New Miss Culture Malawi crowned
Fifteen girls battled for the Miss Culture Malawi crown at Amaryllis Hotel in Blantyre on Saturday night during a glittering ceremony spiced up by music and dance.
After strutting on the runway in four categories such as sports, office, traditional and evening wear, the judges went to work and shortlisted the top five.
Participants who made the top five were El Shaddai Masauli, Ruth Masamba, Memory Sanjila, Eunice Senzani and Yvone Chanache.
But it was question time that determined the top three of the contest and Sanjila clearly nailing her question, giving her the advantage over her competitors.
It took chief judge Rachel Mijiga and her fellow judges Fatra Kawinga-Mia, Emmanuel Maliro and Tarang Makhecha less than two minutes to come up with the winners.
“It has been an easy job as you can see that in less than two minutes, we have made our decision,” said Mijiga, who herself was second princess for Miss Malawi 1998.
She also announced Masauli as the second princess and Masamba as the first princess.
When Mijiga announced Sanjila’s name, the patrons cheered in agreement. She was a favourite of the majority after the question time.
Speaking earlier, Minister of Wildlife, Tourism and Culture, Michael Usi said the pageant has the potential to promote Malawi’s culture to the world.
“I also encourage the various sponsors of this pageant to tell their story as well as the winner. As government, we are ready to work with them, but they must tell us their story for us to know what they are doing,” he said.
Usi said corruption has become so bad in Malawi that it has almost become part of our culture. He stressed the need for the new queen to also talk about the evils of corruption during her reign.
Other accolades were Public Choice Award, which went to Masauli, Community Champion Award went to Rookiah Jussab, Callista Kachulu was crowned Miss Congeniality while Miss Personality was Florence Mkandawire and Miss Photogenic went to Christina Mavuto.
Musicians Big Lu and Tremour entertained the patrons during the event.
Some of the sponsors of the event included Amaryllis Hotel, Rosette Couture, Vichy Designs, and Malume Clothing, Hash Tag Fitness, Game Haven, Sunnyside Lodge and Kachale Fabric Centre.
