At a prize-giving ceremony on Friday afternoon at the Umana Yana, High Street, Kingston, Georgetown, Teixeira said that a promise was made to Guyanese in year 2000 that Mash activity will reach its peak by 2005.

The Minister is optimistic that this year's trend of increased participation would continue until the promise is realised.

"Everything was a little better and the standards were higher this time. The floats got off the road earlier and this year participation generally was better. When we started to think about improving Mash, we wanted to give a clear message that Guyana was not Georgetown only", she pointed out.

"Mashramani is not a Carnival and is not defined as such. We are trying to create, and hold on to what is uniquely Guyanese, a festival where the essence is people, whether those people are from the Pakaraima or from Georgetown," she added.

With emphasis on people's participation this year, Teixeira noted that advertisements were put out inviting submission of ideas for a theme for the celebrations. "It was not a `top dog' approach. We had over 60 entries from all over Guyana, as far as from villages in the Pakaraima. The idea that was used, 'Colourful and True in 2002', was submitted by a Golden Grove, East Coast Demerara resident".

Teixeira said this kind of involvement of people is the essence of Mashramani that will help to keep the tradition alive. She added that recognising the meaning of Mashramani - `people celebrating after a cooperative effort' - also captures a part of the lives of Guyanese and how they work in general. And Mashramani has also become a way of healing and creating national pride and dignity in the country.

The Minister noted too, that women played a very important role in Mashramani by participating in the children's school competition, the steel pan competition which attracted a significant number of girl participants, and by making a big input in the quality of floats out on Mash day.

She said that following the review of this year's celebrations, the Mash Committee has already begun looking at several other things in preparation for next year's event.

Teixeira said the committee would only be taking a two-month recess and will reconvene by the end of June to start preparations for 2003. That would be three months earlier than it started for this year's activities, she pointed out. The Mash Secretariat will also continue to operate from the Middle Street, Georgetown office, she said.

"We recognise that we have to work, now that we have reached this stage, and will have to pay more attention to marketing Mash and to do more in terms of attracting more overseas Guyanese home for the event," Texieira said. She noted that about 2000 visitors come home annually for the festivity, but efforts would be made to increase the number.

Among some of the marketing issues the Minister said the Secretariat would be looking at are affordable, attractive package tours with airlines and hotels.

She said that the role of the country's administrative regions would have to be strengthened as well, with them being better equipped to manage and work with the private sector in their respective areas.

"We recognise that the training workshops we had were an integral part in making Mash better. We will be looking at...(improving) the skills for wire-bending and costume making, but also we would like to have workshops for young entrepreneurs for whom Mash can provide business opportunities", the Minister explained.

Teixeira noted that this year was special with the involvement of the other regions and "everybody was doing things that really lived up to what we wanted Mash to be."

Although there were numerous people who contributed to making the event a success, some of those who made a difference and were singled out for special recognition were those from the Ministry who planned and organised.

Apart from the winners, among the traditional sponsors receiving prizes were Fearnleaf Milk Powder, which has sponsored the Children's Costume Competition for seven years, Banks DIH, and Omai Gold Mines Limited.

Computer World, Demerara Distillers Limited and the Pan American Health Organisation, were among new sponsors.