The Jamaica Cultural Development Commission (JCDC) is encouraging persons to utilise its new digital platform to submit entries for its 2025 Festival of the Performing Arts competitions.
Entries open on Monday, Nov. 4 and the deadline for submissions is December 13, 2024.
Schools, individuals and community groups can log on to the JCDC’s new digital platform www.jcdc.awardsplatform.com to present their entries in the various categories, including Music, Speech, Drama, Dance and Traditional Folk Forms.
“We want everybody to enter the competitions, said Executive Director of the JCDC, Lenford Salmon.
“We are inviting everybody to log on to the JCDC’s new online platform; it is easier than ever. You are going to be blown away, you are going to be amazed at the ease and we want to carry everybody along with us,” he said.
Mr. Salmon was addressing a Think Tank at the Jamaica Information Service (JIS) head office in Kingston on Friday (Nov.1).
He said that the platform, which was introduced in January 2024, also allows for adjudication and feedback to entrants, noting that it includes galleries to showcase visual entries.
He said it is secure with built in data protection standard.
Mr. Salmon told JIS News that the JCDC has received positive feedback on the platform, which was piloted in July for the Visual Arts Competition.
There were 1,000 entries for the competition.
“So, we know that it works …we got a jump in entries and it involved everybody across the spectrum,” he noted.
The Executive Director said the platform has proven to be “user friendly” and is a “game changer” on how national competitions are managed and adjudicated.
“Trust us on it. It is a game changer not just for the JCDC but for all our stakeholders – teachers, the students, the community groups. Regardless of where you are in deep rural Jamaica, it is going to be much easier for you,” he said, noting that using the online system would be much easier than taking a taxi to hand in downloadable forms to the JCDC’s office.
Mr. Salmon said that persons who may not be tech savvy can contact any JCDC office in their parish for assistance.
“We will work with you. We are here to hold your hand and to guide you through it,” he said.
The mandate of the JCDC is to unearth, develop, showcase and preserve the talents of the Jamaican people while contributing to national development through various competitions.
