BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – WITH every announcement of her name it was all screams and cheers as Zinga Imo swept the Miss UDC Talented Teen Pageant clean, capturing all the judged segments of the show and only leaving the Miss photogenic award for Miss Cayon High School Onica Hewitt.
In addition to the crown, Imo won the Ambassadors’ award, Miss Amity and the SKNVibes’ award for the Contestant with the Most Votes along with Best Personality Speech, Best Talent, Best Evening Wear and Best Interview.
Lynnika Small of Verchilds High School was declared First Runner-up while Britney Liddie of Washington Archibald High was adjudged Second Runner-up. The other contestants were Tamara Dorset of Sandy Point High, Cinnamon Matthew of Basseterre High School and Cayon High’s Onica Hewitt.
On the Junior Calypso side of things Karessa Willett lifted the crowd with a powerful performance which received the judges’ approval in giving her the 2009/2010 Junior Calypso title. She also took the title last year. Calypso Leo was adjudged Third Runner-up, while De Educator captured the Second Runner-up position and the Mighty Sarni took the First Runner-up spot.
The show was of a very high standard for such young contestants and one lady said that she thought the girls all made ground-breaking performances, which were even better than some of the past National Carnival Queen Pageants.
Peace-a-Man was the MC for the night while other appearances featured the H20 Dancers, Destiny Academy Dancers and the Washington Archibald High School, winners of the Clash of the High Schools competition.
According to many people, this was the first time in years that the UDC Talented Teen Pageant been well-attended, as the venue was filled to capacity. The patrons were very supportive until it came down to the Interview segment when some members of the audience were laughing and yelling at those contestants who fumbled while answering their questions.
However, most, if not all, of the patrons seemed to have agreed with the judges’ decision when the curtains came down on the event.
