QORIHC Marks 10 Years Honouring 35 Women Across Jamaica's Creative Industries

Thirty-five women will be honoured at the Karl Hendrickson Auditorium at Jamaica College on Sunday, May 31, when Queens Of Reggae Island Honorary Ceremonies stages its 10th annual awards ball in Kingston. Red carpet arrivals begin at 5:30 p.m. with the ceremony following at 6:30 p.m.

The milestone caps a decade of recognition for women whose contributions to reggae music, dancehall, film, television, theatre, comedy and media have consistently gone under-acknowledged by the broader industry. This year's class of 35 represents an expansion from prior editions, which honoured between 14 and 31 women in a given year, and reflects a deliberate push to cast a wider net across Jamaica's creative landscape.

Behind the initiative is Laurell Nurse, a Kingston-born singer and professional nurse who also records as Mye Laurell. She launched QORIHC in 2016 after a conversation with pioneering female deejay Sister Nancy crystallised what she had long observed: women in reggae and related genres were doing foundational work and receiving little formal acknowledgement for it. Sister Nancy, best known for the 1982 dancehall classic "Bam Bam," was among the inaugural honourees that first year. Since then, Nurse has self-financed the awards without corporate sponsorship or institutional backing, driven by a conviction that women in the industry deserve consistent recognition.

Over nine previous editions, QORIHC has built a roll call of more than 80 women, including Marcia Griffiths, Patra, Tanya Stephens, actress Audrey Reid, first Dancehall Queen Carlene Smith, harmony duo Brick & Lace, and Judy Mowatt. Culture Minister Olivia Grange, musician and educator Joy Fairclough, model and lifestyle coach Althea Laing, and dancehall artiste Pamputtae are among the hall of fame inductees. Artist manager Bridgett Anderson, who guided the careers of Garnet Silk and Samory I, has also been recognised. The 35 honourees joining that ledger in 2026 span recording artists, film professionals, media personalities and theatre practitioners.

Nurse has articulated the ceremony's purpose plainly: QORIHC aims to "bring to the forefront women who have been overshadowed, denied their glory, forced into shyness and seclusion, and great accomplishments unsung, to shine in their absolute femininity." For the 10th edition, she has also promised something beyond the formal: "an appetising, fashionable, and fun-filled night, not the usual sit down and watch mundane atmosphere."

From a debut staged at the Courtleigh Auditorium in New Kingston to a 10th edition at Jamaica College with 35 names on the programme and no corporate co-sign in sight, QORIHC has become one of reggae's most consistent platforms for women who shaped the music and the industry around it. Thirty-five more names will be added to that archive on May 31.