At a ceremony held on Wednesday December 16 at the Ministry of Tourism boardroom in Port Zante, Marketing Support Officer Ms Vernitha Maynard announced that the Development Bank of St. Kitts and Nevis had come on board as a Silver Sponsor, and offered a commitment of EC$7,500 to the pageant’s coordinator Ms Trista Wattley.

Leading the sponsors was the Ministry of Tourism who are Gold Sponsors (EC$10,000), whose Minister the Hon Lindsay Grant graced the occasion where he praised organisers of the Haynes Smith Miss Caribbean Talented Teen Pageant for a job well done over the years the pageant has been in existence.

“It is a pleasure really for me, as a Minister of Tourism, to be partnering with Haynes Smith Organising Committee,” said Hon Grant. “If it is 36 years, you must be doing something good, and I want to congratulate the hard working team that you have been working over the several years to produce the show.”

He said that his ministry was delighted to be part of the show and its programmes, and hoped that they would all come to fruition as the show has been used as a platform by the contestants some of who would have gone on to be queens in other pageants in the region.

Other sponsors included the St. Kitts-Nevis-Anguilla National Bank as Gold Sponsors and communicating their commitment was Mrs Shirna Pemberton, the Marketing Manager. Silver Sponsors were VHS Communications represented its CEO, Mr Val Henry, and S. L. Horsford’s & Company Limited, represented by Ms Sherema Liburd, Senior Marketing Assistant.

Pageant’s partners include the National Carnival Committee, and the National Broadcasting Corporation, ZIZ.

Chairing the ceremony was Mr Wallis Wilkin, the pageant’s Marketing and Public Relations Manager, and was attended by former chairperson and executive producer of the pageant Mr Antonio Maynard, pageant’s secretary/treasurer Mrs Angela Lewis, pageant coordinator Ms Trista Wattley, and committee member Yvette Somersall.

The reigning Miss Caribbean Talented Teen Queen is D’Shnay Matthew-York of St. Maarten, and confirmed vying for the crown this year are Jovoncia Proctor of Anguilla, Rikki Blake Brookes of St. Kitts, Neila Jones of Nevis, Lécresha Wallace of Dominica, Jondalin Brown of St. Maarten, Beviny Payne of Barbados, Jenelle Bladie of Jamaica, Aina Cenac of Grenada, and Akira Pickering-Haynes of the US Virgin Islands.