By Theresa Cole

The contestants of 2016 Miss Cayman Islands pageant were placed at a disadvantage by the Miss Cayman Islands Committee. We were placed at a disadvantage because we weren’t given the scoring or judging criteria when we first signed up and we were never given any of our personal results. It’s been weeks since the pageant concluded and some contestants have little to no idea of where they placed or even what they can do to improve if they choose to reenter. Most times the audience only gets to see the glitz and glamour of the final night of the pageant, but I would like to share my experience in the Miss Cayman pageant to reveal some of the flaws and offer up recommendations on how to improve the system in hopes that it will be revamped for future contestants.

My name is Theresa Cole and I was a contestant in the 2016 Miss Cayman Islands pageant. I have been studying pageants for over 10 years now. I have experience in competing in pageants, as I was in Miss Teen, I was crowned Miss University of Tampa Caribbean 2014, I competed in Miss Caribbean United States and I also co-founded a local pageant coaching non-profit organization. Pageantry is one of my greatest passions, it has helped me, and countless other women across the world develop both personally and professionally. I want to see the pageant industry grow here in the Cayman Islands but in order for that to happen the system needs to change. I believe that change has to start with the highest caliber of our pageantry, The Miss Cayman Islands pageant.

The Miss Cayman Islands pageant has been around for some 65 years. It has done many positive things like give scholarships to the top 3 and instilling greater confidence in its contestants. However, there are real issues that need to be discussed and addressed if the pageant is really going to become an opportunity that women in the Cayman Islands cannot pass up. While I had an enjoyable experience with my pageant sisters, I feel that the way the pageant is being run is not in the best interest of the contestants.

I believe it is vital for contestants in any pageant to know how the pageant is scored and what the judging criteria are. The Miss Cayman Islands committee was asked more than one time by different contestants about the scoring and judging criteria of the pageant. The only portion of the scoring we were told about, from the very beginning, was 10% for punctuality and attendance. In fact, we were constantly reminded of this 10% throughout the pageant. Then on January 11th 2016, a contestant asked the committee, in our chat group, if we would receive a “breakdown of the scoring for the pageant.” A committee member responded with, “you will be advised on scoring by the judges when you meet with them. This has always been the tradition. Judges are not looking for a pageant patty. Be yourself and you should be fine.”

Their reluctance to produce a definitive answer left me wondering why? Why were we, as contestants not entitled to know, before the pageant, how it is scored or even the criteria the judges would use to determine the results?

With this in mind I decided to test the waters again and on January 18, two weeks before the pageant, in front of various committee members and the contestants, I said to them, “I would like to make my case for knowing the scoring of the pageant.” Once again the question was met with resistance. A committee member asked me, “would it make a difference? If you knew that one segment only accounted for 20%, would you only give 20% of your effort?” From this response I knew they weren’t seeing it from my perspective.

Competing in a pageant is much like sitting an exam. Take the SATs for example, when you sit the SATs they tell you the highest amount of points you can score in each section of the exam. When you do the essay section of the SATs they explain the criteria that you are expected to meet in order to gain maximum points.

The Committee seemed to recognize that this was not something I was going to let go and they finally gave in. We were told that the scoring for the pageant was 60% for Interview and 40% for the Onstage portion, which they confirmed was the scoring system they used in the past as well. Although I was pleased to finally have the scoring revealed, at two weeks before the pageant, it was five months and two weeks too late.

In the days after this meeting, something was starting to eat away at me, if 60% was for interview and 40% for onstage, then where was this 10% for punctuality and attendance coming from? Things just didn’t add up. During this six months journey we were warned numerous times about a 10% reduction for lack of punctuality and attendance. At the time the Committee took this 10% very seriously, in fact one committee member yelled at a contestant, over the phone, for not being on time to an event.

On the day of the pageant we were each taken into a room with the 5 judges, 4 locals and 1 international Judge, one committee member and two talliers, where we were asked a series of questions. I was asked a mix of questions ranging from personal/general, issues facing Cayman and International news. But most of the questions were personal/general like “Who am I?” and “What was your favorite day in the pageant?” and “What makes a woman?” This was a little surprising because I was expecting more difficult questions, like those we received in Toastmasters and our various media interviews.

I later found out, from one of the judges I interviewed, that they were asked to prepare the questions for the Judges’ Interview. According to this judge, the judges met on the morning of the pageant to share the questions they each came up with. In the interest of fairness they came up with certain benchmark questions, which consisted of personal questions like the aforementioned “who am I” question; that every contestant would be asked.

At no time before, during or after the interview, was I advised by the judges or committee member present of the final scoring and judging criteria like we were told was “tradition”; further the judges were never formally introduced to the contestants.

That night excitement and anticipation began to grow as this was the night we all had been waiting for. Just before we rocked the stage in our swimwear it was announced that the scoring of the pageant was 25% Swimwear, 25%Evening Gown, 25%Question & Answer and 25% for our Judges Interview. These were different scores than we were given previously, which means that some time between January 18 and January 30 the scoring had been changed. Even more apparent was that the Committee had failed to advise the contestants of this change. From the Committee’s actions, it is clear that they had never intended to give the contestants the true scoring of the pageant or judging criteria.

In the weeks after the pageant I contacted 4 out of 5 judges but I was only able to get an interview with 2 of them. One of the judges confirmed that in the Judge’s meeting with the Committee they were told it was 25% for all categories. When asked if they were told to advise contestants of the scoring, this particular judge stated, “that was never discussed. I’m assuming that’s the committee’s responsibility to let you know.”

