QORIHC honours Alma Mock Yen, Jackie Knight as Tribute Queens

This year, the Queen of Reggae Island Honorary Ceremony (QORIHC), which is honouring 30 women in the entertainment industry, will pay special tribute to two outstanding women in media and communications, Alma Mock Yen and Jacqueline Knight. They will receive the special Tribute Queen Award at the Karl Hendrickson Auditorium, Jamaica College, on March 24.

A legend in her lifetime, Alma Mock Yen has had a varied and vibrant journey into and across the public sphere since attaining a scholarship to Wolmer’s Girls School, where she was first in the school in literature in the Senior Cambridge School-Leaving Certificate Examination. At age 14, Mock Yen became one of the youngest teachers on record when she began teaching language and literature.

Her pioneering run continued as a founding member, and later soloist and choreographer of the celebrated Ivy Baxter Modern Creative Dance Group (1950-1967), for which she wrote the libretto and lyrics of Jamaica’s first integrated musical, Once Upon A Seaweed. Mock Yen also operated her own dance studio in her beloved Harbour View community.

When Queen Elizabeth II visited Jamaica, Mock Yen was among those presented to the royal couple. As a RJR staff member, she did commentary on the royal visit at Sabina Park. From royalty, she hobnobbed with film stars such as Sean Connery, when he was in Jamaica to film the inaugural James Bond feature, but specifically, she enjoyed the actor’s famed wit while he was at the Ward Theatre to watch the 1961 pantomime, Banana Boy, of which she was a cast member.

Dubbed the doyenne of contemporary media, Mock Yen has kept abreast of the technology and can be found on Facebook mediating many a heated discussion. She can also still be found in her garden, being a strong believer in the therapeutic nature of horticulture.

Mock Yen also indulges in a lively game of ‘cut-throat’ dominoes and prior to a fall, could put down a notably hot cha-cha.

She is the author of several publications, among them Rewind (Non-Fiction) – a recollection of Radio Broadcasting in Jamaica; Teaching Texts (Sound Advice in the Principles and Practices of Communication, focusing on Planning the Public Information Campaign); Poetry (Potted Versions); and Reflections and Footnotes.

The other tribute queen is Chief Executive Officer of Top Klass Events and Marketing Consultancy, Jacqueline Knight. A stalwart in the marketing communications practice, she has used her studies in hospitality and business management to great effect at the former Wyndham Kingston Hotel, as well as in stints at CVM TV, and at the University of Technology.

Knight has deployed her considerable talents with the Reggae Month observances for the Jamaica Reggae Industry Associationand the staging of Cricket World Cup. Other memorable events and projects under her stewardship include Spruce Up Jamaica and Tourism Awareness Week campaigns and the China-Caribbean Trade Fair and Economic Forum. She was also public relations project consultant to Jamaican Olympic stars Usain Bolt, Shelly-Ann Fraser Pryce, Asafa Powell, and Alia Atkinson.

The QORIHC Awards was founded by Laurell Nurse, a Jamaican US-based registered nurse and recording artiste who, through her own experiences in the world of entertainment, noted the challenges women in the industry faced to achieve their goals and without much recognition.