Miss Cayman becomes casualty of economy
(CNS): Among the many ideas to tighten the country’s collective belt, the Miss Cayman Islands Pageant Committee has come up with a way to shave around CI$100,000 — by cancelling the beauty contest this year. As News 27 reports, this means the reigning the queen, Nicosia Lawson (left), will retain the crown for another year and no one will represent the islands at next year’s Miss World and Universe pageants. The local TV crew found a mixed reaction in the community to the pageant being cancelled. While some are disappointed, others think that it was the right decision given the current economic climate.
Category: Local News
WHY CANT WE DO IT THE way we did back then? Each district had a Miss District, whether it was Bodden Town, North Side or East End. Young ladies were asked to enter. The were sponsored by service clubs of their districts or private persons. Then whom ever won would compete in the Miss Cayman. Why cant we do that, and then the person who wins Miss Cayman is given a nice gift, like a car, a piece of property or something of value to assist her in the future endeavours.
We got to d o better than we are doing. If we cannot reach our hat on that nail. DONT PUT IT THERE. We do not have to disapoint the girls. Someone needs to come up with something until we can find ourself in the position to spend more money. For pete,s sake we are just a little Island, where dogs bark all night and fowls crow to wake you up in the morning. Why does we have to do every thing that is done in USA or Europe or Paris. It is time we be Caymanians, keep wjatever little culture we have left, and give visitors a reason to like it here. My gosh!!!!
Personally I don’t care either way simply because I’m a young woman in my early twenties who has no interest in displaying ‘charm’ and intelligence (determined by answering a single question) but the good thing about having a choice is I don’t have to participate and i don’t have to be a spectator…IT’S A MATTER OF CHOICE…it does give the winning participant certain advantages and opportunities (scholarship, exposure etc) and it could be thought of as global advertising for our country. I’m sure we can think of SEVERAL different areas to cut back on that are costing us millions (certainhigh officials salaries haha like that’ll happen…who likes that jk) but hey if every bit counts…just remember that it’s preventing some from having opportunities that might be difficult for them to obtain through other sources PLUS it’s advertising because it lets the world know our three little islands are still here.
you all need a life and stop critizing people, Cayman has never won anything for all i can remember so what, its our islands regards of the bull that is going on,
The Miss World and Miss Universe contests are for men. Now sending Ms. Lawson for the world to adore isn’t going to happen.
Too bad guys.
It was mostly us men who screwed up the economy.
I really think it was banks really putting too much reliance on short term inter-bank lending that was the problem.
Maybe they would still have the pageant if the winner didn’t receive such a huge prize. A new car and cash? Is that really necessary? I think that is why it has become such a big deal here in Cayman. A pretty face can do nothing and walk away with $70,000, a free dress, tiara, and flight to the big pageant. It’s not teaching our young to earn money, it’s teaching them to expect something for nothing which is one of the biggest problems here in Cayman already.
Actually there is no cash prize. Its a scholarship like any other government scholarship. So these girls don’t just suddenly strike it rich like people think. From what I heard from some of the past Miss Caymans they actually end up spending a lot of their own money too, sometimes even more!
To the poster "Since we have never won" – If every country that did not make it to the top 10 felt this way then there would be no beauty pagent – what a stupid way to look at it. All the countries get international exposure from these women – and as a woman I do not feel that we are being exploited – we have a choise to enter or not enter and the benfits far outweigh the negatives.
What international exposure?? Do you really think that Cayman benefited somehow for the 10 seconds that Nicosia was on tv?
I’m glad especially after I saw the contestants at miss teen this year!
The news of the cancelled pageant reached FOX News of all places. The Government should have taken steps to find a private sector sponsor or sponsors for the pageant rather than perpetuating the public perception that it is broke. Isn’t anybody in government versed at all in damage control?
This was the best news I’d heard for ages. I’m just disappointed it was due to economic reasons rather than society rejecting the objectification of women. It’s a shame that female physical appearance is still prized so highly in Cayman and is the only way many young women feel they can gain any recognition or sense of value.
Time to change the Pageant to the Gay Cayman Pageant..
We have run out of women, but have a large increase in the gay population, so maybe we should parade them now that they are coming out of the closet in such large numbers.
Bet the UK would authorise the Governments loan very quickly after that,.
And your point is?
My point is: Throw a stone in the Pig Pen and the one who squeals is the one who got hit.
Are you ready to be paraded?
