Yolanda Ellis crowned Hanover Festival Queen

Christopher Bodden, Gleaner Writer

LUCEA, Hanover:Eighteen-year-old Yolanda Ellis walked away with the Miss Hanover Festival Queen 2013 title last Saturday night.

Ellis, who wore the sash Miss Seaview Pharmacy, is a student of the Montego Bay Community College. She also won the award for Best Performance for her piece titled The Cry as well as the prize for Most Community Involved.

Miss Shell Service Station, Sheraine Crooks, a 21-year-old teacher at Cacoon All-Age School, was crowned first runner-up, while second-time entrant Jeneve Watson, who wore the sash Miss Hanover Cooperative Credit Union, placed third.

The show started promptly at 8 p.m. and saw the audience being treated to a variety of entertainment items. When the contestants appeared on stage to introduce themselves, they were all greeted with loud cheers.

SHOWCASING TALENT

Introductions were followed by the talent segment, where contestants did entertaining pieces, including song, cultural pieces and dub poetry, some of which had the audience exploding in bouts of laughter.

Then it was time for the interview section, during which, as was expected, a bit of nervousness was seen among some contestants; however, for the most part, creditable answers were given to the questions chosen from the basket.

In an interview with Western Focus following the competition, Ellis said she had always dreamt of entering the Miss Hanover Festival Queen competition but was initially a bit apprehensive as she was in the midst of preparing for examinations and did not want it to affect those preparations.

The journey throughout was challenging, having to prepare for both the coronation show and my exams. There were long days and long nights without much sleep, she said. It has indeed been a wonderful experience and I would like to encourage young ladies to enter the Festival Queen competition as the experience you gain will remain with you for life.