Catholic musician Leandra Simon-Richards of the Archdiocese of Port of Spain is the winner of the Antilles Episcopal Conference Youth Assembly’s (AECYA) 2022 song competition. This means that Simon-Richards’ winning piece ‘Fully Alive’ will be used throughout the Assembly.
The logo and song competition which was open to all nationals and residents of the AEC aged 16 and over was hosted by the Diocese of Roseau. The theme for the Assembly was Youth: The face of Christ fully alive.
According to information on the competition, the lyrics and music of the AECYA song should reflect a strong Caribbean cultural identity, have versatility and lend itself to being played by various instruments (stringed, steel pan, keyboard, percussion, wood wind) and sung, have a strong Caribbean cultural flavour and rhythm; and the lyrics, in particular, should reflect the Assembly’s theme.
At the prize-giving ceremony on Wednesday, July 1 at the AEC Secretariat in St Clair, Port of Spain, Simon-Richards shared what inspired her to write that particular song and of the “common thread” in most of her songs.
“…is really about freedom and the freedom or the liberation we get through salvation….” She commented that while she has written other songs before, working with a chosen theme was somewhat “restricting”.
Nevertheless, Richards felt content in presenting the “liberation message” of the face of Christ and what it meant to her via her lyrics.
2022 AEC Youth Assembly Theme Logo Chosen
Congratulations to Jawanza Stuart from Dominica on winning the logo competition for AECYA 2022! Bishop Gabriel Malzaire, President of the AEC presented him with his prize at the Bishop Arnold Boghaert Catholic Centre.