BASSETERRE, St. Kitts - THE Federation’s delegate at the 41st Haynes Smith Pageant, Takyla Hart-Johnson, captured the admiration of many as she dominated the event to walk away with the title at the St. Kitts Marriott Resort in the wee hours of yesterday (Dec 31).
Despite technical challenges that the event faced, the show continued and the Federation’s delegate received the loudest support from the home crowd as she danced, strutted across the stage and sang in the three judged categories - Performing Talent, Theatrical Appearance/Interview and the Evening Gown.
When the dust settled, Miss St. Kitts-Nevis Takyla Hart-Johnson recorded 740 points to win the crown, beating out First Runner-up Miss British Virgin Islands with 721 points) and Second Runner-up Miss Guyana with 719 points).
“I am just really thankful for all who came out and supported me,” Johnson said. “It really boosted my confidence.”
In the judged categories, Miss British Virgin Islands took the Best Performing Talent with 378 points, while Miss Barbados scored 283 carted off the Best Theatrical Appearance/Interview and Miss Guyana with 103 points took home the Evening Gown Title.
Johnson told SKNVibes that she began preparing very early for the pageant and it made the event very simple for her to go out and represent the Federation,
“It feels amazing! It feels amazing to know that I have a community behind me, a country, a nation behind me,” Johnson added.
The young ladies performed their talents in song, spoken word or dramatization, which caught the attention of Education Minister Dr. Geoffrey Hanley who was in attendance to crown the queen.
“I must congratulate the girls because they did put on a great show for tonight. But I must congratulate our winner from St. Kitts because she was consistent throughout. I was very impressed with how they performed in all of the segments, especially when many of them focused on mental health.”
Hanley noted that attention must now be placed on mental health, which is a lesson that was learnt from the night’s proceedings.
The queen left the door open to her future endeavors as she is primarily focused on completing her CAPE examinations.
This year's competition saw 10 young ladies from across the region descending on St. Kitts and Nevis vying for the title.
