Farmer voted best storyteller in Jamaica
Wins first prize of $375,000
A farmer with no experience in storytelling has earned himself the top prize of $375,000 in Jamaica’s most financially attractive storytelling competition. Not only did the second- and third-place winners also walk away with generous cash prizes ($225,000 and $150,000, respectively), but all the other six semi-finalists left with several thousand dollars each.
All they had to do two Sundays ago at the University of Technology, Jamaica was to tell their own true six-minute stories. Their cheques were handed over by Jamaican US-based actress, storyteller and producer Debra Ehrhardt who, along with Dr Basil Kong, organised the annual competition.
Ehrhardt told The Gleaner that for this, the What’s Your Story, Jamaica? competition’s second consecutive year, nearly $1 million in prize money was distributed. Some 200 people entered the 2023 competition, many more than last year, when nearly half amillion dollars was earned by the finalists.
This year’s top prize went to farmer-vendor Gary Stephenson for Lockdown During Covid, a tale about being threatened by a group of inner-city residents when he was falsely accused by a young woman of trying to abduct her. The second-place winner was Wendy Stephens, who told of the rapid growth in her extended family when she unexpectedly bonded with the family of her long-lost daughter and then with her newly found granddaughter’s family. Curly Roberts won the third prize with My Race, a tale of hubris about his running a 400-metre race at school without having trained for it.
Ehrhardt, whose five plays comprise dozens of true stories, believes that sharing stories “promotes understanding despite our differences, [and] is the foundation of building stronger communities”. Writing in the printed programme for the competition finals, she explains her storytelling philosophy.
“People have been telling stories since the beginning of time because they help us understand ourselves and others, and also remind us that we are not alone in the world. While we don’t all share the same experiences, we do all share a similar array of emotions, fears and hopes. When those emotions, fears and hopes are presented to us as part of a personal story, they create a connection between the listener, the characters and the teller.”
We exchanged emails while she was on her way back home to Los Angeles to do further work on her latest play, L ook What Fell Out of de Mango Tree, which she gave as two staged readings in Jamaica in January. On behalf of those interested in next February’s competition, I asked about the process of entering.
She wrote back saying some people send in an audiotape, but the entries need to be eventually written out so she can help with the editing. Every story gets read, she said, adding:
“I want a range of stories, a range of voices and different tones. Humour is always great, but if there is something that’s an important issue in Jamaica or can help someone think differently, I like to include that. Is it entertaining? Is it meaningful? Does it have a nice wrap-up at the end? They must be true stories about yourself. An experience that you’ve had, something that happened to YOU, something that maybe changed you, or your view of the world. A story with a beginning, middle and an end.”
After editing, the stories are returned to the authors, who have the final say about what is kept. Ehrhardt speaks with every performer who makes it to the semi-finals about their stories, and gives them advice on how to make it better and bring out their “best storytelling voice”. She advises writers to read their stories to several people to get a range of opinions.
The main sponsor for the first competition was Dr Basil Kong, but last year’s prize money came mainly from Jamaican organisations, individual Jamaicans in America, and Americans who saw the first competition. Ehrhardt wrote that she found an “unbelievable” amount of talent in those entering the competition and ended by stating:
“We film the show and the tape is used by several Jamaican organisations in America to raise money for their schools in Jamaica. So it’s a good thing all the way around. Let us change the world with our stories.”