Kingston, Jamaica: The Jamaica Cultural Development Commission (JCDC) kick started this year’s staging of the Miss Jamaica Festival Queen Parish Coronations on Saturday, June 3, in Clarendon and St. Mary. Radio personality and student of the University of the West Indies, Shanecia Daley, was crowned Miss Clarendon Festival Queen while 21-year-old student, Sherai Campbell, was crowned Miss St. Mary. The remaining 11 Parish Coronations will take place on Saturdays and Sundays in the month of June. The winners of each parish will move on to the National Finals where they will represent their parish and compete for the prestigious title of Miss Jamaica Festival Queen for 2023.

 

The events are being held under the theme, ‘The Jamaican Woman: Strong, Dignified, Creative’.

 

At the parish level, Miss Festival Queen contestants are exposed to intense training in the areas of Walk and Poise, General Knowledge, Talent, Cultural Awareness. A cadre of Parish and National Festival Queen alumna has been integrally involved in training contestants for almost four decades, but training is also provided by industry professionals. These include Mr. Dervan Malcom, accomplished television & radio broadcaster who provides guidance with speech and diction and four-time winner of the Jamaica Festival Song Competition, Roy Rayon who provides guidance with talent performances.

 

This training has been integral to the holistic development of the contestants, some of whom have gone on to win Chevening scholarships- Dainalyn Swaby, 2017 Miss Jamaica Festival Queen, become successful media personalities- Jennifer 'Jenny Jenny' Small and Dahlia Harris, Miss Jamaica Festival Queens, 1990 and 1995 respectively. 

 

Acting Executive Director of the JCDC, Gregory Simms notes, “The sisterhood of alumna is very involved in preparing the programmes and serving as trainers, adjudicators and members of the parish and national planning committees. There are also Queens who serve as moderators and emcees as well as talent on the shows… they are very involved.”

He said the Festival Queen competition emerged from a period when Jamaica was very intentional and deliberate about empowering its women.

 

 “A lot of our esoteric history, a lot of our tradition is born on the back of the Jamaican woman, a lot of our magic is rooted in the Jamaican woman (with) special emphasis placed on the Jamaican woman as the breadwinner, the nurturer… the Festival Queen programme celebrates the natural beauty of the Jamaican woman, celebrates her intellect, her talent.” said Simms.

 

For her part, Mrs. Michelle Naraysingh, Acting Director of Marketing and Public Relations at the JCDC, acknowledges the kind support of corporate entities, local sponsors and donors. She listed Excelsior, Airports Authority of Jamaica, Jamaica Civil Aviation Authority, Jergens, J.F. Mills, Mega Marketing, Playtex, Stayfree and Bioré as the National sponsors of this year’s Competition.

She encourages Jamaicans to go out and cheer on their favourite parish contestant and give full support to the newly crowned Queen who will represent their parish at the national level. She said, “The participants have taken a brave step to represent themselves and their parish. This is no small feat. They should be encouraged and applauded.”

 

Coming up next weekend: Hanover will crown their winner on Saturday, June 10 at the Jockey Factory in Hanover and also on June 10, St. Thomas will crown their Queen at Colonel’s Cove in Morant Bay. Both shows start at 8:00 p.m. Manchester is also gearing up for its Coronation which will be held on Sunday, June 11 at Belair High Auditorium in Mandeville beginning at 7:00 p.m. 

The other scheduled shows are: Trelawny and Kingston and St. Andrew on Saturday on June 17; St. Ann and Westmoreland on Sunday, June 18, and Portland and St. Elizabeth on Saturday, June 24. The parish shows culminate in St. James on Sunday, June 25.

 

Admission is free. However, persons attending are required to have tickets to enter the venue. These are available at the respective JCDC Parish Office island wide.  Persons who are unable to attend the shows are encouraged to watch via live streams on the JCDC’s website. They may also follow the JCDC pages to vote for their favorite contestants to see highlights of each show.