The University of West Indies (UWI) has announced that renowned calypso singer Sir McClean Emanuel, also known as King Short Shirt, will receive an honorary degree from the Five Islands campus as part of the Class of 2023 graduation ceremonies.

He is the only recipient of this honor from the entertainment industry across all four of UWI’s landed campuses.

Other notable honorees from the entertainment sector include Bajan Soca star Alison Hinds from the Cave Hill campus, Trinidad & Tobago-born R&B singer/actress Heather Headley from the St. Augustine campus, and Jamaican reggae legend Beres Hammond from the Mona campus.

King Short Shirt, who has won the calypso competition 15 times in Antigua and Barbuda and became the first to win three successive stagings, is described as a colossus of calypso in the media statement.

He has also won the Caribbean Calypso competition seven times and seven Road March crowns since he entered the calypso arena in 1962.

The graduation ceremonies at the Five Islands Campus begin on October 7, followed by Cave Hill on October 21, St Augustine from October 26-28, Mona from November 3-4, and the Global Campus on November 11.

King Short Shirt, along with other honorees, will join hundreds of students across all UWI campuses who are marking the end of their studies.