| Miss Orange and Blue: brains and spirit key Informational meeting scheduled for Wednesday about local pageant
The first informational meeting for women interested in competing in the Multicultural Miss Orange and Blue Pageant will be held Wednesday at 7 p.m. in Room 213 Gregory Hall. Krucial Diamond Productions, a community service organization, will be sponsoring the pageant. The contest is open to any University female with a G.P.A. of 2.5 or higher. It is tentatively scheduled for Feb. 11. A maximum of 30 women will be chosen to participate in the competition and contestants will be selected through an interview process. According to Krucial Diamond Productions President Crystal Claybrooks, the organization is looking for women from a variety of backgrounds who display confidence and spirit. Contestants will open the pageant with a song and dance performance in the tradition of larger competitions. They will then participate in a fashion show in which each woman will model clothing that she feels reflects her personality or interests while an MC details the contestant's academic qualifications. From this round, 10 women will be eliminated. Remaining contestants will go on to compete in swimsuit, evening gown, interview and talent competitions. The winner will receive $500 and progress to the Miss Illinois State Pageant where she can compete against women throughout Illinois for a scholarship and a shot at the Miss USA Pageant. The first runner-up will receive a $100 gift certificate to Bergner's and a sweater bearing the University emblem and the name of the pageant. The second runner-up will also receive a sweater. All other contestants will walk away with their sashes, a t-shirt and a certificate of participation. Seven judges will decide the outcome of the pageant. Four of the judges will be sent from the organization responsible for the Miss Illinois State Pageant, two will be ex-University faculty members and one will be a student body member who has yet to be chosen. Krucial Diamond Productions has decided not to establish the criteria for choosing the student judge until prospective contestant interviews have been completed. The Miss Illinois State Pageant typically draws its contestants from the winners of thirty or so local pageants from around the state. Contestants have been sent from Northern Illinois University, Eastern Illinois University and Northwestern University in the past. The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign has not sent anyone to the pageant for several years, according to Claybrooks. "We (Krucial Diamond Productions) hope for the pageant to be successful so that we can have it again and again," said Claybrooks. "We want it to be an uplifting and fun experience for everyone involved." |
||
© 2000 Illini Media Company, all rights reserved. |