COMMITTEE members and designers met with the media last Tuesday to launch the Miss Guyana Universe Pageant 2012. Over dinner at the Waterchris Hotel, on Waterloo and Quamina Streets, Artistic Director of Miss Guyana Universe Pageant, designer Derek Moore, led the evening’s discussion.
A ‘double competition’ is anticipated, as this year the pageant will invite designers to help in the process of finding suitable candidates for the Miss Guyana Universe Pageant. This year’s Franchise holder, Odinga Lumumba, who was not present at the meeting, is offering a $150,000 cash incentive to every designer whose candidate is selected. The designer presenting the delegate who takes the crown will be awarded an additional $300,000, and the designer with the first runner-up candidate will receive $250,000, the second runner-up designer will receive $200,000, and the third runner-up designer will receive $100,000. The responsibility of the designer is to make sure the young woman is outfitted for every function. The delegates will be sponsored by corporate sponsors, organizations and individuals, as is customary.
Moore said that this was not an automatic deterrent to other young women who can apply for the pageant. He reminded that there are requirements. Candidates must be between the ages of 17 to 25, must be pretty, intelligent with a sound educational background, be five-foot-seven or above in height, just to name a few of the criteria. Delegates may be drawn from Guyanese living abroad.
The pageant will be held between August 17 and 19 this year, at the Princess Hotel, Providence, East Bank Demerara.