Jamella Chesney Wins Third at the Guyana Prize for Best Book of Poetry 2024

The Guyana Prize for Literature Awards were held on Friday 04 July 2025 at the Pegasus Corporate Building in Kingston, Georgetown. Facilitated by the Ministry of Culture, Youth, and Sports, the intimate, yet formal, event marked not only a celebration of literary talent but also the Prize’s continued evolution since its revival in 2023.

First introduced in 1987 by the Government of Guyana, the Guyana Prize for Literature was founded to honour and celebrate exceptional literary talent among Guyanese writers, both at home and in the diaspora. Following a period of inactivity the Prize has now been revitalised with expanded, more inclusive categories, an annual format, and the option for electronic submissions, broadening access and encouraging wider participation.

Five categories were recognised: Junior Poetry and Short Story as well as Fiction, Non-Fiction, Poetry, and Drama (senior categories). Within the Poetry categories, Jamella Chesney won a joint third prize for Indignation alongside Jamal La Rose for his Harvest of Gilead. Brandon Singh won second prize as well as the award for the Best First Book of Poetry for Guyana: Into the Folklore and first place went to Ian McDonald for Chasing the Marbleu.

Jamella Chesney receiving third prize from the Prime Minister of Guyana, Hon. Brig (Rt’d) Mark Phillips

Indignation, Jamella’s unpublished manuscript, was her first ever entry into the Guyana Prize for Literature. She was encouraged and motivated to enter by her colleague, Makeda Braithwaite, who was awarded the Third Prize in the Guyana Prize for Fiction 2022 with her first collection of short stories, An Anthology of Shivers, and shortlisted for Best First Book of Poetry in 2023 for Go Fish: Go In De Pack.

Indignation offers a powerful reflection on the upbringing of girls in Christian Caribbean households. The collection is divided into three categories: femininity, family, and identity, and explores themes of gender, religious dogma, control, migration, shame, and silence – shaped by the poet’s own personal experience as well as the collective realities of West Indian women across generations.