The competition, held at Aruba Entertainment Center, took place on Saturday where Aruban teens and children competed for the roadmarch and calypso titles.

Eleven contestants will be competing for the crown, in youth and adult categories, accompanied by special performances by local artists.

What started as a school project turned into Aruba’s Carnival bible. The Bacchanal is currently Aruba’s official magazine of Carnival, but was originally created by Friedrich van der Hans as his graduation thesis.

This year’s Aruba’s Children’s & Youth Calypso and Roadmarch contest will be bigger than last year’s competition. This year’s contest on Saturday January 18th will feature 14 participants in the children category and 12 participants in the youth category. The public is invited to show their support for all the participants.

The Prins and Panchos in the categories Child, Youth and Adult were elected during an evening filled with humoristic sketches where the contestant were trying to prove that they are worth becoming the next Prins and Pancho for Aruba’s Carnival 2014. The new Prins & Panchos will rule the events and parades and will present his Queen to the people on her election, and will accompany her where ever she appears.

Aruba was looking forward to the first Carnival parade, highlighting the start of Aruba’s Carnival season and the many parades, pageants and musical contests/events that will follow. With nearly 10,000 people in 10 carnival groups, the Torch Parade was a huge success and an exciting opening of Aruba’s 60th Carnival season.