Organised by the Buea-based ‘Let Them Laugh Comedy Club’, the award ceremony took place at the conference hall of the South West Regional Delegation of Arts and Culture Thursday September 19, 2019 under the auspices of the arts and culture delegate represented by Roger Lita.

Emma-Hans, who travelled from Bamenda to receive his award, said the contest was indeed challenging. “It’s a rare privilege for me to have been chosen a winner given the quality of works that were submitted by fellow comedians. When we first saw the flyers, we were intimidated. We thought since we are just beginners, there are people who will be better than us. But we took up the courage to submit our comedy piece and today we’re glad we did,” said the winner of the maiden ‘Let Them Laugh Comedy Challenge.

Reminiscing how the winning video concept came about, the representative of H-Square Comedy said: “It was on one of those days when activities were not going on in town and we were very idle. So, I came up with the idea of creating this comedy skit that ended up winning.”

Five other comedy skits also receive financial rewards ranging from FCFA 25,000 to FCFA 70,000, taking the number of laureates to six.

Organisers say the Let Them Laugh Comedy Challenge had over seventy entries from which twelve were selected on the basis of originality, morality, quality and humour.

Comedian and concept developer Calvino Wallang told Cameroon-info.net that: “The winners were really creative because they were original and put a Cameroonian touch to their art. Though we had some Nigerian slants in some of the videos, they were above all original concepts.”

The Association of English Speaking Comedians, CAMCOMICS, was represented on the occasion by Derrick Ndakwe, affectionately known by his artistic name Spaco. He emphasized the uniqueness of the new breed of comedians, saluting the force of their togetherness.

According to Spaco, “CAMCOMICS members are the most united in the country. When you see one of them, know that there’s another one around the corner. We don’t move in dispersed ranks. We move and work like ants and bees.”

Spaco advised the winners to no lie on their laurels. “Don’t relent. If you receive these prizes today and continue to work towards making people laugh, then it will go a long way to bolster the industry,” he said.

At the end of Thursday’s award ceremony, organisers said the ‘Let Them Laugh Comedy Club’ is bracing up for a grand show in Souza, Moungo Division of Cameroon’s Littoral Region come November 29, 2019.