It is no business of yours or anyone else but I am not gay. I have been married for 34 years and I have two children and four grandchildren. I can’t, nor do I need to, prove that but what I can prove is that you are an unpleasant bigot and I and every man and woman i am friends with, would rather live surrounded by gays than by nasty pieces of vermin like you.
Have a really lovely day.
12:20 – So true, but some countries that are less fortunate than us have always managed to send a young lady to represent their country. We all have to attempt to raise enough money to send someone to represent us.
Yup, that should do it. Crisis over. now back to work everyone
LOL!
Since we have never won or even come close to winningms universe or ms world (and frankly I doubt we ever will) I see no problem with this.
I totally agree with the Governments decision….this should be something that is privatised or the committee raise funds to fund the Pageant
Well it’s about time, what a horrible waste of money. Lets make this a permanent move while we have the opportunity. This is almost as much of a waste of money as the Govermnent paying for half-rate sporting events held at the same venue.
I can load them all on my boat for a trip to Rum Point of sunday.
We could have a great party and choose a winner at the same time.
All this at no cost to our Government.
As an alternative…
…they could all parade at the Inaugural Ball for the Premier Designate and be judged by the invited dignitaries. Chavez is probably not on the list, but Prime Minister Gouding is invited and Jamaica have had their fair share of Ms. Universe and Ms. World winners. That wouldn’t add a lot to a budget that has probably exceeded a few years of Ms. Cayman contests already.
I dont think it’s a bad idea for the pagent to be postponed another year, especially if it saves our Islands some money, $100,000 eally is pocket change for Cayman but every cent saved adds up. I’m quite happy with Nicosia, she’s my favorite Ms. Cayman since Jacqueline Bush-Terry.
Why not auction the title of Ms. Cayman 2010 on ebay – it would bring in additional revenue.
I always did laugh when I first saw the Miss Cayman Islands beauty pageant and the attention it receives here. For a country run by religious zealots to openly promote this view of women as sezual objects is simply laughable.
That’s not to say I’m against it, I’m all for ladies parading in bikinis, although with only a couple of exception the standard is pretty poor here. I’m just saying its a great example of the contradictions and double standards of our country and church ruled governments.
As for the miss teen Cayman……which depicts children as sexual objects….
XXXXXX
You seem to have sex on the brain. I can appreciate feminine grace, poise, talent and beauty without necessarily thinking sex. You seem to be confusing Christianity and Islam in which uncovering your face would be deemed to be sexual.
I totally agree with this comment! Women displaying their bodies to the world, and young women too (Miss Teen). So much for a Christian country eh?? Come on Cayman! Yes, we have beautiful young ladies here, but we don’t need to be following the rest of the world with this whole pagent thing, and showing off their bodies, because really and truly that’s all it is. And like another comment stated, how does these pagents even benefit our country anyway???
That’s just my two cents.
I agree with your two cents!
You sound like somebody who misses home! Don’t forget…..it’s just across the water….
They can all come round to my pool one Sunday, I will ask some questions and will pick the winner. I will offer my services for free out of a sense of public duty.
LMAO!!!
I think it was considerable, a good decision.
Pageants would not compete without prizes and I don’t blame them. The young ladies that enter do gain some exposure and experience, however, we all need to now be advocates of our country and realize that could be a couple peoples salary.
We cannot make decisions based on the media writes, 100,000 dollars is a lot of money right now to spend on this.
I totally disagree that it was a terrible decision, it I must say that once the media published that government spent this money on this contest, they would be eaten alive.
Why was this a poor decision, what do the pageants achieve for the Island?
Not wanting to spark or a major debate, but I cant see why this is such a bummer. I did like watching the pageants, but no biggie, lets do what we can to fix the mess the Island is in.
Why should the govrnment be involved in this in the first place?
It was never a good idea for civil servants to be running a beauty pageant. This is a good opportunity for someone in the private sector to take it over – civil servants have more important work to do.
I totally agree!
I think this was another poor decision. Long before government took this show over about 8/9 years ago, it was done nicely by a committee that raised money in the community.
They could have scaled back maybe one pageant instead of the two and maybe government could have said sponored the clothing for the winner etc. but to just flat out cancel it only feeds the mindset in the international arena about cash crunch problems.
That aside, it just is a terrible decision; as I believe the young ladies that entered gained much from this experience.
a lil sanka now black and strong will do for this one.