The number of competitors in the 2026 Jamaica Cultural Development Commission (JCDC) Festival Song Competition has been reduced to nine following the removal from the line-up of one of the finalists, Junior ‘Renegad’ McCalla.  And, while McCalla and his team are disappointed, they have taken responsibility for what led to their non-participation and say they remain “fully motivated”.

The JCDC announced last Friday that McCalla would no longer participate, owing to the fact that “the entry did not satisfy the competition’s requirement that submissions be new and unpublished works”. McCalla told The Gleaner that his song, which was titled I’m from Jamaica, “had a minor release in 2019”.

A press release quoted Executive Director of the JCDC, Lenford Salmon, as saying that “the decision was taken in keeping with the competition's rules and the commission's responsibility to ensure fairness to all participants”.