Flaunt Weeekly News
Renowned jazz trumpeter Etienne Charles has been named one of the 2025 Anthony N Sabga Caribbean Excellence laureates, earning a $500,000 prize for his contributions to music.
Charles, of Trinidad and Tobago, a celebrated bandleader, composer, and professor at the University of Miami’s Frost School of Music, is widely recognised for blending jazz with Caribbean genres.
Since 2006, he has released ten albums, including the acclaimed Creole Soul and Creole Orchestra, the latter of which earned an NAACP Image Award nomination.
He has performed with jazz legends like Wynton Marsalis and the Count Basie Orchestra and collaborated with esteemed symphonies such as the New York Philharmonic.
Among his many accolades are a Guggenheim Fellowship and France’s prestigious title of Chevalier de L’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres.
His 2022 multimedia work, San Juan Hill: A New York Story, delved into the displacement of African-American communities during the creation of Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in New York City.
Charles is one of four laureates named in this year’s Anthony N Sabga Caribbean Excellence Awards. Regarded as the region’s most prestigious corporate honour, the awards celebrate its 20th anniversary this year.
The awards have provided $32 million to 66 laureates since 2005.
TT’s Rachel Renie-Gonzales was celebrated with an award in the entrepreneurship category. She is co-founder of D Market Movers, an e-commerce platform centred on the farm-to-table supply chain.
She is credited with improving farmers’ livelihoods, reducing food waste and providing consumers with fresh local produce for over 16 years.
Her business offers frozen fruit products, hosts farm-to-table dining experiences and mentors young entrepreneurs.
Guyana’s Ayodele Dalgety-Dean was honoured in the public and civic contributions category for her work with Blossom Inc, a nonprofit providing critical services for women, children and vulnerable migrants.
The Anthony N Sabga awards credited Dalgety-Dean for transforming lives and promoting social integration, particularly within indigenous and migrant communities in Guyana via her advocacy, therapy and outreach efforts.
Jamaican cancer researcher Dr Simone Badal received the award for science and technology for her work in drug discovery and advancements in cancer treatment.
The four laureates will be celebrated at a gala in Port of Spain on June 7, when they will receive their cash prizes, citations and commemorative medals.
