'Miss Jamaica World 2003' Jade Fulford (centre) is flanked by second-place winner Chantelle Fisher (left) and third-place winner, Tracy Cowan. - Winston Sill/Freelance Photographer ON A rainy night in the capital city, a new beauty queen was chosen to carry the country's flag internationally. She is 21-year-old Jade Fulford, who took the title and crown of 'Miss Jamaica World 2003' at the Jamaica Pegasus Hotel in New Kingston on Saturday night.
Fulford, who wore the sash 'Miss Emancipation Park', was a crowd favourite from the moment she took the stage, so there was no discord in the audience when her name was announced.
Her equally-popular runners-up were 'Miss Navy Island', Chantelle Fisher and 'Miss Lime Cay', Tracy Cowan. Completing the top five were 'Miss Rio Grande', Christine Mighty and 'Miss Faith's Pen', Sharice Fernander.
"I'm very excited, I'm happy. I'm glad it's all over. I'm very happy with the result," Fulford said after being crowned. She said that she planned to celebrate her coronation by "partying."
"I just wanted to do my best, and I guess my best was good enough to win," she said in response to whether or not she expected to win.
Whenever Fulford took the stage, the Jamaica Pegasus' Grande Ballroom erupted in cheers. "There was friends and family, but all the people just seemed to like me," was the way the new queen described her supporters.
FINALISTS
The other top 10 finalists were 'Miss Holland Bamboo', Candice Bromfield; 'Miss Negril Beach', Rosemarie Powell; 'Miss Montego Bay', Tiffany Lee; 'Miss Lover's Leap', Melissa Lindo and 'Miss Blue Mountain Peak', Sabrina Palomino.
This was the 25th anniversary of the 'Miss Jamaica World' competition under the management of Spartan Health Club and as a result, several changes were made to the proceedings. The first noticeable change was the names on the sashes. As was announced on elimination night last month, the contestants wore sashes that commemorated aspects of Jamaican culture and heritage and not those bearing the names of their sponsors. Another difference was in the naming of the sectional prizes. This year, they all bore the names of the companies that sponsored them. As such, the L'Oreal 'Best Hair' award went to Miss Treasure Beach, Kerriann Sang; the Jergens 'Best Skin Tone' award was won by Christine Mighty; while 'Miss Fern Gully', Jasintea Walters copped the 'Coco Cola Bottle Best Shape' award. Tracy Cowan won both the 'Colgate Best Smile' and 'Most Congenial' awards. All sectional prizes came with a cash award of $15,000.
TALENT COMPETITION
Meanwhile, continuing a segment added to the pageant last year, the winners of the 'Miss Jamaica Talent' competition were awarded. The contestants performed their pieces for the panel of judges earlier in the week and the winners chosen. Fernander who performed a poem, placed first and won a $25,000 cash award. Kerriann Sang, who did a dialect piece, placed second and won $10,000. Melissa Lindo's Indian dance piece earned her third place and $5,000.
However, it was not just the contestants who went home with awards. To mark their milestone anniversary, Spartan handed out plaques to persons who had helped them over the years. These awardees were many-time chief judge Tommy James and
several-time pageant director Weston Haughton. Meanwhile, the Cathy Levy players were awarded 'Best Production' for their 1995 'Port Royal Ahoy' and 'Best Set' was given to Paul Hamilton for his 1983 design. Also taking home an award was franchise holder Mickey Haughton-James. He was given a replica of the 'Caribbean Queen of Beauty' trophy handed out at the 'Miss World' competition, by that organisation's director, Julia Morley, who attended with reigning Miss World Azra Akin.
The pageant, scheduled for an 8:00 p.m. start, began on time with an opening number from the Cathy Levy Players and the 20 contestants. This quickly segued into the introduction of the night's MCs Paula Ann Porter-Jones and Francois St. Juste, both from Fame FM. Afterwards the contestants paraded on stage in swimwear and sometime later reappeared in evening wear. It was at this stage that the top 10 were chosen. The finalists were then taken through a brief question and answer segment with Miss World 1993, Lisa Hanna-Panton. They were then whittled down to the top five, who were interviewed by members of the judging panel. After brief deliberations, the top three were chosen.
Chief judge Tommy James explained that the judging panel had been seeing the girls individually over a couple of weeks and that played heavily into their choice. Speaking with The Gleaner afterwards he said, "We are satisfied with our choice and are confident in her abilities to represent us internationally."
The other judges were Miss Jamaica World 2000, Ayisha Richards; Miss Jamaica World 1999, Desiree Depass; Miss Jamaica World 1998, Christine Straw; Miss Jamaica World 1985, Allison Barnett; Miss Jamaica 1967 Laurel DeMercado; Director of Tourism at the Jamaica Tourist Board, Paul Pennicooke; Life Of Jamaica's Patrick Lynch and Marketing Manager of TVJ, Rohan Wade.
Among the prizes Fulford won are a Peugeot 206; a trip to London en-route to the Miss World competition in China; a Miss World wardrobe valued at $100,000 from Uzuri International and a contract with Spartan Elite Models. The 'Miss World' competition takes place on December 6 in Sanya, China.
