The Dutch Caribbean Pearls (Pearls DC) event aims to celebrate successes and Dutch Caribbean role models living in the Netherlands. Stichting Ocan, the foundation responsible for organizing the DC Pearls event, wants to represent Dutch Caribbean people for an equal chance to reach their full potential. The 4th edition of the Dutch Caribbean Pearls Gala & Award Show will take place on the 7th of November 2015. The winners will be announced during a spectacular award show at the Party- & Convention Center Doelarie in Rotterdam. The 33 nominees in the seven categories are online at the website of DC Pearls (www.dcpearls.nl).
As with previous years, the show will be held in the city of Rotterdam. The city of Rotterdam is an important financier of the DC Pearls project. Other sponsors this year are Stichting Studiefinanciering Curaçao, Stichting Passaat, and online radio Fruzitime.
DC Connect
Preceding the gala and award show will be the Dutch Caribbean Connect; A networking event where the nominees will be able to connect with other high profile VIP’s from the Dutch & Dutch Caribbean community. In previous years the DC Connect has featured Minister of the Interior and Kingdom Relations, Ronald Plasterk, Mayor of Rotterdam Ahmed Aboutaleb and Minister Plenipotentiaries from the various Dutch Caribbean islands.
The Event
The award show kicks off at 8:30pm and there will be various acts and performances filling the night such as; the dance group Afrokiddos and inspirational speaker, Shandrick Elodia. Well know bands NSTYPLY and K’RIBE will be live on stage for an evening of Caribbean fun. St. Maarten’s very own DJ Spy, who is among the nominees this year, will also have a performance as well as DJ Sky from Aruba. A judging panel of well experienced professionals from each category will select the winners based on a predefined criteria. There will be one winner for each of the 7 categories namely: Music & Entertainment, Science, Community, Student, Sport, Entrepreneurship and Art & Literature.
Nominees per island
This year there is one nominee for Bonaire, and one for St. Eustatius, non other than International Reggae artist, Ziggi Ricardo. From Saba there are 2 nominees this year, one each in the Student and Art & Literature categories. St Maarten, with 6 nominees has more than Aruba this year, who has 5 nominees, while Curaçao comes in with 18 nominees. The nominees from Aruba also include 12 year old Lisa Hoeverts in the Sport category. Lisa was born in the Netherlands, and her parents are from Aruba. “Usually there would be exceptions for older nominees. However, this time we were happy to make an exception for this young talent!” said Ramses Petronia, project manager of DC Pearls. Besides the fact that Lisa has had outstanding athletic results in the past year, the DC Pearls team believes it is important to look at the younger generation as well. Mr Petronia also mentioned that “the nominees are not just recognized for their success and input. OCaN sees these ‘pearls’ as role models for others in the community.”
Most Outstanding Pearl
Aside from the winners in the various categories, all the nominees are competing against each other for the additional “Most Outstanding Pearl” award which is selected based on an open poll system. Friends, family, supporters and the general public are invited to vote for their favorite Pearl by visiting the DCPearls website (www.dcpearls.nl/vote). The voting for the Most Outstanding Pearl 2015 is now open.
According to the project manager, Ramses Petronia “This year there is a much broader representation of all the different islands. Not just in terms of nominees, but including the organizing team as well”.
