Photo credits: Gemma Hazelwood

St. John’s Antigua- Dominica has done it again for the seventh time in 51 Jaycees Caribbean Queen competitions, walking away with the crown in a show that left many in the audience disappointed with the new judging system.

Miss Dominica Nadiro Lando was crowned queen just after midnight having won the interview segment which ultimately determined the winner.

Miss St Kitts & Nevis Kailah Huggins copped first runner-up, while St Lucia’s Roxanne Nicholas settled for second runner-up.

Anguilla’s representative Olufunmike Devonish won Miss Congeniality and Most Photogenic was won by the new Jaycees Queen, Miss Dominica. Lando also won best modelling skills in the Evening Wear segment in a red dress with a dove tail flounced skirt and a translucent bodice decorated with sequins and rhinestones.

Miss St Lucia walked away with best Swimwear and best Talent Performance. Her contemporary dance, mixed with ballet, won the judges hearts just as it did most in the audience who gave her a resounding round of applause following the dance execution to the Michael Jackson song Childhood.

Meantime, for many in audience, and even some of the contestants, the newly adopted system of judging was not welcomed.

Those criticising the system said the participants should have had their scores from each segment combined to determine the winners.

They felt the fact that the delegates went into the interview segment on a clean slate negatively affected the selection of an all round queen.

Many walked out the stands upon hearing Miss St Lucia had placed second runner-up.

They did not wait to hear the announcement of who was named the ultimate Queen of the night.

At the same time there were a few who were pleased with the judging and were jumping in joy when the winner was named.

One woman said it was “consistency” in the judged segments that determined which 10 of 15 delegates entered the top 10 and it again determined the final five.

The downside to that though, a contestant said, is that what was earned in the various segments in the battle among the final 10, had no value in the final leg of the competition that consisted just one segment-Interview.

“Each person has certain strengths and certain weaknesses and you have to look at how rounded the individual is by looking at all aspects of their being or performance. With this system, Jaycees Queen show organisers could have just forgotten about all the other segments and call the 15 of us on stage and ask questions because that’s basically how they determined the queen this year and we were the guinea pigs,” a contestant said.

More details on the show in Wednesday’s edition of The Daily OBSERVER.