Miss Earth Guyana re-launched under new management

Feb 04, 2018 News

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By Sharmain Grainger

Guyana has for a number of years been inundated with a whirlwind of pageantry activities from the level of individual villages to national affairs.
However, a pageant that is aiming to change the landscape in a massive and very transparent way is the recently launched Miss Earth Guyana. While there have been many local pageant activities aimed at preparing delegates for an international stage, there have been those that simply saw girls being hand-picked to represent Guyana.
Not so for the 2018 Miss Earth Guyana Pageant, assures National Franchise Director, Dr. Dave Lalltoo.
Dr. Lalltoo was able to acquire the Miss Earth Guyana Franchise and has an ambitious vision to help transform the pageantry world, at least from a local viewpoint, to a more inclusive and reputable undertaking. And he certainly has the wherewithal to bring his vision to fruition. Backed by the contributions of a four-member Miss Earth Guyana Management Committee, himself included, Dr. Lalltoo anticipates Guyana being able to make a name for itself on the international scene with the pageantry plans that will be unleashed and fast-tracked through his newly acquired franchise.
Among other aims, Dr. Lalltoo’s vision is to ensure that the pageant, as far as possible, embraces all things Guyanese. “The pageant season here is not 100 percent Guyanese, so my biggest inspiration to do this is to bring something to Guyana that is 100 percent Guyanese, including incorporating pageant consultancy and Guyanese designers,” Dr. Lalltoo shared during an interview.
In fact he intends to utilise his very own pageantry expertise, which he acquired over the years, to the fullest.  In addition to sitting on the judging panel of a number of popular local pageants, including the Miss World Guyana 2016, which saw Miss Nuriyyih Gerrard adjudged the winner, Dr. Lalltoo has long had his hands on the pulse of major pageantry and fashion activities.
“I have a few years of experience blogging for a Filipino fashion blog and I am also the owner of ‘The Pageant Page’ which is one of the major blogging sites with almost 75,000 persons…that’s where we promote Miss Earth and other competing pageants,” said Dr. Lalltoo of his credentials.
The Miss Earth Guyana pageant was launched on Friday, January 26, at the Roraima Duke Lodge, Kingston, Georgetown. At that very forum, the Managing Committee also announced a major segment of the pageant – ‘Beauties For A Cause’.
Speaking of this segment of the pageant was Dr. Latoya Gooding, the Assistant National Franchise Director.  Dr. Gooding is a medical doctor attached to the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation and also the founder of the Giving Hope Foundation which has as its main mandate to increase screening for cancer and reduction of cancer-related deaths.
Because of her passion to help combat the scourge of cancer, Dr. Gooding was influenced to join the pageantry initiative with a view of taking full advantage of the “Beauties For A Cause” segment to promote cancer awareness.
“This is where the contestants will be ambassadors for change, ambassadors for the environment, and in doing that, we will be looking at different things such as cancer, because we know that 95 percent of all cancers are caused by environmental factors,” shared an informed Dr. Gooding.
This segment of the pageant, which is expected to help determine the delegates’ viability for the international stage, will also see efforts being made to give keen attention to climate change, the low carbon development strategy and different aspects of how humans can help to improve the environment and by extension, help to “make Guyana a greener, greater country,” Dr. Gooding underscored.
She disclosed too that this segment, which is being solely sponsored by Demerara Bakery, is intended to ensure that “the pageant is not just a beauty pageant; we don’t want to only focus on the girls’ physical attributes…we want some of the projects that the girls do to contribute in a significant way to their final score.”
As part of the segment too, the girls will be eligible for eco-tours and be integrally involved in mangrove restoration and education activities.  “This will be a complete package, so this pageant is not just about the beauty aspect,” said Dr. Gooding.
Serving as the Managing Executive for the Miss Earth Guyana Organisation is Dr. Omesh Balmacoon, who pointed out that the girls will ultimately be vying for a pageant which attracts contestants from over 100 countries. He highlighted that the 16-year-old event is one that raises awareness about the environment and health, and essentially gives the delegates the opportunity to become advocates for the environment.
Dr. Balmacoon was thrust into the management realm of the Miss Earth Guyana organisation because of his executive involvement in Guyana Premier, an organisation through which the pageant franchise was attained. According to Dr. Balmacoon, already a few girls have started to apply to participate in the pageant.
Eligible delegates will be drawn from a pool of girls between the ages of 18 and 25 who are single, have no children, are Guyanese by birth and are 5’ 6” [167.64cm] in height. Suitable applicants have up until February 22 to apply by visiting the Miss Earth Guyana website, www.missearthguyana.com or by visiting the entity’s 15 Ketley and Drysdale Streets, Charlestown Georgetown office… or by contacting members of the management committee on telephone numbers: 612-0247, 653-0436, 697-5127. They can also visit the official pageant Facebook page under the handle of Miss Earth Guyana and on Twitter and Instagram – @missearthgy.
The application process will attract a US$300 fee, which will allow delegates to benefit from planned eco-tours and other activities during the run-up to pageant night, according to Events Coordinator, Myron Stephens.
While the delegates will be required to secure their own evening gowns and costume for coronation, set for April 28, 2018, Dr. Lalltoo said that the organisation will be providing the delegates with swimsuits.
Miss Earth Guyana has never before benefited from a full blown national pageant, as such the management team has devised a plan that will help the whole of Guyana to become well acquainted with the event. Moreover, this is likely to see pageant activities touching each region. This will be realised, not only through auditions, but, according to Dr. Lalltoo, “we want to keep preliminary events across Guyana in places like Bartica, Leguan, Berbice and Linden.”
Another interesting aspect of the pageant, according to its management team, will see the delegates being sashed with their names rather than that of a sponsor. This move is designed to ensure that they are able to represent themselves as ambassadors for a worthy cause.
In order to build the confidence of competing delegates, Dr. Lalltoo said that “We will be working along with local beauty consultancies such as Provotique Image and Beauty Pageant Consultanc, owned by our very own Ruqayyah Boyer and Nikita Barker. We will also be teaming up with Melissa Payne. These are the girls who will be on the frontline to do training and development and modelling, and other essentials to prepare our delegates for the international stage.”
And those in the winning spotlight will not have to worry about being rewarded for their efforts.
“We can confirm a prize package of $1 million in cash and prizes for Miss Earth Guyana and her court – Miss Earth Guyana Water; Miss Earth Guyana Air and Miss Earth Guyana Fire. This is definitely as transparent as it gets, we want to give each Guyanese girl that equal opportunity to participate,” informed Dr. Lalltoo.
He added, “We want to ensure that the girl that we are sending to the international pageant is ideal and at the end of the international competition she will be able to bring back the crown to Guyana.”
The last Miss Earth Guyana pageant was held in 2010 when Soyini Fraser was crowned as queen, but a representative was sent up for the international pageant as recent as 2014. It was local belle, Stacy Ramcharran, who took the crown back then, but after the franchise was lost one year later, it was not possible to choose another girl. As such she remains the reigning Miss Earth Guyana; that is until the grand coronation of Miss Earth Guyana 2018.
The Miss Earth Guyana pageant is the local precursor pageant for the international Miss Earth Pageant which is among the top three in the world. It has reached such a point in popularity that over 100 countries are scheduled to take part this year.
One of the main reasons why it has gotten this far is because it focuses primarily on raising awareness about the environment and the planet through its “Beauties For A Cause” segment.
Proceeds of the highly anticipated Miss Earth Guyana Pageant are expected to go towards helping to sustain the work of the Giving Hope Foundation which also has as its mission to help arrest the incidence of suicide.

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