Ultimate Soca Champion 2026 in limbo

Grenadian Wrenroy "Blaka Dan" Ogiste performs his song, Blessing, at the 2025 Ultimate Soca Champion finals in Port of Spain. FILE PHOTO -

ORGANISERS of the Ultimate Soca Champion, introduced in 2025 as a replacement for the defunct Soca Monarch competition, are nervously awaiting feedback from the government ahead of Carnival 2026.

The competition was noticeably missing from the National Carnival Commission’s (NCC) 2026 calendar of events released on December 16.

Responding to queries from Newsday, Ultimate Soca Champion CEO Jerome “Rome” Precilla said, “We have formally written to the honourable Minister of Culture (Michelle Benjamin) and the National Carnival Commission requesting a meeting to discuss the status of the Ultimate Soca Champion competition for 2026. To date, we are still awaiting an official response.”

In a written statement, Rome said the organisers were fully prepared to move forward with the competition.

“Ultimate Soca Champion 2025 was a strong success, and the response from artistes has been overwhelming. Many performers have already been reaching out, expressing their excitement and eagerness to be part of the 2026 edition.”

He said organisers are mindful of the country’s challenging economic circumstances and are more than willing to sit with Benjamin and NCC to “explore practical and sustainable ways in which the competition can be executed within the current climate.”

He added, “As this is still a relatively new competition, government partnership is critical at this stage to help build it to a level where it can eventually become self-sustaining. At this point, it would be extremely difficult to mount the competition independently without that support.”

He said he is hopeful – in the interest of soca – that an agreement can be reached.

“We remain committed to working collaboratively with the government to ensure that our culture continues to be supported, nurtured, and allowed to flourish,” Rome said.

In April of 2024, the former culture minister Randall Mitchell announced the People’s National Movement (PNM) administration’s intent to partner with private organisations to host a soca competition, following the cancellation of the Soca Monarch.

In July 2024, the government invited expressions of interest. That closed on August 23, 2024 and the ministry received eight submissions.

It then issued, through the NCC, a request for proposals on October 29, 2024 and that closed on November 19, 2024.

Star Global Productions was chosen as the winning bidder.

The organisers revealed in a press conference on January 17, 2025 that the winner would walk away with $1 million.

They also shared that it would mirror international reality-TV formats where the stories of some of the competitors would be told during streamed episodes. There were two categories: the ultimate soca champion and the youth soca champion.

Eventually, Grenada’s Akim “Blaka Dan” Ogiste walked away with the ultimate prize for his popular song, Blessings.

The NCC calendar showed the earliest event next year being the opening of Flava Food Village on January 2 at 7 pm, followed by the January 3 launch of a stickfighting event called Welcome to the Gayelle, to be held at the Moruga Multi-Purpose Youth and Sports Facility. This is a government-led event aimed at adding more stickfighting events to the Carnival calendar, Newsday was told.

The John Cupid Carnival Village is scheduled to open on January 9 and close on January 29.

Chutney Soca Monarch is scheduled to be held on February 14 at Skinner Park, San Fernando.