The ninth Miss Umhlanga Beauty Pageant will take place on Saturday 16 December, 2017, in the morning on the beach embedded in the Umhlanga Summer Festival programme taking place on the Millennium Stage.
The Miss Umhlanga categories are in two age groups: 12 until 16, and 17 and older. Ages are taken as of 16 December. Participants are asked to please bring picture ID. There is also a fun category for the Mums of all ages to participate in.
There are some fabulous prizes up for grabs. There are cash prizes of R2000 / R1000 / R500 in each age group, as well as in-kind prizes, tiaras, sashes and medals. There are also prizes for Miss Personality,
Best beach attire and Queen of the day.
Participants can enter on the day. Registration is from 10.30am and the competition is from 12 until 2pm. The successful finalists will be crowned at the beach on the day. Girls are welcome to wear sarongs with their beach wear. Entry to participate into the Miss / Mum Umhlanga is a new unwrapped toy which Umhlanga Rotary will distribute to needy children over Christmas.
No stranger to the ramp, pageant co-ordinator, Kevin Ellis has been part of this event since its beginning. He is renown in Durban for a multitude of talents: his innovative and unusual clothing designs; choreographer; stylist, and he scouted word famous Victoria Secret model Candice Swanepool who is one of Forbes highest paid models in world. He also choreographed the first season of X Factor.
Kevin Ellis is the only man in the world to be reining 2017 Natal, Johannesburg, Cape Town, SA, European and World Singles Men’s line dance champion.
Gareth Greaves, is the event’s stylist. He is a designer, stylist, and a face-painter extraordinaire. He is responsible for the handmade diamante sashes and this year introducing the new look tiaras. He was stylist for the first season of X Factor.
Ellis said, “We are looking for new faces. We are welcoming newcomers to the industry as we will have model scouts among the judges looking for future talent. If you are an aspiring model, this is an excellent platform to get fantastic exposure and a great way to get discovered. No experience is needed.”
Chairman for the Umhlanga Tourism Committee, Peter Rose said, “The beauty pageants are always a highlight of the festival. We have had many previous winners and finalists who have gone on to claim titles on both national and international levels.”
This year, although many of the season events are formally free of charge, we encourage visitors and participants to please bring along a gift suitable to give to an underprivileged child for Christmas. Collection points are the Millenium Stage during the festival and at the Carol Under the Stars event -which Umhlanga Rotary will distribute to needy children over Christmas.
Also a big part of the festival is to encourage awareness about our natural beauty spots in Umhlanga and to actively keep them beautiful – so there will be daily beach clean ups.