In a high level press conference held at the Anguilla Tourist Board’s Conference Room on Tuesday, June 26th, it was revealed that Miss Anguilla 2018, Ms. Dee-Ann Kentish Rogers, is slated to participate in the upcoming Miss Universe Great Britain to be held in London on July 14th. The Anguilla Tourist Board (ATB) is Dee-Ann’s platinum sponsor in the UK Pageant.
ATB’s Marketing Officer, Mr. Colwayne Pickering, moderated the conference and first introduced Mrs. Shellya Rogers-Webster, Manager of Corporate Affairs, who stated: “On behalf of the Board of Directors and staff of the ATB, I would like to congratulate Dee-Ann and her team on this wonderful achievement. The ATB is absolutely proud to be De-Ann’s platinum sponsor.
“Dee-Ann is not just a participant, but a finalist for the upcoming Miss Universe Great Britain Pageant. This is a great feat for an Anguillian. It is very important for us as Anguillians to understand that this is just a steppingstone for us. There is so much more that can come out of this if Dee-Ann does win the Miss Universe Great Britain Pageant.
“The Anguilla Tourist Board, as her platinum sponsor recognizes not only that Dee-Ann is an amazing ambassador for the island, but we also know the type of reach that she can provide for us as a destination. We have an office based in London which represents the UK, Ireland and Scandinavia. Having Miss Anguilla on a main stage such as the Miss Universe Great Britain stage will, of course, bring further visibility to an individual from Anguilla.
“It is, therefore, critically important for us to push our Ambassadors in our markets because, unless we do, Anguilla as a destination will not have the type of visibility that we are looking to achieve. So, we are very happy to have Dee-Ann onboard with us. In fact, what Dee-Ann has been doing goes much further than just participating in the Miss Universe Great Britain Pageant. We have brought Dee-Ann on board to participate in some of our in-market activities in the UK as well.
“We recently had our European Road Show and Dee-Ann was able to participate in our London-based event. Of course, she was the main attraction. The press absolutely loved her, the travel trade reps loved her too, and she was the particular focus of the evening. She had the opportunity to really sell Anguilla as a destination, and encourage potential tourists to visit our island. What Dee-Ann represents for us then, as a tourist destination, is an opportunity to use our Miss Anguilla winners even more in our in-market representations.”
Hearing from Miss Anguilla herself, she responded by saying: “As many would know, I won the Miss Anguilla Pageant in 2017. Shortly thereafter, I set my sights on the Miss Universe Great Britain stage. That, for me, was an opportunity to advance the Miss Anguilla Pageant as well as to advance Anguilla on an international stage.
“My aspiration in participating in the Miss Universe Great Britain Pageant is not only to advance the pageant, but also to experience a new pageant system and to be able to forge a possible bridge for subsequent ‘Miss Anguillas’ to experience the same pageant system.
“The application process for the Miss Universe Great Britain Pageant is similar to a job interview. The first round was a paper application which set out the basic criteria as to why you would want to be participating in the pageant. Once the organization sifts through the applications, they select a number of girls to undergo an interview with the Head of the Miss Universe Great Britain organization. After that stage, you may be selected as one of the finalists. I was fortunate enough to be chosen from thousands of applicants to be actually participating in the pageant.
“The Miss Universe Great Britain system is very different from the Miss Anguilla Pageant system. It starts off with rounds. The first round is the interview segment which is an off-stage interview where you sit before a panel of judges for three minutes. The judges will ask you a number of unknown questions. The second round is similar to the Miss Anguilla Fanfare round where you dance on stage, but this is not a judged segment.
“The third round is the swimwear segment, and the fourth round is the evening wear segment. After these segments are completed, the scores are tallied and the contestants are ranked in order of the scores that they have achieved. The top five will be then invited on stage for a final question and assessed in order to identify the Miss Universe Great Britain Pageant winner.”
Dee-Ann explained why she entered the pageant: “Basically, it was because I wanted to represent my own country. Obviously, Anguilla does not have a Miss Universe franchise. Therefore, it would be similar to the Olympics where one can’t directly represent Anguilla, so you would have to use the Great Britain franchise, similar to what Zharnel and Shara were required to do. I thought that the best way to represent Anguilla on the international stage would be under Great Britain.
“In addition, I thought it was an opportunity to show and represent the integrated nature of Great Britain, and the fact that Anguilla is indeed a part of the United Kingdom. It is my view that we should be represented on this type of stage – and a diverse type of UK beauty should be represented in the Pageant. The Miss Universe Great Britain organization has been very helpful to me, and has been very open to the fact that I am from Anguilla – and I do identify as an Anguillian while I am representing Great Britain on the stage.
“I am very thankful that the Anguilla Tourist Board has believed in me from the moment I approached them in terms of sponsorship for the Miss Universe Great Britain Pageant. They have never second-guessed my ability to capture the Miss Universe Great Britain crown. I am very grateful indeed to ATB, and I just want to be able to do justice to Anguilla, as well as to the entire United Kingdom.
Ms. Dee-Ann Kentish Rogers is also scheduled to represent Anguilla in the Miss Jaycees Pageant to be held in Antigua on July 29th, as part of that island’s annual carnival celebrations. Sponsorship for that event, in particular, is provided by the Anguilla Social Security Board.
The Anguillian takes this opportunity to extend best wishes to Dee-Ann as she sets out to represent Anguilla on both the regional and international stages.
