She’s Royal: Queen of the Jewel Annlyn Apolonio
The first ever Queen of the Jewel was crowned at the Bliss by a panel of judges. Going up against nine other delegates, Annlyn Apolonio made it all look easy as she strut her stuff in swimwear, did an elaborate Chinese cultural presentation and modeled an elegant evening gown, to secure her place in the top five. The hardest part was the question and answer segment, which narrowed the competition down to Annlyn and another top performer, Dangriga’s Tyler Savery. In the end, the judges chose Annlyn as the Queen of the Jewel 2010-2011. One week into her reign, News Five caught up with her today and found out how she is preparing for the international stage.
Annlyn Apolonio, 2010 Queen of the Jewel
“It was a learning experience, I must say; one that I will take with me for the rest of my life. I’m so elated that I came out on top and this is the beginning of a new journey for me.”
Delahnie Bain
“I know that being the beauty ambassador comes with a lot of influence and so on. Do you have anything planned as yet?”
Annlyn Apolonio
Annlyn Apolonio
“Well, I’m passionate about many things; I haven’t tied my reign to a cause yet because I love working with kids but at the same time I want to see women stand up for themselves and believing in themselves. So I haven’t yet come to the conclusion of what I want to do but I will do something and of course it will be positive.”
Delahnie Bain
“When it comes to future pageants and international representation, what’s next for you?”
Annlyn Apolonio
I am preparing to represent Belize at international and I’m looking forward to these events. We have discussed contracts but it’s still in the making phase. I’m happy to be in the rebuilding project. We know that Miss Belize hasn’t been quite the pageant that everybody expects of it but we are trying and remain optimistic about it. It is really self-gratifying but at the same time it means so much to me because I come from humble beginnings. I’m from Lake Independence and we’ve always been stigmatized and stereotyped and I am living proof that we can rise above our circumstance and we can prove to the world that we have what it takes to be productive citizens and make this country better.”
The Queen of Jewel franchise has already secured contracts with four international pageants: Miss International, Miss Tourism Queen International, Miss Ethnic World and Miss Pan-American International. Queen of the Jewel Pageant organizers are also hoping to get into Miss Universe but according to the franchise, that has not yet been clinched. Belize has not been able to participate since the living room Miss Belize pageant in 2008.
I would like to see less of these competitions. How many of these beauty contest will we have each year. I find them quite shallow, There is no doubt that Belize have some beautiful women. However the majority of these girls lack the essential skills to compete with girls on the international stage. Perhaps we need to set the bar a bit higher. In addition to the physical attributes, eligibility criteria will include age 20-25, educated to minimum sixth form level, have a talent whether its singing, ballet dancer, playing a musical instrument, have language skills (say speak English and Spanish fluently) and able to give an articulate account of various topics and general knowledge. