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Nikeisha Phillips is Miss City of PoS 2008

Winners of the Miss City of POS 2008 Pageant
Winners of the Miss City of POS 2008 Pageant

TriniView.com Reporters
Event Date: July 06, 2008


The Port of Spain Corporation held their Miss City of Port of Spain 2008 pageant at the Hyatt Regency ballroom on the 6th July, 2008, as part of their celebrations of the 94th anniversary of the restoration of Municipal Rights to the city of Port of Spain. Hundreds of guests including Mayor Murchison Brown, Donna Cox, Joan Yuille-Williams, councillors, family and friends of the delegates were present, finely dressed for this gala affair. Produced by the Port of Spain City Corporation with Richard Young as the artistic director, the pageant featured twelve young ladies, each representing a specific electoral district, and vying for the honor of being crowned Miss City of Port of Spain 2008.

LEFT: Nicole-Latoya George, Atiyah Edmond, Nikeisha Phillips, Natalie Oliver, Athaliah Samuel and Melissa McAllister
LEFT: Nicole-Latoya George, Atiyah Edmond, Nikeisha Phillips, Natalie Oliver, Athaliah Samuel and Melissa McAllister

Starting just after 6:30 p.m., the delegates streamed on stage in choreographed fashion and introduced themselves to the audience. The delegates were Laure-en Williams representing St. Anns River North, Nikeisha Phillips representing Southern Port of Spain, Tiffany Peters representing Belmont East, Athaliah Samuel representing North Port of Spain, Opal Worrell representing Belmont North and West, Natalie Oliver representing Belmont South, Annisa Lara representing St. Anns River South, Atiyah Edmond representing St. Anns Central, Hannah Layne representing Woodbrook, Melissa Mc Allister representing St. James East, Nikeisha Les Pierre representing East Dry River and Nicole-Latoya George representing St. James West.

The delegates represented the twelve electoral districts of the city and each had been assigned a designer to style them through the pageant. The designer team comprised: Xantash-Rona Thomas, Simply Garnett, Lisa Laurie Clothing, Smith Stone Designs, Shurnel Oliviere, Stacy Smith, Dominique La Roche Designs, Christian Boucaud, Sean Griffth Perez Designs, Michael Vogue Designs, Dawn Victor-Dav Originals and Elizabeth Lucas.

LEFT: Peter Blood, Karla Gonzales and Richard Young
LEFT: Peter Blood, Karla Gonzales and Richard Young

According to Richard Young, artistic director of the pageant, the theme of the pageant "Coming of Age" reflects both the burgeoning city of Port of Spain as well as the debutante posture of the twelve delegates, both poised to become the best that they can be.

Mayor of the City of Port of Spain Murchison Brown, in his address at the pageant, highlighted the developmental aspect of the pageant in that the delegates had to learn about the twelve electoral districts, understand the issues of the city together with the solutions for same, in addition to working on their overall development.

Marilyn Williams
Marilyn Williams

The melodic voice of Marilyn Williams soon filled the Hyatt Ballroom, as she treated the audience to her vocal sweetness, rendering several groovy songs. While the programme had the Clico Shiv Shakti Dancers slated to perform under the heading Asiatic Allure, they did not perform and instead Shaheed Ali did a dance to Machel and Rudder's "Oil and Music".

Delegates modeling identical swimwear
Delegates modeling identical swimwear

The second delegate segment was the swimwear segment with all the delegates modeling identical swimwear designed by the Inn Collection. This segment flowed smoothly as the delegates obviously put a lot of practice into preparing for this choreographed segment.

Delegates modeling ethnic wear
Delegates modeling ethnic wear

The third delegate segment was the cultural segment where the delegates modeled ethnic wear reflective of the Amerindian, African, East Indian, Chinese and European influences. During this segment, artist and poet Karla Gonzales read pieces of prose that were gleaned from her conversations with the delegates. These pieces of prose were reflections by the delegates on the city of Port of Spain. Vivid descriptions and lush praise flowed as the city was described as beautiful, a mother and father, as the heart of the country and even as a confusing maze of streets. Other poetic expressions intimated that the mother and child relationship best describes the emotions that flow between the city and those who traverse her space. Another perspective of a delegate compared the city to an admirable man, savvy sophisticated, innovative and inviting even highlighting the reputation of the city as a place for bargains.

Anslem Douglas
Anslem Douglas

Before the delegates showed-off their evening wear, Anslem Douglas came to the stage and he sung two songs including his award winning song "Who Let the Dogs Out" which won favour with the audience who sang along lustily. After that performance, the delegates streamed on stage with their elegant evening wear, each design with a title that was reflective of the nature of the dress.

Delegates in evening wear
Delegates in evening wear

From this segment, the show flowed into the chit chat segment in which the delegates participated in answering questions posed by the judges. As the delegates lined the stage in their evening gowns, they were serenaded by Tony Prescott of the band Surface. He would later return to the stage to render his smash Soca hit "All Aboard". Prescott walked through the audience as members sang along and danced to this melodic song.

Nikeisha Phillips receives her prize from Mayor Murchison Brown
Nikeisha Phillips receives her prize from Mayor Murchison Brown

When the special awards were announced, Laure-en Williams was a big winner as she won the Miss Photogenic, Best Hairstyle and Best Evening gown awards while Nikeisha Les Pierre was a double winner copping the Miss Totally Together 2008 and the Most Improved awards. Danielle Hamilton, the reigning Miss City of Port of Spain took her final walk as an audio clip of her speaking, highlighting the benefits of her winning the title, played in the background. When the final results were finally announced it was Nikeisha Phillips, one of the crowd favorites, who was crowned Miss City of Port of Spain 2008 as her supporters roared in approval. Melissa Mc Allister copped the first runner-up position while Annisa Lara took the second runner-up position.

The producers and delegates put a lot of effort and practice into the pageant and this was well-appreciated by the audience.

Placings and Awards:

Miss City of Spain 2008 / Nikeisha Phillips
2nd / Melissa Mc Allister
3rd / Annisa Lara
4th / Nicole-Latoya George
5th / Tiffany Peters

Miss Congeniality / Opal Worrell
Miss Totally Together 2008 / Nikeisha Les Pierre
Miss Photogenic / Laure-en Williams
Miss Personality / Nicole-Latoya George
Most Improved / Nikeisha Les Pierre
Most Disciplined / Annisa Lara
Best Hairstyle / Laure-en Williams
Miss Physique / Athalia Samuel
Best Evening Gown / Laure-en Williams (Designed by Lisa Laurie Designs)
Best Couteur / Anissa Lara (designed by Christian Boucaud)
Best Costume / Tiffany Peters (designed by Shurnel Oliviere)

Miss City of POS 2008 Pageant in pictures:
www.triniview.com/gallery/main.php?g2_itemId=275506



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