One of Saint Lucia’s most anticipated annual cultural music celebrations is moving closer to kickoff, after an official draw ceremony hosted by the Cultural Development Foundation Thursday finalized the full performance order for three flagship competitions: Calypso Monarch, Groovy Soca Monarch, and Power Soca Monarch.
The random draw, which follows a traditional ‘dipping’ ritual for the island’s flagship carnival music competitions, has placed veteran favorite TC Brown as the opening performer for the 2026 Calypso Monarch competition. Following TC Brown in the Calypso performance lineup will be John Gotti, Menell, Ready, Dezral, Walleigh, Lushanne, Herb Black, Gumption, and closing act Educator, rounding out the 10-competitor field.
For the Groovy Soca Monarch category, the order of appearance sets Carlton CR Roberts as the first performer, with subsequent slots going to Shemmy J, Deevon, Ricky T, Ezra D’FunMachine, Sly, Arthur Allain, Imran Nerdy, Kisha K and Twahizzy. The Power Soca Monarch segment, which features a larger field of 13 acts, will open with Sedale, followed by the duo of Hollywood DP and Deevon, then Ezra D’FunMachine, Kisha K, Sly, Tension, Ricky T, Bronxx, the pair of Dhirv 2 Funny and Mata, Shemmy J, Dezral, and closing headliner Sir Lancelot.
During the official ceremony, event organizers walked all participating artists through key event requirements, laying out clear expectations for production quality, on-stage presentation, and official competition rules to ensure smooth logistics for every performer before, during, and after their sets. In addition to locking in performance slots, the organization confirmed the full prize structure for all three competitions, offering generous payouts to top finishers. The overall winner of each competition will take home a top prize of $40,000, with second place awarded $30,000, third place collecting $20,000, fourth place earning $15,000, and fifth place receiving $10,000. All competitors finishing between sixth and tenth place will each receive a $5,000 consolation prize.
To support artists with upfront production expenses, every registered participant also received a $1,000 production grant immediately following the draw. To add flexibility for competing artists, organizers noted that acts in both the Groovy Soca and Power Soca categories are permitted to swap their assigned performance slots within the first 48 hours after the draw, if both participating artists agree to the change.
All three competitions will be hosted at the SAB venue on Vigie Playing Field. The Groovy Soca and Power Soca Monarch competitions are scheduled to take place on the evening of Friday, July 10, while the marquee Calypso Monarch competition will kick off at 8:00 p.m. on Saturday, July 11.