The National Celebrations Commission has selected the winning theme for the 2020 September Celebrations.
Although the COVID-19 pandemic has forced all of us to adapt to social distancing, and only leaving our homes when it is absolutely necessary, there will still be a scaled-down observance of the 222nd Anniversary of the Battle of Saint George's Caye, and the 39th anniversary of Belize's independence.
This year's September celebrations will be commemorated under the theme: "Overcoming Adversity, Creating Opportunity, Belizeans: Unite for Prosperity!"
It was submitted by Precious Martinez, a 13-year-old student from Sacred Heart College in San Ignacio Town.
The National Celebrations Commission normally hosts a ceremony to recognize the winner, but due to the pandemic, they had to inform Precious Martinez that she won the competition via a teleconference video call and interview.
This afternoon, NICH's President Sapna Budhrani, hosted the teleconference event and invited the press to meet the winner. Here's what one of the judges had to say about why they chose her entry as this year's theme.
Enrique Carballo - Chair, Themes Committee
"This year, we set record-breaking participation, in which we had about 312 submissions, from 131 persons, as compared to other years, when we just had - last year, we only had 86 participants with 237 submissions. In 2018, we had only 70 participants with 196 submissions. So, as you can see, it has been increasing. More Belizeans are participating."
"This year's competition was very tough for the Committee, and we have - the committee goes through the process of elimination. We end up with about 10 themes, and then from there, we end up with about 3 or 4, and then we make a decision."
"This year's theme that the committee selected was 'Overcoming Adversity, Creating Opportunity. Belizeans: Unit for Prosperity. We believe that this was the most relevant theme for what we are going through right now."
"It's an honor to say that the winner for this year is a 13-year-old second former from the Sacred Heart College of San Ignacio. And she's a resident of that town, San Ignacio/Santa Elena. Her name is Precious Martinez."
"If 13-year-old old can come up with these words, We adults should take it as an example, and with the experience we have, we should try to live up to this theme."
Precious Martinez - Winner
"I got the idea that overcoming adversities would probably meaning like thinking about Belize during these challenging times, and how we could turn these adversities into opportunities, so, that we can prosper, and eventually, as a nation, bloom. An example would be like COVID-19. COVID-19 can be addressed more quickly if everyone would follow the safety measures and follow proper protocols without complaining."
Precious Martinez was one of 131 participants who entered the competition this year. She is also the youngest winner on record at this time. She will be awarded a $500 cash prize.
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