Seventeen-year-old Gabrielle Mc Donald of St Joseph’s Convent, San Fernando dethroned her younger brother Marcus Mc Donald to walk away with the Junior Soca Monarch secondary school category title.
Mc Donald gave a spirited performance of her song Versatility, which highlighted T&T’s culture.
Her brother Marcus placed second, while Jalessa Lazarus of Athens School of Education in Tunapuna placed third.
The competition was held at the John Cupid Carnival Village in Queen’s Park Savannah on Thursday.
The upper Sixth Form student said despite not being able to enter the competition again, she has no plans of quitting.
“I want to pursue music and just carry that on in life. I think soca is honestly a good genre in that it brings colour to the world.”
In the Primary Schools category of the competition, Zachary Ransom of Montrose Government Primary was a cut above the rest with his selection Rankatang.
It was his second win on Thursday, having snagged the Eastern Credit Union Junior Calyspo title hours earlier.
He celebrated the win with second place winner and crowd favourite, Kymani ‘Yung Mani’ Hector-Kalloo, from St Peter’s RC Primary School. Celine Charles, from Valencia RC Government Primary School, placed third.
Ransome said his goal is to be the biggest soca singer in the world and he takes inspiration from “my soca superstar,” Machel Montano.