UPDATE: Sylvanna Charles ‘taps’ her way’ to Ms VG Easter Festival crown
From those performances onwards, persons could be heard saying that Ms Sylvanna Charles was definitely one of the favourites for the crown and it would turn out that the judges also felt that way as she was crowned Queen at around 12:40 A.M. on March 24, 2013 at the Catholic Community Center in Virgin Girda.
It was also not surprising that Ms Charles won Best Performing Talent and Best Cultural Dress and also added Best Introduction Speech and Miss Poise, although the latter award would have been a surprise to some.
During the Cultural Dress Segment, Ms Charles delivered a mountain of a performance, in that she represented Sage Mountain and sought to deliver a tour of the popular tourist site in the Virgin Islands. Her costume was particularly creative and her presentation received a good response from the mostly Virgin Gorda crowd.
But it was firstly a cartwheel and then a split that had the crowd reacting loudly and favourably to Ms Charles, who came out as a tap dancer. The split in particular saw Calypso queen Sistah Joyce rise out of her seat in applause.
The Performing Talent segment was worth some 80 points and the Cultural Dress 50 points and would have most likely been the critical wins for Ms Charles en route to capturing the crown.
“Just like all my other pageants, when I win I am happy. I am happy that all my hard work paid off. It’s a lot of work being in pageantry but hopefully I will continue,” a delighted Ms Charles told Virgin Islands News Online.
“I tried to stay confident throughout, I thought at times I could have done a little bit better in some of my segments but I kept my game face on, came out, and did what I had to do.”
There were at least two very slight slips by Miss Charles and even though she did well to keep her balance and smile during those incidents she did admit that her mindset was somewhat affected. “Actually it did and I thought it would have interfered with me getting Miss Poise.”
Apart from the beautiful Crown and Sash, the 2013 Miss Virgin Gorda Easter Festival also won herself a $3, 000 cash prize, dinner for two at Bitter End Yacht Club, a scholarship, official trophy, bouquet of flowers and other tangible prizes and appearances.
“A break, I am going to the spa,” Ms Charles said with a smile on being asked what was next for her.
Meanwhile, the First Runner Up position went to Contestant #1 Ms Mindy Paul. Paul was also named Miss Popularity and Miss Photogenic.
As First Runner Up, Ms Mindy Paul will receive $1, 500 cash, a scholarship, dinner for two at Bitter End Yacht Club, bouquet of flowers, official trophy and other tangible prizes.
There was also no surprise when Ms E’mani Prince won Best Swimwear as she was simply stunning in that segment.
The awards for Best Evening Wear and Miss Intellect went to Gwenisha Wilkinson, who was clearly the crowd favourite.
Question and Answer Segment
The Question and Answer Segment (40 points) saw all of the contestants being asked the same question individually. “With the entire world becoming more conscious of preserving the environment what do you think is the most important environmental issue facing the BVI and how should we address that issue?” was the question posed to each contestant away from the earshot of the others.
Ms Paul said the most important environmental issue facing the VI was that of improper disposal of waste and that the community should come together to clean up the area.
Ms Charles said she thought the most important environmental issue facing the VI today is the pollution of its waters. She explained that the VI is regarded as the sailing, snorkelling and diving capital of the world and that tourists come to enjoy the waters and coral reefs. “We need to preserve this, we need to make sure that when tourists come and take day sails or week sails that they do not pollute the water by dumping their waste in it.”
Ms Prince said the most important problem was the improper disposal of garbage. “We should become one community and learn to recycle,” she said in her very brief answer.
Ms Wilkinson, who seemed a bit shaky, said plastic waste being left in the environment was the biggest concern for her and that one of the solutions was to implement programmes to clean the streets. She added that informing the youth about the environment and getting them involved as well as paying workers to clean up the streets were part of the solution.
Entertainers between segments included Wendy George who sang Alicia Keys ‘Girl on Fire’, and had the audience singing along; a singing duo who calls themselves ‘2 Unknown’; Krell “K’aRe” Lewis who sang ‘Show me Love’; and VI Intrigue Dance Group who came out gyrating in parade costumes before literally engaging in some ‘limbo fire’.
The show opened with a smooth dance performance choreographed by the talented Ms Monea Richardson, who was also part of the dance group that set the pace for the evening’s activity.
The host and hostess were Dalan Vanterpool and Sharlita Millington.
