By Tamica Garnett

ON a night when eight teens contended to be the best, 14-year-old, New Guyana School student Aliya Wong stood out and was crowned Miss Guyana Talented Teen 2016, as the curtains came down on the pageant Saturday evening at the National Cultural Centre.

Crowned by 2014 winner Reesa Sooklall, an elated and emotional Wong noted that it was a proud moment for her to take over the title, avowing that this was only the beginning for her. “Winning this pageant has made me feel like a confident, phenomenal young woman, who has achieved so much so far and I am so proud of how far I’ve come in the competition. It makes me so happy, and I know that this is not the end, it’s only the beginning.” A tearful Wong said.

Outfitted in a green Kiesha Edwards’ evening gown, the West Coast Demerara girl prevailed as the best of the final three, triumphing over crowd favorite and eventual first runner up, Jerusha Ferrell and second runner up, Ayanna Glasgow.

Wong was also adjudged “Miss Congeniality,” applauded by host Feliz Robertson for her bubbly personality and warm smile throughout the pageant. In other awards of the night, Ferrell took away the award for “People’s Choice”, through garnering the most votes on social media, and was also the winner of the pageant’s “Cotillion”, while Glasgow walked away with the “Best Gown” award, after gracing the stage in a pink, off shoulder, “can can” Randy Madray designed evening gown. Glasgow also ended as the “Best Talent” winner.

Fifteen year old Ahiesha Antoo won “Best Multimedia Presentation”, and Geetanjali Nauth won “Most Improved Delegate”. An award was also bestowed upon former franchise holder and mother of pageantry in Guyana, Pamela Dillon of Simpli Royal, who this year handed over the Miss Talented Teen franchise to Imperial House, headed by Wazim Khan.

Giving a speech after receiving her award Dillon thanked all those who supported the pageant, but noted that more is still needed to be done, as last year went without the hosting of the annual pageant due to low ticket sales.

It was a tough night for the judges who had to narrow down the eight young ladies to three, then that final one. The ladies were judged on several aspects, some of which were completed prior to Saturday’s pageant night, including the girls’ performance at the “Cotillion”, a “Personality Interview” segment and the “Multi Media Presentation”, which featured each teen exhibiting a presentation based on a charity of their choice that they had worked with during their pageant training.

But in the end it all came down to how the girls answered the final question. Read by Robertson, the question put before the final three young ladies was: “Do you think that social media has helped or hurt our society, and why?”

Though there was much lacking in the answers of the young ladies, Wong’s winning answer stated: “I think that social media have helped our society because as youths we have social issues where society tries to define us. We have issues where we need to reach out to someone, and sometimes there is never someone there at home to help us. Through social media we have reached out to our friends and our close sisters and brothers to help us deal with every situation we have.”

Ferrell opined that social media has both negative and positive features in her answer, while a flustered Glasgow had a hard time getting across what she wanted to say.

Just prior to announcing Wong’s win, Sooklall took her final walk and thanked all of those who helped her along her journey as the queen, including her designer Randy Madray, family and friends, all those who have offered sponsorship and support to the pageant. Sponsors for this year’s pageant included Professional Guard Service, Medical Choice Pharmacy, Nesha’s Flowerland, Trophy Stall, Pegasus Hotel, Pieces and Things, Juju, Computer World, Buckhead ATL Boutique, Moi Toori Boutique, Pink Memo Boutique, Missology Guyana, among others.