PHOTO CAPTION: Ameena Caesar (centre) with Consul General Derrick James (L) and Master of Ceremony Michael Roberts (R)

NEW YORK, February 1, 2010 – Seventeen-year old Ameena Caesar won Grenada’s Independence Calypso Competition at the Nazareth High School in Brooklyn on Sunday night.

Caesar, a recent graduate of the St. Joseph’s Convent St. George and the niece of calypsonian Squeezy, defeated a cast of 9 other artistes to become the first female to win the annual competition.

Singing in her first calypso competition, the teenager sang “Stand Up For Grenada” to score 332 points, 29 more than runner-up Stumpy. Another veteran Joe Joe was third with 300 points.

The 2009 monarch Hercules did not defend his title this year.