Sponsors of the 2013 Miss Virgin Gorda Easter Festival included BVI Tourist Board, Buck’s Wholesale, CIBC First Caribbean International Bank, Speedy’s, Top Priority Security Services, Bitter End Yacht Club, Alvera Maduro Caines, Archibald Christian, Bath & Turtle Pub and Restaurant, Dive BVI and Fischer Cove Beach Hotel.
See previous article posted on March 25, 2013
Ms Sylvanna Charles is Miss VG Easter Festival 2013
The 2013 Miss Virgin Gorda Easter Festival is Miss Sylvanna Charles.
Miss Charles was crowned queen when the pageant was held at the Catholic Community Centre in Virgin Gorda on Saturday March 23, 2013.
First Runner Up is Contestant #1 Mindy Paul.
The individual prize winners are as follows:
Miss Popularity- Mindy Paul
Miss Photogenic- Mindy Paul
Miss Congeniality- E'Mani Prince
Best Introduction Speech- Sylvanna Charles
Best Swimwear- E'mani Prince
Best Cultural Dress- Sylvanna Charles
Best Performing Talent- Sylvanna Charles
Miss Poise- Sylvanna Charles
Best Evening Wear- Gwenisha Wilkinson
Miss Intellect- Gwenisha Wilkinson
Details to follow.
See previous article posted on March 23, 2013
‘We are preparing for a great show’- Easter Festival Pageant Com.
- Pageant to be held today, March 23, 2013 at Catholic Community Centre, VG
“Contestants are ready, we had a motorcade yesterday and it was really successful, we are just preparing for a great show,” were the words of Chairman of the Easter Festival Pageant Committee, Mr Rupert Vanterpool Jr ahead of the much anticipated pageant this evening at the Catholic Community Centre, Virgin Gorda.
Four contestants will be vying for the Miss Virgin Gorda Easter Festival crown this year. The young ladies are Mindy Paul, E’ mani Prince, Sylvanna Charles and Gwenisha Wilkerson. The contestants were introduced to the public for the first time at the recent Miss Gorgeous Pageant at the Catholic Community Center in Virgin Gorda.
The contestants will be competing in segments such as Introduction, Swimwear, Cultural Costume, Talent and Evening Wear.
Meet the contestants
Contestant # 1 Mindy Paul is a current student at the Hamilton Lavity Stout Community College, majoring in Humanities. Mindy intends to continue her studies in pursuit of becoming a lawyer, upon graduation in 2014. During her leisure time, she enjoys spending time with family and friends, playing the piano, the company of a good book or swimming at one of the VI’s pristine beaches. Mindy finds refuge in her life motto: “Put God first and all else will follow!” words that she says she applies to every aspect of her daily life.
Contestant #2 Sylvanna Charles is no stranger to pageantry as she has been Miss Teen BVI as well as Miss Caribbean Talented Teen. Charles first got into pageantry at Class 4, when she entered and won the Prince and Princess 2005 competition with her partner Raheem Smith. The Hal Jackson Pageant followed in 2010, where she placed first runner-up before winning the BVI Talented Teen Pageant and then competed in the Miss Digicel Haynes Smith Caribbean Talented Teenin in St. Kitts before winning the Miss Caribbean Talented Teen Pageant in 2011. Ms Charles is currently a student of the H. Lavity Stoutt Community College.
Contestant #3 E’Mani Prince currently studies Business Administration with a concentration in Small Business at the H. Lavity Stoutt Community College. E’mani looks forward to furthering her studies at the University of Miami, to obtain her Masters in Business Administration. With the dreams of opening her very own clothing store within the VI. E’mani has a strong passion for Modeling, Designing and Dancing. At the age of 13, she was given the opportunity to model in the Virgin Island Fashion Week in St. Thomas that afforded her opportunity to meet with Biannca Golden, contestant from American Next Top Model of cycle 9. Since then she modeled in various fashion shows hosted by UMI Fashions, Soiree BVI and Star Model Management in St. Thomas.
Contestant #4- Gwenisha Wilkerson is currently a full time student at The H. Lavity Stoutt Community College where she majors in General Science. “I am ambitious to pursue my dream of becoming an environmental health officer to contribute in preserving our Nature’s Little Secrets. To fulfill this passion I intend to further my studies at The University of the Virgin Islands. Through my enthusiasm for my future career, I have embraced the opportunity in enrolling in The Renewable Energy Club which educates the community on the benefits of alternative energy sources as well as create projects to promote our society.”
Meanwhile, show time this evening is 8 P.M. Tickets cost $25.
The Virgin Gorda Easter Festival Committee has announced that Speedy's will be providing a 1 A.M. ferry back to Tortola.
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