BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – PHOTOGRAPHS of the 11 contestants who will be competing in the 33rd annual Digicel Haynes Smith Miss Caribbean Talented Teen Pageant were recently made public on the popular social network, Facebook.
Photos can be seen on the official fan page at www.facebook.com/CaribbeanTalentedTeen, along with a biography for each of the teenage beauties.
Sixteen-year-old Junika Berry will represent St. Kitts while Kevione Pemberton (18) is the competitor for sister isles Nevis.
The other contestants confirmed to participate in the pageant are Miss Anguilla - Dwayniqua Baird (16), Miss Bahamas - Jayme Pinde (16), Miss Jamaica - Kabrena Robinson (17), Miss St. Lucia - Shartoya Jn Baptiste (17), Miss Trinidad and Tobago - Clara Barker (17), Miss St. Croix - Aniah N. John (14), Miss Barbados - Zhané Padmore (18), Miss BVI - Kamyce Penn (18) and Miss Grenada 16-year-old Melissa DeAllie.
The pageant is slated for December 29.
Contestant Coordinator Akilah Byron-Nisbett informed the media that preparations are going well.
“Plans are on track to produce an excellent production again this year, and in addition to the very high standard of the contestants’ talent, the Committee will once again bring in a top regional or international celebrity as special guest for the show. We intend to raise the standard even higher, this in its 33rd annual staging,” she said.
Byron-Nisbett talked about the process that was used for selecting the contestants.
She explained that the local organising body, the Haynes Smith Committee, used a first come first serve criteria.
In addition, she said the successfully selected countries submitted what was requested of them from the Committee, based on the contracts signed between the two parties.
The application process was opened in August and closed on October 15 this year.
Nisbett noted that a quite a number of applications were submitted.
“However, the committee looked at all applications and a number of things were considered in deciding the final 11, including meeting application deadline requirements and participation in qualifying shows in the respective countries”, she disclosed.
As gathered, the talents that the successful applicants possess were key to the selection process.
“We also scrutinise the talent; that is, the standard of the talent of each contestant. Most of these contestants would have entered a local show in order to be qualified to participate in the Haynes Smith show. So we have been monitoring them all through the year and now the show is like the finale where they would have to come up against their Caribbean counterparts,” remarked Nisbett.