You maybe thinking it’s just a pageant, so what is the big deal? But it is the principle that matters and the principle here is that the Committee had a duty to inform the contestants of the scoring and judging criteria from the beginning and to advise of any changes. By not doing this they effectively put the contestants at a disadvantage. As a result contestants were ill prepared to truly compete for the crown.

I understand that not everybody will agree with me. In fact, the second judge I interviewed does not think that contestants should know the scoring because they think that contestants should be well rounded. This judge feels that “when you enter a competition like [Miss Cayman], your challenge is to prepare yourself on as many different levels as humanly possible.” The judge also made the comparison of a football player violently kicking another player, stating, that “the referee has to make a judgment as to whether the player intentionally did it or not.”

But guess what? If the player doesn’t know the rules, then they can claim, as common sense as this may seem, that they didn’t know they weren’t allowed to kick the other player. The bottom line is, that if you don’t know the rules of the game, then you cannot play the game effectively and so you will not win.

We may wear heels and a gown but make no mistake Pageantry is a sport. It is a sport just like any other, you train hard, you dedicate your time, and it takes discipline and commitment. If you wouldn’t send your players to compete, without advising them of the rules, why would you expect it to be any other way for us as contestants?

Similarly there are those who will argue that other pageants, like Miss Universe, don’t give you the scoring or the judging criteria of the pageant, so why should we? It’s for the benefit of the contestants as well as the committee because it ensures TRANSPARENCY. And maybe it is time that we ask Miss Universe to provide this information so that we can have a better understanding of what they are looking for. We may be a small country but if we partner with other countries we can petition the Miss Universe Organization for the scoring and judging criteria. If enough countries voice their concerns then the Miss Universe organization will have to listen.

One of my favorite things about being Caymanian is that it comes with a certain sense of humility instilled in us. But, far too often we allow our humility to prevent us from standing up against the small injustices we witness in our daily lives. If we cannot hold people accountable for their actions in the small cases, how will we hold them accountable in the big cases?

If all contestants were given the scoring and judging criteria of the pageant from the beginning it would ensure a level playing field. Each contestant would know the categories that they are being judged on, how much for each category and what the judges are looking for in those categories. This would allow for all contestants to be adequately prepared for the pageant, which would foster greater competition and would result in a better pageant.

My recommendations are, that the Committee provide the scoring and judging criteria, from the beginning, to the contestants. The Contestants should be advised on any and all changes to the scoring system prior to the pageant and contestants should receive their results and feedback from the judges upon completion of the pageant.

Contestants should be given more age appropriate interview questions. After all being an ambassador, at this level, isn’t just about knowing yourself but it’s about knowing your country, people, and the issues we face.

The Interview should carry the most points, followed by the Final Question, then the Swimwear segment and then the Evening Gown segment. I believe the Interview and Final Question segments should carry the most points because this is where the judges get to know how intelligent you are, and if you are able to effectively communicate your intelligence to others. When it comes to the Swimwear and Evening Gown segments it shouldn’t just be about your walk, but it should be about how confident it makes you feel and look. I think that it shouldn’t matter as much how physically attractive someone deems you to be, because at the end of the day, beauty means different things to different people. However, your intelligence and your ability to communicate effectively is what truly make you a good ambassador.

All Contestants should be asked the same questions and the same amount of questions during the Interview process. This would make it easier for the judges to compare answers and therefore they would be able to see who gave the better answer to each question, just like they do for the Final Question segment. There should also be more emphasis on questions about issues facing the Cayman Islands, our people and International news. When you are an ambassador, it isn’t about you; it’s about representing your country and it’s people, and in order to do that, you need to know what’s happening in your country. As always it starts at home.

The Miss Cayman Committee should set the criteria for the Judges, to ensure that age appropriate questions are included. For example: questions that are about issues our country faces, prominent people in society, like National Heroes, and International issues.

The Miss Cayman Committee should change the age requirements back to 18-27 instead of 18-24. I understand they changed it in order to have a titleholder who is eligible to enter Miss World, which only accepts women 17-24 years of age. But why do we have to change our requirements to suit one pageant, which isn’t even televised? Especially since Miss Universe allows for women between the ages of 18-27 to compete. By changing the age requirements the Committee limits the amount of women they can potentially have in the pageant. Also in OUR CULTURE, women between the ages of 18-24 are usually in the process of completing their education and don’t enter the pageant until after they have acquired some level of tertiary education.

I think that the Committee should try to find out why Miss World only allows women between the ages of 17-24 to compete in their pageant. I also think that the Committee should reach out to other countries, that only have one national pageant and together they should approach the Miss World organization to discuss the possibility of allowing the one national winner to compete in their pageant regardless of their age.

I understand that being on a Committee for a prestigious pageant like Miss Cayman Islands is not an easy job. But I also believe that if you’re going to do something you should do it professionally and transparently. For all the years that we’ve been sending women away to compete in Miss Universe, I think it’s high time we have at least a top 15 position. But it starts at home by improving our quality of pageantry.

When I entered the Miss Cayman Islands pageant I knew that my mission was to revolutionize pageantry in the Cayman Islands. At the time I felt that I had to win the title of Miss Cayman in order to do that, but now I see that you don’t need to be a public figure to effect change. You just have to have the courage to speak up when you see something wrong. My recommendations don’t just stand for the Miss Cayman Islands pageant but all pageant systems across the country, give your contestants a level playing field and watch the quality of your pageants grow.
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IMAGE:
Theresa Cole From misscaymanapageant.com. Photo Credit: David Goddard Photography
All other images supplied (Theresa Cole) Photo Credit: David Goddard Photography