By Robert A. Emmanuel
Amidst a furore of technical difficulties and questionable language from among the background team, Ajanaé Bleau of the Princess Margaret School and Lutrell John of the Sir Novelle Richards Academy maintained their poise and allowed their talents to shine as they were crowned Mr and Miss Teenage 2023.
The two competed alongside 12 of their peers for the top prize at this year’s pageant, with Bleau sweeping up the awards with Most Photogenic Female, Best Female Interview, Best Uniform Evolution-Female, Best Female Cultural Personality, Best Female Introductory Speech, and Best Female Performing Talent, while John won the Best Male Interview and Best Uniform Evolution-Male.
Bleau, who plans to study theatre arts in the future, told Observer about her pride in her performance.
“The show was a great experience despite the technical difficulties, but I am just really proud of myself, and I just feel happy for myself and the other contestants,” she stated.
She also encouraged youths who are interested in pageantry to just “do it, put their best foot forward and just be themselves”.
“If that is what they really want to do, then they should really do it; there are a lot of opportunities that come out of pageants or come out of competitions on a whole. They should not let the public, their friends or anyone dictate what they do,” she expressed.
Meanwhile, first runner-up, Sarah Bahri of the St Anthony Secondary School, won Most Helpful Female as well as Most Congenial Female and Best School Promotional Video Female. Clare Hall Secondary’s Melika Samuel was second runner-up.
Ruez Titre of the St Joseph’s Academy placed first runner-up for Mr Teenage as he was awarded the Best Male Introductory Speech.
Antigua Grammer School’s Noah Yeboah placed second runner-up, winning the Best Male Cultural Personality.
Other awardees included Ryan Christian of the St Mary’s Secondary School for the Most Helpful Male, Alijah Richards of Island Academy who won Most Congenial Male, Best School Promotional Video-Male and Best Male Performing Talent, and Adrian Hazel of Ottos Comprehensive who was named Most Photogenic Male.
This was the first time since 2019 that the annual pageant was held, mainly due to the disruption of the Covid pandemic.
However, the event was not all smooth sailing for the Ministry of Creative Industries who were forced to publicly apologise to parents, participants, sponsors and the general viewing public as the technical glitches frustrated many contestants during their performances.
Several issues were reported with the microphone sets used by the contestants which led to great strife amongst the technical team, to the point where expletives were used against each other, heard clearly by audience members and carried unintentionally on radio and television to the wider public.
The ministry said in an official letter on its Facebook page, “Despite weeks of hard work, relentless practice, camaraderie among peers and dedicated effort, unforeseeable technical difficulties had an unfortunate impact on tonight’s production.
“We deeply regret any disappointment caused to our attendees and participants. The passion and dedication displayed by the contestants and organisers will not go unnoticed and we are committed to making every effort to rectify and improve future productions,” it added.
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