–in keenly contested Miss World Guyana 2017 pageant

AFTER being declared winner of the Photogenic Award, the GTT People’s Choice Award and the Multimedia Award, 18-year- old former Bishop’s High student, Vena Mookram was officially declared Miss World Guyana 2017 when the pageant concluded late Sunday night at

the Marriott Hotel.

The daughter of Vic and Sharda Mookram of the trendy East Bank fast-food joint, M & M Snackette, Mookram was moved to tears when what she’d done really sank in.
“I really didn’t expect it, but I was absolutely amazed. I’m so happy, and I’m so grateful that I will be representing Guyana. I knew that I deserved to win because I worked really hard and I’m just so proud of myself tonight. I was nervous, but I was more excited than I was nervous,” Mookram said.
Standing tall in her evening gown, “The Golden Pheasant” designed by local boy Quinton Pearson, Mookram was crowned by outgoing queen, Nuriyyih Gerard, and will now represent Guyana at the international Miss World pageant later this year.

Mookram, who only this year concluded writing her Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examinations (CAPE), represented Region Four (Demerara-Mahaica), prevailing over crowd favourite Manisha Wong, who finished in the First Princess position, and local model, Ariel Ghanie in the Second Princess position.

To their credit, Wong, who represented Region Nine (Upper Takutu-Upper Essequibo), won the Sports and Fitness Award, while naturally, Ghanie, representing Region Seven (Cuyuni-Mazaruni), strutted away with the Top Model award.
Also making the top five were Hemwantie Seodat and Nitifah Thompson who represented Regions Three and Ten respectively. Seodat claimed the pageant’s “Beauty With A Purpose” award for her advocacy on education for underprivileged children.

Delisha Wright, representing Region One (Barima-Waini), cleared the “Talent Award”, which was based on the competition held two Fridays ago at the Tower Suites.
A singer, Wright gave Sunday night’s audience a display of her musical capabilities when she sang Whitney Houston’s “Greatest Love of All” to the top five delegates.
The Top Model award was the final segment to be contested, and was the only one contested on Coronation Night, since, as customary, 80% of the competition was already completed prior to the final on pageant night.

The Top Model segment accounted for only 20%, while the other segments that the young ladies competed in, and already completed prior to coronation night were: The sports, which went for 5% of the score; the multimedia presentation went for 15%; one-on-one interviews went for 20%; talent 10%; and the beauty with a purpose was for 30%.
Not understanding how the scoring system worked, even though co-host Gerard explained it earlier in the evening, a few patrons of the pageant were somewhat baffled after Mookram was announced the winner.
Believing that like other pageants, the girls were being judged based on the final question, whereas in actuality no points were going to the question and answer segment at the end of the pageant.

Host Joel Ghansham also stole the show too, after he announced the winner ahead of franchise holder Natasha Holder, who was on stage to do just that.
For the most part, most the top five young ladies breezed through the question, but of course that was expected since it was pretty elementary, asking each girl “Why should you be the next Miss World Guyana?”

“I believe that I should be the next Miss World Guyana because I possess all the qualities necessary to be a successful queen: Ambitious, hardworking attributes to complete my goals. With these qualities, I believe I can be a remarkable ambassador to represent my country on the international stage, while not only fighting to promote my Beauty With A Purpose Project but the entire Miss World Guyana Organisation. In closing, I am a woman of substance, a confident young lady who believes she can win this crown and bring Guyana a successful victory come this November in China,” was how Mookram dealt with that question.
And in the end, she was adjudged the most all rounded of them all.