Mr World Jamaica is back; crowning September 1
Miss Jamaica World to be crowned September 6
Published:Sunday | July 21, 2024 | 12:07 AMYasmine Peru - Senior Gleaner Writer
On Sunday, September 1, inside the ballroom of The Jamaica Pegasus hotel, Mr World Jamaica will be crowned.
This was revealed at a press conference by the franchise holders last week at the Courtleigh Hotel and Suites in New Kingston.
Applications are now open for the competition, which is targeting men between the ages of 17 and 27 years old, who will be challenged on their mental prowess and physical fitness. The elimination round takes place on Sunday, July 28 and what follows is “a five-week festival of glamour and culture”, leading up to the coronation, shared co-franchise holder, Dahlia Harris.
Harris and Weston Haughton are the co-franchise holders of both the Miss Jamaica World and the Mr World Jamaica contests and she was quick to highlight the difference in the position of the words for both titles.
“I am saying Mr World Jamaica ... and I am saying Mr World Jamaica because Weston [Haughton] and Kevin fell into the trap because we have Miss Jamaica World. But we say Mr World Jamaica in keeping with what it is globally ... Mr World Chile, Mr World Brazil. Mr World. I am speaking it into being ... all we have to do is just erase off the Jamaica after he wins,” a confident Harris shared.
Online, there is quite a bit of excitement, even though many persons are saying that they were not even aware that such a competition existed. However, they are already dropping the names of possible contenders for the title and tagging them.
Founded by the Miss World Organisation in 1996, the Mr World competition, “stands as the most distinguished and prestigious event of its kind globally”. The current titleholder, Jack Heslewood, an aerospace engineer from England, was crowned on August 23, 2019.
The organisers shared that Jamaica entered the competition in its first staging. Richard Nevers, then 20 years old, placed fourth. In 1998, Mr World Jamaica, Kinte Thelwell, also placed fourth. Although the finalists will compete in a top model segment, they will also participate in rigorous sports challenges to showcase their talents.
“So we split the challenges in terms of sports because what the women will do is a little bit harder than what the men will do,” Harris explained at the press conference, which was also the official announcement for the Miss Jamaica World competition.
“How are we going recruit?” Harris herself asked. “Well ... [we] don’t know everybody. I, literally on the weekend spotted like three ladies ... but sometimes I am a bit hesitant, because I don’t want to say enter and then you hear ‘Yuh know the lady from Miss Jamaica World tell me to enter’. That can get a little tricky. So, we want to engage the public on social media, so if you see someone or if you know someone who you think should be Miss Jamaica World or Mr World Jamaica, we ask that you send them the link and let them know that we are trying to find them. We can’t cover the length and breadth of Jamaica so we ask that the bloggers and the pageant coaches assist. We are doing one [page] for the ladies and one for the gentlemen.”
Finalists for both competitions will be unveiled at an evening of elegance at Emancipation Park on August 4 and Miss World Jamaica will be crowned on September 6.
Mr World Jamaica leaves on September 10 to participate in the finals. This year marks the return of the competition, with its 11th edition taking place at NovaWorld in Vietnam. This will be Vietnam’s first time hosting the contest and the third time an Asian country has hosted the pageant, after Korea in 2010 and the Philippines in 2019.
The events will begin on September 12 and will culminate with the announcement of the winner on the 28th. This year, the contest will include several activities including pre-final challenge events, a body art photo shoot session, and the election of the ‘Nam Cat Tien Green Environment Ambassador’. For the first time, participants will also showcase their humanitarian projects, “allowing them to use their influence and platform to make a meaningful impact in their communities and around the world”.