 A prize-giving ceremony was held last week at Alias Process to reward participants of the Francophonie poetry and poster competitions. The competitions form part of activities held to commemorate Francophonie Month, held in March annually to celebrate the shared linguistic heritage based on the French language. Comadi Mark has the details. Saint Lucia's linguistic heritage based on the French language is celebrated annually during Francophonie Month. Francophonians are encouraged to not only learn the French language but also participate in Francophonie competitions to help sharpen and display their linguistic abilities. 2021 was no exception. During the month of March, l'Agonisation Internationale de la Francophonie, OIF, hosted a calendar of activities including the Francophonie Poetry Competition. The Francophonie Awards ceremony was held on April 30 at the Alias Process to reward participants of the Francophonie Poetry and Poster competitions. Macias Synthurian-Laurent, national correspondent to the OIF, spoke on the theme under which this year's celebrations were held. As you know, the theme chosen for this year's observance was femme francophone, femme résiliente. And this theme was chosen in order to highlight the challenges faced by women and women to celebrate their strength and resilience in the face of crisis. The theme is quite fitting for today's activity because you two students have demonstrated great resilience in the face of the pandemic. You have had to deal with the impact of COVID-19 on your education. You have had to transition to online learning, physical school, back to online learning, back to physical school. And you have done all of this with so much grace. And in the midst of all of this turmoil, you took up the challenge to participate in the Francophonie competitions that were held this year. Christelle Autrément, regional councillor of cooperation at the French Embassy, stressed on the importance of Francophonie celebrations. But Francophonie is just not one day. It's not just one week. It's not just one month. It's every day. It's learning a new language, becoming better in the language, and also learning about another culture and the values associated with this language. So today I want to give a special thanks to all the teachers and also the teachers' association who are on board every day to have the young St. Lucien, the young Caribbean, learn a modern language and learn French in particular. A certificate of participation was given to each student who participated in the competitions. The winners of the poetry competitions were as followers. Fourth place, teacher Dorville. Third place was awarded to Maya Fossoie. In second place, Kiana Charles. And the winner of the Francophonie competition was Carnegie Paul of the Leon Heves Comprehensive Secondary School. Participants of the 2020 poster competition were also awarded, given the OIF's inability to do so last year, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. From the Government Information Service, I'm Hermione Mark.