Danielle Lowe (left), winner of the Jergens Miss Jamaica World Model mini contest, Terri-Karelle Griffiths (middle) and Debralee Lewis.

Twenty-three year-old Terri-Karelle Griffiths became the first contestant in this year's Miss Jamaica World beauty pageant to qualify for the top 10 when she won the talent competition in the pageant's first of four mini competitions at Beaches Boscobel Resort in St Mary over the weekend.

But it was Peta-Gaye Walker who starred the proceedings, copping two of the awards, sports and beach beauty, while Danielle Lowe captured the model award. All three winners gain automatic berths in the competition's top 10, which has its grand coronation Sunday at the Pegasus Hotel in Kingston.

The mini competitions climaxed a week of activities for the 15 charming young ladies who spent an entire week at the Beaches Boscobel Resort, celebrating the inaugural Miss Jamaica World Week at Beaches Boscobel.

It was the second year running that the mini competitions were being held as a precursor to the grand finale.

"The Miss Jamaica World mini competitions started last year and actually we are copying the Miss World Programme in that they have introduced these competitions where the winners become automatic top 20 finalists; in our contest they become automatic top 10 finalists," said franchise holder Mickey Haughton-James.

From Sharice Fernander's opening dance, done to a medley of reggae/dancehall songs, to Terri-Karelle Griffiths' closing creative dance set, the audience warmed to the beauty of the contestants, showing their approval with sustained applause and clicks of cameras.

Fernander showed good movements, even when doing the Bogle and Willy Bounce dances but might have suffered by staying too long on stage. She ended up third.

Nalini Banhan, doing an Indian dance, finished second in the talent segment. But it was Griffiths, who started ballet dancing as a two-and-a-half year-old, spending 12 years doing the art form, that wowed the gathering, drawing the loudest applause after she finished her piece to a Maxi Priest ballad.

That applause translated into votes as the audience's vote was taken into consideration to complement the score sheets of the judges, headed by Tommy James and including Mark McDermot and Carl Williams of Uzuri fame, Flavia Green of Sandals Resorts, Michelle Parkes and C Andrew Martin.

"It was remarkable," Griffiths later told the Observer. "All the acts were tremendous, all the girls did a very good job. I honestly feel very privileged and honoured to be the first top 10 finalist."

"I stopped dancing at 14, so it's been quite a long time but I guess I still had a little bit," she said of her dancing.

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