Christine Straw, who was crowned 'Miss Jamaica Universe 2004' last Thursday. -
Winston Sill photo
Alicia Roache, Staff Reporter
OF THE eight entrants in the 'Miss Jamaica Universe 2004' competition, Christine Straw was the only one ready to wear the crown.
She emerged the winner after a 'boutique' event on Thursday, described by Kingsley Cooper, executive producer of the Miss Jamaica Universe pageant, as "fairly small, but nonetheless high in style and quality."
None of the seven other contestants could measure up to Straw's poise and confidence. This, of course, may have come in part from her experience in previous competitions. Christine Straw wore the coveted 'Miss Jamaica World' crown in 1998 and is the second queen after Sandra Foster to hold both titles.
Earning both titles is no doubt a major accomplishment, especially for someone who never had becoming a beauty queen on her list of things to do.
NEVER DREAMT
"I never dreamt as a child 'oh I want to be a Miss Jamaica'. I probably more wanted to be a football player. It's something that a few friends and I did for fun to see if we could get in, but during the competition we grew so much. We learnt about carriage, voice and speech, just how to promote yourself in a positive light. And in promoting yourself in a positive light builds confidence and in being confident you carry yourself better, you
aspire more," she said.
Though Straw speaks about the benefits of entering a pageant so fondly, she is aware of the criticism often levelled at someone who enters more than one pageant.
"I've always been a little nervous about entering another beauty pageant because of the stereotypical comments that will be made, you know, like 'what is she, a professional beauty queen?' But because this year is an in-house pageant, it made me feel a little more comfortable about it," she said.
Straw's coronation took place at a time when the competition is undergoing major changes. Divorced from the legions of screaming supporters who normally pay to see their queens being crowned, Straw's coronation was witnessed by a small number of persons close to the Miss Jamaica Universe pageant, the contestants and the media. But this is just the way Straw would have it. She hopes to get the public support from the work she intends to carry out during her reign as Miss Jamaica Universe.
"I will be a great diplomat for the country. I'm a very good people-person and through that and through my experience with the other Miss Jamaica title, I know that I'm a very good diplomat for the country. So I know I have that to offer in representing and promoting our rich culture to the world," she said.
Her experience as Miss Jamaica World will no doubt be an asset in her preparation for the Miss Universe Competition in Ecuador on June 1, a little over a month away.
Her reign as Miss Jamaica Universe will be a brief one. She will hold the title for just a few months, as the queen for 2005 will be crowned later this year in order to facilitate a longer preparation period for the international competition in 2006.
Straw, however is intent on following up on some of the projects that she started during her reign as Miss Jamaica World 1998. "When I handed over my crown as Miss Jamaica (World) '98 I was still trying to do a few of the projects that I didn't get around to doing in my year and people weren't that willing to help me too much or, you know, they weren't taking it seriously. So I think this would be a good opportunity to get projects up and running faster," she said.
THINGS TO DO
On her list of things to do is some support work with the Jamaica Epileptic Centre, "shedding some light, promoting awareness of that condition."
But her pet project, and one she seems really passionate about, is creating awareness and facilitating the prevention of abuse of women. She wants to work with the Women's Crisis Centre in helping to educate women and thereby prevent the further abuse of women. For her, it is an issue that resonates with her.
"To be quite honest I have people who are close to me that have been abused and as I've grown older and just in meeting different people and as I get close to them sometimes they'll open up to me, but generally as I get older I'm hearing about more and more situations of abuse," she said.
"I would say easily, just even in speaking to the Women's Crisis Centre also, about a third of the women out there have been abused in some way," Straw said. As a result, Straw wants to start a 'Column of Awareness' with a newspaper through which she would promote awareness of the physical and sexual abuse of women.
At the end of her reign Straw will continue to pursue careers in modelling and broadcasting, passions that she says her participation in the beauty pageants have helped to cultivate.
