IslandMix

For Immediate Release

Contact: Bevan Springer + 1 201 861-2056 bevanspringer@nj.rr.com

ANTIGUA'S CARNIVAL FULL OF FESTIVE SPIRIT

ST. JOHN'S, Antigua (August 10, 2005) - This year's Antigua and Barbuda Carnival was the most successful in the 49 year history of the summer festival.

Neil Cochrane, Chairman of the Antigua Carnival Development Committee, said this year's festival, dubbed the "Caribbean's Greatest Summer Festival - Keeping the Wadadli Spirit Alive" saw record numbers of patrons attending all of the events, registering a 10 percent increase over 2004.

He said the island was choc-o-block with visitors from the Caribbean and the traditional markets of North America and Europe, and attributed the full house to the destination's new partnership with Black Entertainment Television network which heavily promoted the festival with thirty-second spots running on BET and BET Jazz from February to July this year. In addition, value-added promotional billboards and other offers, helped brand the destination for BET's Caribbean and international subscribers.

The carnival chief said the alliance with the network continues beyond the carnival season as the production crew which covered the festivities is also making a 20 minute feature on Antigua and its Carnival to run on BET and BET Jazz from the Fall through the Spring of 2006.

"We are serious about the Caribbean and our festivals," commented St. Lucia's Cybelle Brown, Vice President of Sales and Marketing for BET Digital Networks as she congratulated the Carnival Development Committee for the innovations they brought to this year's celebration. "The opening day parade presented extraordinary creative talent, and some of the most beautiful floats I have ever seen in any Caribbean Carnival. We are very excited about presenting this colorful festival on television," said Brown, who also tipped her hat to the various carnival winners.

Queen Ivena, for the fifth consecutive year, captured the Female Calypso Monarch competition, and then proceeded to three-peat in the Calypso Monarch event. Last weekend she returned from Anguilla where she copped the Leeward
Islands Calypso Monarch competition.

The Road March category in Antigua went to the Burning Flames with "The Harder They Come", as the 22 year-old musical group paid tribute to their late lead singer Onika Bostik who died tragically in Trinidad last year. Claudette "CP" Peters took full glory in the Party Monarch competition which set St. John's ablaze this carnival season.

BET Jazz: The 24-Hour Jazz Channel, a subsidiary of BET and Viacom, Inc. (NYSE: VIA and VIA.B), is the principal location for the fulfillment of all jazz interests. The network is the first and only 24-hour television programming service dedicated exclusively to jazz music and culture, and is distributed to more than 11 million homes. BET Jazz features many of the finest names in jazz through in-studio performances, festivals, concert coverage and celebrity interviews. Many of the shows feature original programming, as well as historic footage, unavailable on any other network.

BET Event Productions (BEP), a division of Viacom subsidiary BET, produces "Best in Class" live events that are designed to facilitate the advertising and promotional needs of its clients. BEP offers a full range of services, including project development and management, event marketing, artistic direction and production.

BET, a subsidiary of Viacom, Inc. (NYSE: VIA and VIA.B), is the nation's leading television network providing quality entertainment, music, news and public affairs programming for the African-American audience. The BET Network reaches more than 75 million households according to Nielsen media research, and can be seen in the United States, Canada and the Caribbean.

BET is a dominant consumer brand in the urban marketplace with a diverse group of branded businesses: BET.com, the Number 1 Internet portal for African Americans; BET Digital Networks - BET Jazz, BET Gospel and BET Hip-Hop, attractive alternatives for cutting-edge entertainment tastes; BET Event Productions, specializing in a full range of event production services, including event management, venue selection, talent recruitment, sound, lighting and stage production; and BET Books, the nation's leading publisher of African-American theme romance novels under the Arabesque Books label, and publisher of new imprints Sepia and New Spirit.

ENDS

Big tings ah guh on fuh Wadadli..thanks for posting the article

Bigger & Better Every year

next year guh be de Biggest yet...be there

np....only thing I think it missed was a quick mention of the other competitions (queen, panorama, etc).

Panorama should've defiinitely been mentioned cuz pan needs more shine period. That's one part of the culture that they must keep goin'...I'm still hoping for next year that that show takes place on the Friday nite instead of Thursday so more people will attend. @Queen show buh, dats just me.