The Miss, Mrs, Teen and Mr India Guyana Pageant winners were crowned at the Ramada Princess Hotel on Sunday night.
The new Miss India Guyana is Maya Persaud, who was first runner-up in 2018. Mrs India Guyana is Melessa Seupaul, while Beauty Razack is the Teen winner and Mario Mooonsammy the Mr winner.
Though the Miss/Mrs/Teen/Mr India Guyana Organization has had representatives for the Mrs and Teen categories at the international leg of the competition in the past, this is the first time a local competition was held where both categories were competed. The last local India Guyana pageant held by the organization was in 2019.
The organization was also successful in crowning a Mr India Guyana for the first time. This particular category had garnered much attention and appraisal from supporters of the men who competed. While the Mrs and Teen categories only saw three contestants each, and five contestants competed in the Miss category, the Mr category had nine contestants.
Like always, the pageant was a kaleidoscope of rich Indian heritage and saw the contestants competing in Evening Wear, Talent, Ethnic Wear and the Intelligence segments.
National Director Hashim Alli was elated to have been able to pull off the pageant this year. With the cancellation of the pageant last year owing to the pandemic, the participants who were initially preparing for last year’s pageant held on another year and were finally able to compete this year. Alli said it was by no means a walk in the park as everyone involved had to be vaccinated. Even so, he shared, the organization still needed permission from the National COVID Task Force to host the event as well as find a venue. However, it all came together in the end.
The Miss, Mrs and Teen winners will go on to represent Guyana at the Miss, Mrs and Teen India Worldwide pageant scheduled for February 2021.
Meanwhile, Lisa Narine and Nandanie Sharma were first and second runners-up respectively in the Miss category. In the Mrs category, the runners-up were Bibi Sahadeo and Amelia Bakhsh. Fifteen-year-old Yashmeta Lall of Essequibo was first runner-up in the Teen category and Berbician Chandani Misir was second runner-up. Moses Ally was first runner-up and designer Randy Madray second runner-up in the Mr category.
The organization also executed its annual Woman of Substance Award, which is designed to award present and past beauty queens of Guyana for outstanding contributions in various fields. This year, Miss World Guyana 2017 Vena Mookram was awarded for her consistent dedication to bettering the lives of Guyanese in poverty through food donation, medical and financial assistance. She was also awarded for successfully launching a fitness park in her community, Diamond, East Bank Demerara.
The pageant was co-hosted by Mr Grand International Trinidad & Tobago – Suveer Ramsook, who is also an international model and Mrs India Guyana 2018 – Shivanie Latchman. Television personality Joel Ghansham was the chief judge of a distinguished panel of judges.