CUSHION CLUB

Past Cushion Club session - specifically the 2015 prize giving last September for the reading Challenge

The Cushion Club reading club for children in Antigua and Barbuda resumes their regular Saturday sessions from Saturday, April 23rd. Volunteers and children are welcomed. Sessions run from 10:30 am. to 12 noon.

The Cushion Club is also making arrangements to have winning writers from the 12 and younger age category of the Wadadli Youth Pen Prize 2016 Challenge come out to an upcoming club session or session to share their stories. The Club contributed gift certificates (valued at a total of EC$155) for books to the prize package for this age group. Recipients of these gift certificates were winner of the 12 and younger category and second placed overall Chammaiah Ambrose (author of the poem, Guilty), runners up Judah Christian (author of the story, The Worst Day Ever) and Zion Ebony Williams (author of the story, A Dinner to Remember), and honourable mention Denejah Browne (author of the story, Lost and Found).

The Club congratulates all the winners and especially these young writers just beginning to find their voice/s through the written word.  The Club has been a supporter of Wadadli Pen from its beginnings in 2004 realizing a kinship in the project which endeavours to encourage young people to engage with literature and language, develop their comprehension and creative thinking skills, and express themselves.

The youth winners from this year's Wadadli Pen challenge awards ceremony

The Cushion Club is itself more than 15 years old and has mentored a number of young people who are now young adults. It continues with its Saturday meetings to provide a safe and fun environment for young people.

The Club meets at the University of the West Indies Open Campus – Antigua and Barbuda, with the occasional field trip thrown in. Its other activities have included last summer’s reading challenge and , in the past, contribution of a humanities prize to students of the Buckley's Primary School.

The club is run by Cedric Holder, who has in the past received a National Youth Award for his volunteerism with the Club. The invitation to come out and support the Club’s efforts remains open. For children wishing to participate in Club activities, no registration or fee is required. Sessions run throughout the regular school year, resuming, as noted at the beginning on April 23rd.