Deneka Thomas walks away with fifty thousand dollars after becoming the new champion of the First Citizens National Poetry Slam Competition.

The event was sponsored by First Citizens Bank.

Her piece addressed the unfair strain and constraints of living secretly as a member of the LGBTQI community.

The Slam finals brought down the curtains on the NGC Bocas Lit Fest on Sunday at the National Academy for Performing Arts.

Kyle Hernandez earned second place while Idrees Saleem came in third for the second consecutive year.

Eminent storyteller Paul Keens-Douglas led a panel of judges that included a mix of local and international personalities and writers

In his feedback to the poets at the end, he described the evening as a celebration of the spoken word.