Miss Harare Preps on

Preparations for this year's edition of the prestigious Miss Harare beauty pageant are at an advanced stage with the organisers promising a red carpet event. Running under the theme "I am Zimbabwean", the final showdown has been set for December 23, at the 7Arts Theatre in Avondale. The scouting phase which saw two rounds of auditions has been completed with 30 beauties making it into camp after going through an intense selection process.

The selection criterion for the girls was rather strict with a minimum height requirement of 1,67m being set.

Age was another aspect and only those 24 years and below were allowed the chance to face a panel of judges who grilled the aspiring queens, testing their credibility to become ambassadors of the City of Harare. 

Twenty-seven out of 64 participants qualified in the first round of auditions, which were held on November 12. Another 11 girls were selected in the second round, bringing to 38 the total number of models who qualified.

However, they later went through another round of selection which saw 30 models remaining. Co-ordinator of the pageant Deborah Chidavaenzi - a former model - said that preparations for the grand finale were now in motion. "We are putting in place the final touches and seeing through a couple of modalities and logistics to ensure that we hold an explosive event.

"At the moment we are finalising negotiations with artistes who are going to perform during the event," she said. The girls are set to start their tour of Harare - the Sunshine City - very soon, in which they will have road shows and familiarisation programmes. Organisers of the event have also pencilled in a fund-raising dinner on December 16, from which funds will be channelled towards the Cancer Association of Zimbabwe, which the Miss Zimbabwe Trust has aligned itself with by supporting cervical cancer awareness. Out of the 30 contestants vying for the Miss Harare title, only the top four models will go through to participate in the Miss Zimbabwe national finals. (Culled from Herald)