Dellwood Middle School students treated a packed auditorium to an encore of their contest-winning performance this morning.

The M3 drama students shared their multimedia piece with those in attendance at the Salvation Army headquarters on Reid Street, including teachers, fellow students and Government officials.

Five students delivered the spoken-word performance highlighting black men who had been killed or incarcerated in Bermuda as a result of gun crime.

Music and projected visuals with messages asking “when will enough be enough”, “have we really tried”, “has the Government failed”, “shoot for the stars” and more supported the spoken portion.

The performance won top honours at the Live, Love, Life youth anti-violence talent event held on Sunday night.

Those in attendance this morning included David Burt, the Premier, national security minister Wayne Caines, anti-gangs coordinator Pastor Leroy Bean and education minister Diallo Rabain. A visibly emotional Mr Burt said he was touched by the show, which earned a standing ovation from him and his colleagues.

The Premier said that there was “a lot of pain in our community”.

He added to the youth in attendance: “But you all are the future. You are the ones who can change the direction of this country.”

Mr Rabain thanked the students for a “phenomenal and powerful experience”.

Dellwood, Mr Rabain said, had gone through some “transformations” over the past several months. He added: “If they can persevere with the challenges they’ve had, surely we as a community can come together and persevere in the challenges we have.”

Mr Caines invited those in the room to take control of their lives.

He added: “We have to understand that being dragged into the gang lifestyle — the ultimate end of this is death or incarceration.”

Mr Caines said the Dellwood students would be performing in a second talent event set in February to vie for a prize of up to $10,000.

Mr Bean invited those in attendance to look at those sitting beside them and tell them they were the “agents of change”.

The current Government, Mr Burt said, was committed to solving the problem.

He added: “We will work with you to make sure that we can stop the violence, end the killing, and finally say enough is enough.”