Background

Beauty contests are not new in Sierra Leone. But they are far more frequent in the millennium than they were in the 20th century. Reasons for this range from the exceptional embrace of fashion as a way of life, exposure of youngsters to more social functions of such sort, in addition to more attention provided to entertainment as a development too. The quest for attention among young people today, and the continuous deepening roots of digitization which make it easier now than the world has ever seen, for people to want to display their nurtured and born talents to the world while staying in their localities.

Living in such reality, it is not uncommon to see fashion shows and beauty pageants posters, banners, flyers, and adverts of all sorts flying the streets and air waves. Such contests are a business of neighborhood show promoters, communal and township endeavors, and even national strides to keep breeding talents in that regard. There is hardly any formal organization or company handling pageantry as a public business.

To revers these seeming derailment of true value, as ELEVATE we are a company specialized in beauty pageantry with a vision of redirecting pageantry towards the underlying significance of grooming young female ambassadors who could not only be displaying fashion and gaining popularity on that ground but also be championing implementation of social and communal projects. The Miss Peninsular Beauty Pageant will be an alternative approach in same business but one on which the nation may bank its confidence for the empowerment of beautifully talented young women.

Justification

The Peninsular region of Sierra Leone’s capital is increasingly becoming active for residential and entertainment activities. As the city gets congested, more of the colonial beauty of the peninsular mountain is become eroded to acts of construction. Even in its active construction activities, the area still remains distant from major social activities in other sections around the city.

With such remoteness, introducing and sustaining a talent breeding annual social event, such as a beauty pageant gives the surrounding arrears an opportunity to show case their abilities locally and acquire enough mentoring from within their neighborhood before venturing out to same or similar events in representation of themselves, their community and possibly, their country.

On this background, the establishment of Miss Peninsular Beauty Pageant will boost the self-confidence of upcoming potential beauty contestants towards actualizing our broad vision of building a network of female ambassadors especially in the Peninsular axis of Freetown.

Goal

Miss Peninsular Beauty Pageant’s organised by ELEVATE – our goal is to formally identify, nurture and present the talents of naturally beautiful young women to compete anywhere with other beauty models in and out of Sierra Leone.

Objectives

The objectives of Miss Peninsular Beauty Pageant are as follows:

  • To informally but expertly school young talented women into beauty and fashion life-long career paths
  • To test capabilities of young talented women in organized local community beauty contests
  • To seek pageantry opportunities elsewhere nationally and international and lobby matching Miss Peninsular pageantry competitors’ participation in them
  • To model the embrace of intra- and international cultural conformities in fashion

Activities

Miss Peninsular Beauty Pageant will be rolled out every year on key traditional procedures ahead of the grand finale. As such, each participant must:

Formally apply to contest: Application does not only consider an expression of interest in the shows, but a signing of an undertaking to abide with all principles guiding a healthy participatory environment and mood.

Auditioning: A participant ability test will be conducted through an auditioning. Expert, experienced contestant who have made their ways to the top of pageantry nationally will assess every participant. Results from this activity will inform management’s decision about which applicants to take on stage and which ones would need additional support in preparation for other future contests.

In-house camping: Approved applicants will be camped in the same place for a couple of weeks ahead of on-stage performances. This activity will not only trigger exhibition of beauty and intelligence but will foster a sense of networking among the contestants for future joint actions and further build their appreciation of final results, accepting that contesting on stage always ends with winners at diverse categories.

Training: Experience teaches that talents could be both born and nurtured. Some applicants who may have all it takes to physically awe their audience may still need first hand coaching for especially their first stage appearances. In-house training will be conducted for all approved applicants to measure up to the reality of appearing before an audience and remaining composed throughout the show.

Reality TV show: A television station will be contracted to cover the procedures live from auditioning to crowning and award giving. This will popularise the shows beyond the community where it is held and trigger the buy-in of show supporters from especially Sierra Leone.

Voting: Remote voting will be organized in collaboration with at least one cell phone company to encourage external participation and crowd funding from contestants’ fan bases. This will not be a determinant factor for judging the contest, but it will encourage more viewership of the live television broadcast.

Judging, award winning, and final crowning of the queen: Like at auditioning, competent, experienced judges from among the pageantry community will judge contestants on set criteria as they perform. The chosen winners will be awarded preset prizes and the emerging beauty queen crowned. First and second place winners will be encouraged to take responsibility of a social project in a specific area of her choice within the borders of Sierra Leone to contribute to national development strides.

Pageant Outcomes

Sustainable implementing Miss Peninsular Beauty Pageant will result to the following outcomes:

Inter cultural values adopted and embraced: On-stage exhibitions of international dress codes, traditional/cultural regalia, etc., would influence adoption of values beyond our national door steps. Nationally, such exhibitions will foster tolerance among cultures and built bridges that unite the nation

Own celebrities nurtured for national representation: Nationally known faces with a highly socially accepted career opportunities will be borne out of the start and subsequent shows as talents will be groomed for such exhibitions every year

Sierra Leone’s presence at international pageantry known: It was news in January 2017 when Hawa Kamara made history as the first woman from Sierra Leone to enter the Miss Universe Beauty pageant. Miss Peninsular Beauty Pageant will serve as a gateway for nurturing more beauty talents to represent Sierra Leone at global contestant stages.

Lives of young women transformed: It was certain that the outcome of GMB events could result in life transformations, social change, business promotions, cultural acceptance, unity/peaceful co-existence, women empowerment, national unity and social integration. Ghana’s Most Beautiful pageant also has traits associated to its practices such as the following

Women’s adventurous capabilities empowered: Contesting participants will be empowered through the exhibition of talents and confidence building as the pageant will mold young contesting ladies to be adventurous, patient and persistent in all situations.