By Shauna Jemmott

‘MISS Regal International Guyana 2016’ will be staged for the first time, and Pageant Director Debra Allen is searching for neither a photocopy nor a camouflage queen, but a unique and charismatic individual with a love for country and diplomacy.Allen, an impressive personality herself, told the Guyana Chronicle in an exclusive interview that the pageant is the first of its kind to be staged in Guyana, and springs from an international connection to the universal ‘Miss Regal International’, to be staged in Antigua later this year.

Are pageant girls photocopied? Many pageants seek a copy of a Miss Universe girl, “just a look” that they see in magazines; but Allen spoke confidently of finding and respecting a girl for her uniqueness, charisma and ‘self.’
A girl who comes with such qualities will go through preparation for the universal integration in contest and diplomacy.

An audition will be held at 13:00 hrs (1:00pm) on April 17 at the Millennium Manor at 43 Hadfield Street, Georgetown. Guyanese-born females who are 18 to 27 years old and at least five feet, six inches tall with a sound secondary education background will qualify for the audition. Height is not a key factor, Allen said, since consideration will also be given to girls under the minimum height requirement mentioned as long as the delegate is ready by other means.

Training will be done in areas such as spirituality, posture and deportment, correct walking, vocabulary-building, questions and answers. Sequences include that of the international contest, which are evening gown, talent, swimwear and Question and Answer; and the pageant will be in keeping with the level of the international contest, which is directed by renowned Antiguan international designer and Pageant Director Calvin Southwell.

Allen said Miss Regal International is on a mission to up the standard of pageantry presented in the Caribbean, presenting a universal order.
The pageant’s humanitarian platforms include homelessness and breast cancer awareness.