Winners Of The 2024 Edition Of The Jaycees Queen Show. Photo: JCI Antigua

The Jaycees Queen Show, a regional competition put on by Junior Chamber International (JCI) Antigua, will not grace the Carnival stage in 2025, according to Antigua’s Creative Industries Minister Daryll Matthew, who addressed the situation during a recent broadcast with state media.

“It has been a staple on the Carnival calendar for decades,” Minister Matthew explained during his television appearance. “Last year, we managed to convince them to reconsider, but this year, they’ve once again indicated the show will not be taking place.”

The decision by JCI organizers stems primarily from prohibitive production expenses, a challenge affecting similar events throughout the Caribbean.

“Queen pageants generally throughout the region have been cancelled. They are tremendously expensive to put on,” Matthew observed, placing the local cancellation within a broader Caribbean context.

Though private sponsors stepped forward in 2024 to rescue the competition from a similar fate, Minister Matthew expressed diminishing optimism about a repeat intervention.

With the Carnival season approaching and planning timelines narrowing, the window for potential sponsorship arrangements continues to close.