Miss East End/Long Look 2012 Ayana Phillips was crowned last evening July 21, 2012 at the Eileen L. Parsons Auditorium. Photo: VINO

Miss East End/Long Look Ayana Phillips performing her winning talent, "The talking drums". Photo: VINO

The Eileen L. Parsons Auditorium at the H. Lavity Stoutt Community College was almost filled with patrons for the much anticipated pageant last evening July 21, 2012, which only saw the participation of four contestants. Shanette Brown had dropped out of the show.

Phillps, who stood out in all categories from the beginning to end, won Best Swimwear, Best Talent and Best Evening wear, along with Miss Photogenic, Miss Intellect and Miss Poise. Among her winnings, the 17-year old took home an Ipad, a laptop and a two-year scholarship to attend the H. Lavity Stoutt Community college.

First runner up went to Sheverne George, who won the Best Black and White segment, and also performed well in all the other categories. Sheverne won a Netbook and other prizes.

The other participants were Dwynel Davies, who won Best Introduction and was also named Miss Popularity, and Brittney James.

In her winning Introduction speech, Dwynel said she was an advocate for community pride and was passionate to keep the Virgin Islands culture alive.

The swimwear segment did not seem to meet the audience’s expectations but in the end, Ms. Phillips who showed off a black and blue one piece suit, outshone her colleagues to win the segment.

One of the best entertainments during the show and maybe the night, came from Prince and Princess 2012 Jayque Hopkins and CeRayiah Authurton, who did a performance of their winning talent from the Prince and Princess Show with Jayque portraying Martin Luther King Jr. and CeRayiah, Rosa Parks.

In a segment that saw creativity at its best, Miss George dominated the Black and White Affair with her office wear which when taken off, revealed a very eye-catching dress for an outing with the girls. In this segment, Britney James also unveiled a very creative piece. She was dressed for a tea party and when she took off her belt it was transformed into a long fabulous cocktail dress. Ayana’s travelling look was also dropped to unveil a hot black and white two piece suit, while Dwynel wore a two piece skirt suit to a lawyer’s award but dropped the skirt to reveal a tantalising short pants for the after party.

The different beats of the African drum with explanations of their meanings saw the new Queen winning the Talent segment with her tribute to the talking drums which was followed by what was dubbed a freedom dance.

Many looked forward to the evening wear segment where winner of the segment Ayana represented a true Caribbean sunset in her beautiful gown. George, also wore a very dazzling white figure hugging gown in this segment which was also well received by the crowd.

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The question they had to answer - if they had a choice to choose from beauty, money or education which one it will be - all the contestants chose education.

The new Queen won this segment, stating that she would chose a College degree as God created everyone in his own image and therefore she was already beautiful. She said a college degree can take her to another level to be beautiful and that money doesn’t make one happy or beautiful but with a college degree, it can take her where she wants to go in life.

Performances during the show came from Lorenzo Thomas, Sandra and Group and Cassandra Malone. The MCs for the night were Craig Lake and Arlene T. Penn and both of them kept the audience well entertained.