TWENTY contestants from across the island were whittled to 15, as the finalists were sashed in the 2011 Miss TEEN Jamaica recently at the Knutsford Court Hotel.

Judging the girls on swimsuit and evening wear, talent, and intelligence were Janice Pasley, Sharlene Fraiser-McLean and Patrick Dennis, who had quite a task to select only 15 finalists.

Following this, the girls quickly changed into their talent pieces and sang, signed, recited, danced and dramatised about various issues affecting Jamaica today, and a bit of our folklore. Some girls even showed off just how multi-talented they were, by combining a number of talents into their short talent pieces.

While the judges made their final tally for the talent section, the audience enjoyed performances by singer Kimberley Reynolds, and by the Untouchable Dancers, who caused quite a stir with their very dramatised dance piece.

Then came evening gown parade and question sections. The contestants were ‘locked away’ as each girl was asked the question: Which outstanding Jamaican woman do you admire most, and why?

With a number of responses including Yendi Phillipps, Veronica Campbell-Brown and Melaine Walker, the girls seemed to admire Portia Simpson Miller the most, with the majority of them saying that it is her contribution to Jamaica that places her on top.

Once again the judges took some time to deliberate. It was such a tough decision that the judges decided to include another finalist and have a total of 16 girls in the finals. The girls beamed as each name was called and they were sashed by their sponsor.

The Miss TEEN Jamaica 2011 final coronation will take place in July and TEENage Observer wishes all the best to the 2011 finalists.

— Kimberley Sherlock