BASSETERRE, St. Kitts - AND the crown stays at home! Siobhan Phipps, who represented St. Kitts in the Digicel Haynes Smith Caribbean Talented Teen Pageant last night (Dec. 29), has made her island proud, being crowned the queen for 2011-2012.
Capturing four of the five segments with an overall total of 826 points, the vibrant teen, according to the judges, stood out among the rest, winning her the prestigious title that she would carry for the next year.
Coming in some distance behind with 753 points was Miss Jamaica Aba Sykes. Trailing another great distance behind was Miss British Virgin Islands Ashellica Fahie with 695.5, and following closely behind was Miss Anguilla Keivanee Lake.
The other beauties who competed were Bailey Dukes representing the United States Virgin Islands, Miss Antigua & Barbuda Aaliyah Thomas, Miss Bahamas Monesha Bowleg, Miss Barbados Sacha Clarke, Miss Bermuda Shaunte Simons, Miss Grenada Kande Duncan, Miss Nevis Erica Doras, and Miss St. Lucia Kadijha Mason.
Their first appearance was the Ambassadorial Wear which Phipps won. She appeared onstage in a festive Carnival costume but representing one of the unique tourist attraction that makes the island stand above the rest - the St. Kitts Music Festival.
Phipps also won the Talent segment with 363 points.
Emerging from a coffin, she portrayed a teen who was constantly bullied in school and received no satisfaction at home, as her numerous complaints fell on deaf ears.
Garbed in a maroon prom dress, in this comedic drama Phipps told the tale of how she was humiliated in front of everyone on the night of her prom, despite her efforts to 'fit in' with the rest of her peers. After experiencing an extremely deep level of degradation, she goes home to seek consolation from her parents with no success and feeling depressed, commits suicide.
The 12 beauties performed their Production Number with the former queen who hails from Grenada, doing a dance piece; a segment for which they were also judged and for which Phipps won.
Dressed in an ankle-length gown in shades of blue and purple, Phipps modelled with elegance and confidence in the Evening Wear segment for which she tallied 114 points and won.
Twilight, as the dress was dubbed, fit neatly at the bust and stomach area and was adorned with silver rhinestones. The dress flared from the waist down and was topped with ruffled flowers.
In the Interview segment, some of the competitors encountered minor difficulties but most of them did overcome.
Miss Bermuda displayed a very high degree of confidence and answered her question without fear or blunder and totalled 152 points to win that segment.
The new queen was crowned by the Deputy Prime Minister, Hon. Sam Condor.
Among a host of other prizes which included BlackBerrys compliments Digicel, the queen and the First Runner-up also received a laptop and digital camera, compliments Minister Condor.
Opening the show was local celebrity Masud Sadiki who 'pepped up' the crowd with his latest hit ‘A Stitch In Time’, and geared up the audience for the night's event with ‘Party Hearty’.
The show also saw performances by Infamus, Dejour, Classique Dance Group out of Anguilla as well as a dance group from sister isle Nevis.
The audience also had a special treat with the appearance onstage by one of the Federation’s witty calypsonians, Unexpected.
He entertained the audience singing only one song to which everyone knew the words and sang along with him - ‘Everywhere you go you get a Dougie’.
Hosts for the evening were former Miss National Carnival Queens Johan Kelly and Suddeaka Francis who were joined by guest host 'Sly J'.
