth anniversary issue of THE GUYANA ANNUAL is under production, submissions are invited to various competitions offered and articles of local interest are also welcomed. This Guyanese literary and cultural tradition started in 1915. It was dormant for a few years until it was resuscitated in 1998 by Dr. Tulsi Dyal Singh. For further information, please contact Guyenterprise or the editor, Petamber Persaud.

* You are invited to THE JOURNEY, an evening of literature, part IX, on Wednesday August 22, 2007, at Castellani House - 1700 hours. The theme is ‘emancipation’, featuring literature in celebration of the rights of man.

* Information needed on Christopher Nichols, Edwina Melville, Rosetta Khalideen, C. E. J. Ramcharitar-Lalla, Angus Richmond, O. R. Dathorne, Randall Butisingh, Meiling Jin. (Thanks to numerous enablers for continuing the dialogue.)