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The 2025 Bo­cas Hen­ry Swanzy Award for Dis­tin­guished Ser­vice to Caribbean Let­ters has been award­ed to the pi­o­neer­ing Jour­nal of West In­di­an Lit­er­a­ture, the fore­most pe­ri­od­i­cal ded­i­cat­ed to An­glo­phone Caribbean lit­er­ary schol­ar­ship. This an­nounce­ment was made on March 26 dur­ing a me­dia con­fer­ence to un­veil the pro­gramme for the 2025 Bo­cas Lit Fest.

First pre­sent­ed in 2013, the Bo­cas Hen­ry Swanzy Award is named for the late BBC World Ser­vice ra­dio pro­duc­er (1915-2004). Swanzy’s work as an ed­i­tor and pro­duc­er on Caribbean Voic­es, the pro­gramme orig­i­nal­ly found­ed by Una Mar­son of Ja­maica, pro­vid­ed a land­mark plat­form for Caribbean writ­ing in the 1940s and 50s, broad­cast­ing fic­tion, po­ems, es­says, and crit­i­cism by West In­di­an writ­ers across the re­gion.

Cre­at­ed by the Bo­cas Lit Fest in Swanzy’s mem­o­ry, this award cel­e­brates the con­tri­bu­tions of ed­i­tors, broad­cast­ers, pub­lish­ers, crit­ics, and oth­ers who have de­vot­ed their ca­reers to de­vel­op­ing Caribbean lit­er­a­ture. Bo­cas Hen­ry Swanzy Awardees are cho­sen by the fes­ti­val’s or­gan­is­ers and ho­n­oured an­nu­al­ly at the Bo­cas Lit Fest.