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The Institute of Creative Arts in partnership with the Ministry Of Education, Science And Technology released its National Festival of Arts, creative writing publication for 2024-2025 today. It features 44 stories and poems from students across 17 primary and secondary schools nationwide. Here are the highlights from today's release.

Kim Vasquez, Director ICA
"Well this is the commencement since yesterday of the primary school section of the National Festival of Arts and today is day 2 for Belize District Festival of Arts. But as you said we have quite a lot happening. After more than 2 decades we have the return of the literary arts to the National Festival of Arts. Starting from last year we made this known that we were determined to have poetry and short stories, and writing, return as strategic objectives to the National Festival of Arts. And so we are so pleased to realise this goal. Today here with 44 students from across the country, both at primary and secondary level, they submitted their short stories, their poetry and we have published them into a book and we hope that this will become an annual fixture as it rightfully should be in the National Festival of Arts. And also today we have the launch of the visual art upstairs in the Belisle Gallery and again this is a part of us growing the National Festival of Arts coming out of Covid when it had gone dormant. And we are so pleased again to see the visual art growing this year with over 80 pieces of art upstairs from across the country from preschool right up to secondary. We receive entries for the visual art and that is also on display here at the bliss this week as well."

"It is really significant for a young writer for a poet to have your work published and we hope that more than anything that this will be the seed and that they will take this experience of being in the publication as the motivation to go forward and continue to write."

Anastasia Smith, Student, Belmopan methodist school
"So what I entered was a story originated from when I was in standard 4, I chose this one because it fit the theme I little bit better plus I think I liked this one from standard four because it was really imaginative it was about this turtle and this girl Samantha she went on a trip to Hawaii to see her grandparents resort and she met this guy Mr Miller he was really bad and he wanted to get this magical egg because he wanted to conduct research on it and well Samantha she did some research because she found the egg and she was the chosen one so she did not allow Mr Miller to get his hands on the egg."

Mckayla Gomez, Student, Belmopan methodist school
"My entry was a poem it's based on like what a lot of young girls go through like bullying and young pregnancies, teenage pregnancies and stuff and that they lost themselves in all this world that they can't remember how they were joyful when they were little."

The Primary School Festival of the Arts is ongoing.