History was made on Thursday at the Mindoo Phillip Park as Vide Bouteille Primary School’s Baby K became Saint Lucia’s first-ever School’s Soca Competition winner, delivering a dynamic performance of her song School’s Out.
The performance took place during the inaugural National Schools Soca Competition, a new addition to the Carnival calendar. Eight schools qualified for the final event.
Taking second place was Double Trouble of Ave Maria Girls’ Primary with Look Trouble. Syo, representing Anse La Raye Primary, came in third with JuJu Fever, and Likkle Riddim from Ciceron Combined took fourth place with Best Days.
Prize packages for the winners included:
4th Place: $500 cash and a Ribena gift bundle from Acado.
3rd Place: $1 000, plus Ribena and Renwick gift packs.
2nd Place: $2 000 to the school, Massy Stores snack and stationery hampers, a RadioShack backpack with USB speaker and Bluetooth headphones, and gift bundles from Acado and Renwick.
1st Place: $3 000 to the school, a tablet and snack hamper from Massy Stores, a RadioShack tech backpack, and additional gift bundles from Acado and Renwick.
In addition, Mighty Z of R.C. Boys Infant School was honoured with the Most Stage Presence Award for his high-energy delivery of I Want an A. His prize included a professional photoshoot courtesy of Right Angle Imaging.
Other soca performers included Ti Jean (Canon Laurie Anglican), Royalty (Les Etangs Combined), and Gold Dust (R.C. Boys Primary). Across all performances, themes ranged from embracing Saint Lucian culture and school life to youthful fun and personal expression.
Tamara Gibson, chairperson of the Carnival Planning & Management Committee, praised the quality of the performances and the potential of the newly developed Soca Competition.
“This year we introduced the soca competition so we reached out to some of the soca and groovy artists, example Ezra and Arthur [Alain], to help groom the children, so it’s been a lot of work and I’m very proud of what I see here today,” Gibson told St Lucia Times.
Sixteen schools across the primary and secondary schools entered this year’s soca competition and the committee is already looking ahead to 2026.
“Looking at what we see here today, we have high anticipation of who will participate in the competition next year,” Gibson said.
