(Jamaica Observer) Country girls run things! Just ask the top three finishers in the Miss Universe Jamaica pageant which had its grand coronation last Saturday at the National Arena in Kingston.
Winner Iana Tickle Garcia is from St James, while first runner-up, Toni-Ann Lalor is from Manchester. Second runner-up, Sian Graham Connolly, is from St Ann.
This year, 16 of the 18 finalists in the pageant were from rural parishes.
Pageant director Mark McDermoth believes the extensive search for finalists across Jamaica helped attract contestants from outside Kingston and St Andrew.
“I believe that more young women are coming from the rural parishes mainly because of the outreach our preliminary pageants have created and this was a deliberate strategy we embarked on from the outset. We wanted a more rounded, varied and diverse group of contestants and to also be able to have winners emerge not only from Kingston, but if they had the talent, from the rural areas, too, just like our 2016 winner Isabel Dalley, who is from St James. I think rural contestants are inspired by this and feel that they too have a chance at winning,” McDermoth said in an interview with the Jamaica Observer.
Over the years, local pageants have been dominated by applicants born in Kingston but who live overseas, a trend that sparked controversy among beauty contest watchers. McDermoth said while the background of entrants is more diverse, the number of aspirants from North America remains high.
“The entry of overseas contestants to the Miss Universe Jamaica pageant has not declined. Even this year there were four potential contestants at the elimination exercise on July 6. Unfortunately, they were not successful with the selection panel in gaining spots among the 18 spaces that were available,” he explained.
This year, there was one contestant who attends school abroad, Leah Hollingsworth, a St Elizabeth resident.
The 2018 Miss Jamaica World pageant also saw a number of rural participants. The winner, Khadija Robinson, is from St Elizabeth.