The Exceptional Women’s Award was hosted by the Ministry of Ecclesiastical Affairs in collaboration with the Bureau of Gender Affairs on Wednesday, March 13th, 2019. The award ceremony was held to recognize women who have impacted the lives of citizens.

Below are the 13 women who were awarded at the ceremony.

Bishop Alice Jacob and Bertha Joseph for Church, for Excellence in Agriculture – Lilian Marcellin, Elizabeth, Cyril Alfred, and Helena Williams. Gloria Walsh and Vena Royer received the Community Development Award while Erma Lafond of Canefield, Niomi John of Goodwill and Police Officer, Vernelle Shillingford received the family life awards. Yvonne Alexander  – President of the Dominica Cancer Society, Melissa Skerrit the wife of the Prime Minister and Cheryl Rolle of the Insurance Company Sagicor, received the leadership awards.

At the ceremony, Minister of Ecclesiastical Affairs, Family and Gender Affairs, Honorable Catherine Daniel, expressed that women should be honored and recognized for good rather than the negative aspects.
She further stated that “Sometimes it’s only when people do bad things that we go to social media and we spread this very quickly and we are quick to denigrate people. But we need to take a lead from tonight’s observation of women and what women have contributed. I think if we do more of these positive actions in our country, then we will be well on our way to being a healthy and stronger nation”.

The 13 women were all elated to have received awards and vowed to continue doing exceptional work.