Kaylia Clarke crowned Mini Miss Negril

Claudia Gardner, Assignment Coordinator

WESTERN BUREAU:

Nine-year-old Kaylia Clarke won the Mini Miss Negril Talent and Awareness 2013 competition last week Friday.

The coronation show was held at the MXIII Lawn in West End Negril. Nine girls entered the competition, which consisted of five major segments including an introduction, talent, a question-and-answer segment, an evening gown segment featuring designs by Savanna-la-Mar designer Diana Linton, and a creative costume design segment.

Towards the latter part of the night, Clarke and four other girls, seven-year-old Jada McNeil and 10-year-old Taliecia Brown, both students of the Mt Airy All-age School; 10-year-old Chelsea Moncrieffe of Sheffield All-Age; and nine-year-old Onesha Murray of the Negril All-Age School, were announced as the contest's top five.

At the end of the night, Clarke was announced the winner, evoking wild cheers from her supporters, while McNeil and Moncrieffe were announced as the first and second runners-up, respectively.

Clarke won a nine-inch tablet computer, day passes to Dolphin Cove, and dinner for two at Sunset on the Beach. She also won three sectional prizes, namely the Most Creative Design, Best Talent, and Most Aware. McNeil won four passes to the Kool Runnings Water Park and dinner for two at at one of Negril's popular restaurants, while Moncrieffe won passes to Dolphin Cove and a gift basket.

Other contestants

The four other contestants were 12-year-old Celisia Oyename of the Mt Airy All-Age School, and six-year-old Asheka Hunter, 10-year-old Jerme Jackson, and 12-year-old Andrelee Gordon, all students of the Negril All-Age School. The competition's two judges were fashion designer Diana Linton and Public Health Inspector at the Westmoreland Health Department, Terone Nish.

"This is our second year, and we are hoping to have many great years ahead of us," competition organiser, Faith Drummond, told Western Focus. "A friend of mine and I were thinking of doing something to help the children of Whitehall and its surroundings, and we decided to do this competition, targeting girls six to 12 years old. To me, they are more adorable and are excited about a competition like this."

Drummond said the training for the competition began six weeks ago, and during that period, the girls were coached in areas such as voice and speech, gait and poise, as well as developing good attitudes and self-confidence. She said there was tremendous sponsorship support from small businesses, boutique hotels, and attractions in Negril.

"Last year, we were overwhelmed in terms of numbers of patrons, so we moved to a new location. We staged it at the Negril Beach Park then. It was easier to get sponsors this year as opposed to last year. Last year was very difficult, but we got more sponsors this year. We got less in terms of sponsorship sums, but the sponsors came in," she said.

Photos by Claudia Gardner