Sandy Bay Government School emerged winners in the Ministry of Education Christmas Festival finals on Tuesday and earned themselves the Festus Toney Award for Musical Excellence.{{more}}

In addition to winning the award, the school was also the zonal winners for the Georgetown Zone and earned the title of Most Outstanding Choir with their expertly arranged pieces of “Do you hear what I hear” and “Born is He”.

Roseanne Baptiste, the music teacher at the school, said that preparing for the concert was a lot of hard work.

“We had to use up our lunch times; every 12:30 we would practice,” she said.

Baptiste, who did the arrangement to both songs performed by the choir, also expressed her happiness at winning.

“I am so overjoyed. I’m very proud of the students … and I’m very glad that we can represent our school,” the teacher said.

Other schools from across the country also received special awards.

Questelles Government School was awarded the title of Most Outstanding Instrumental for their beautifully executed pan rendition of “Angels we have heard on high”.

The most outstanding choral speech and drama award went to Paget Farm Primary School, who performed an entertaining play to remind people to live within their means at Christmas time.

St Mary’s Roman Catholic School’s illustrative dance to “Once upon a Christmas” earned them the award in the Most Outstanding Dance category.

Winners of the zonal activities were also awarded prizes for their achievement.

Spring Village Methodist School was the winner in the North Leeward Zone, while Questelles Government School won in the South Leeward Zone.

The Union Zone winner was Diamond Government School and Argyle Primary School was the winner in the Marriaqua Zone.

In the Bequia Zone, the winner was the Paget Farm Primary School.

Calliaqua and Kingstown zone winners were Gomea Methodist School and Kingstown Anglican School respectively.

The finals saw a healthy turnout of students, teachers and well-wishers, who seemed to enjoy the talent being displayed by the young dancers, actors and musicians of the country.

The late Festus Toney is described as a stalwart in the domain of education for giving over 40 years of service as a teacher, head teacher and chief education officer at the Ministry of Education.

His work in facilitating the certification of young musicians is also recognized.

His brother, Joel Toney, former ambassador of St Vincent and the Grenadines to the United Nations, presented the award to the Sandy Bay Government School. (BK)