The 2023 Miss Jamaica Festival Queen will be crowned on August 1 inside the National Indoor Sports Centre.

This is shaping up to be one of the major events of the annual Independence Festivals celebration, and comes up just three days after the selection of the Festival Song on July 29.

The Miss Jamaica Festival Queen Competition, one of a number of events to be held between now and Independence Day, August 6 to commemorate Jamaica’s 61st anniversary of Independence day, was first staged in 1963 and has since ballooned into one of the main features of the festival period.

Councillor for the Hughenden Division of the Kingston and St Andrew Municipal Corporation (KSAMC) Andrew Harris, who represented Mayor of Kingston Delroy Williams at the sashing ceremony in May, said: “It is a pleasure for us to continue the journey of nation-building with the Jamaica Festival Queen contest. It is indeed an opportunity for all of you young girls to build your own resilience, to develop self-confidence and, of course, to become champions.”

Regarded as a signature programme of the Jamaica Cultural Development Commission (JCDC), the Miss Jamaica Festival Queen competition focuses on leadership, appreciation of the role of women, cultural awareness, creative talent, and community involvement.

The programme boasts having provided opportunities for outstanding young women to leave their mark on not only Jamaica’s culture, but all spheres of our nation’s development. Past queens include Dr Marsha Barnett, Jennifer “Jenny Jenny” Small, Jacinth Hall-Tracey, and Dahlia Harris.