Thu | Sep 25, 2025

Festival Queen, Gospel Star competitions entry deadline tonight

Published:Tuesday | April 19, 2022 | 12:08 AM
right: Newly crowned Miss Jamaica Festival Queen 2021 Dr Dominque Reid (centre), shares the stage with first runner-up, Miss Westmoreland, Nakinskie Robinson (left) and second runner-up, Miss St James, Morganne Kellier right, and the other ten parish queen
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right: Newly crowned Miss Jamaica Festival Queen 2021 Dr Dominque Reid (centre), shares the stage with first runner-up, Miss Westmoreland, Nakinskie Robinson (left) and second runner-up, Miss St James, Morganne Kellier right, and the other ten parish queens who were finalists in the competition.

Both the Miss Jamaica Festival Queen and the Jamaica Gospel Star competitions will close for entries at midnight tonight. The Jamaica Cultural Development Commission (JCDC), organisers of the competitions, explained that the deadline was extended to accept last-minute entries over the Easter weekend.

“The Miss Jamaica Festival Queen Competition and the Jamaica Gospel Star Competition are signature programmes of the JCDC and are key highlights of the upcoming Jamaica 60 diamond jubilee Independence celebrations. We are looking for only the best of the best from our entrants this year, as persons who participate in our competitions for the 2022 cycle will be cemented in history as being a part of the diamond jubilee celebrations,” JCDC Interim Executive Director Lillian Reid said

“So when potential entrants from both competitions requested just a little more time to tighten up and polish their entries over the long Easter weekend, we were happy to oblige,” Reid added, noting that the original deadline was Friday, April 15.

A staple of the annual Independence roster for over five decades, the Miss Jamaica Festival Queen Competition is currently seeking empowered young women between the ages of 18 and 25 who are intelligent, culturallyaware, poised, and are looking for a platform to make their contributions to nation-building, while representing their parish as the next Miss Jamaica Festival Queen.

The Jamaica Gospel Star Competition is a rebrand of the iconic Jamaica Gospel Song Competition, which, for over three decades, launched the careers of some of Jamaica most notable gospel artistes and songwriters.

A weekly televised elimination show, the Jamaica Gospel Star Competition sees contestants trying to out-sing each other with their favourite gospel cover songs. It allows the at-home audience to vote for their favourite gospel star.

The other JCDC competitions that are still accepting entries for the 2022 cycle are the Jamaica Visual Arts Competition, which closes on Monday, April 25, and the Jamaica Culinary Arts Competition, which closes on Friday, May 13.

Persons interested in entering any of the JCDC’s 2022 competitions may do so via the organisation’s website, www.jcdc.gov.jm.