MISS Jamaica World coronation show, set the Jamaica Pegasus hotel in St Andrew this evening, will be dedicated to the memory of Aston Cooke.

Cooke, a renowned playwright and co-franchise holder of the pageant, died on February 22 this year. He was 61.

The production will be staged under the theme: Jamaica Jamboree… Colours in Motion and will draw influences from Cooke’s play Jonkanoo Jamboree.

“We’re making it very colourful and spectacular. It will be all Jamaican,” explained Weston Haughton of Crown of Beauty Limited, the company which holds the franchise for the pageant which selects a representative for Miss World.

“The ladies will be wearing beautiful, colourful outfits in a special opening number which will also feature some of the popular Jonkanoo characters,” he continued.

Haughton said the finalists are in very high spirits going into the coronation show and are ready to give of their best and so he is appealing for audience support and patronage.

“We really hope that the supporters who have been saying ‘this one and that one is my favourite girl’ will come out and support the ladies. I feel strongly that from this really beautiful set of young ladies, there is that winner who can bring had home the Miss World crown,” he said.

This year marks Crown of Beauty’s second year staging the pageant. For well over 30 years, the franchise was held by Mickey Haughton-James of Spartan Health Club. Haughton is optimistic the challenge of attracting sponsorship will lessen.

“We do have our product and individual sponsors who have come on board, but it is still a hard task. But I know its a building process. We just started last year, and thank God we did a good production that people could look on what we did and say ‘yes’ to being part of the project this year. As time goes by, and others see what we are doing, we hope more sponsors will come on board so that we can improve the overall package,” said Haughton.

He had nothing but high praises for the outgoing queen Kadijah Robinson who placed in the top five at Miss World last year, as well as his new co-franchise holder Dahlia Harris.

“Kadijah has done extremely well. Everywhere she goes the comment we get is she is so beautiful. She is not only beautiful, but she is humble. That’s what we’re looking for in a Queen. Humility is something that we really treasure in these representatives. Of course, she must be bubbly and full of personality, but humility adds such incredible value. Dahlia Harris is a superwoman. She is an amazing organiser who can do a million and one things well at the same time. She is excellent at what she does, we operate on the same wavelength and work very well together,” he noted.

Tonight’s winner will represent Jamaica at the Miss World pageant’s grand coronation in London, England, in December.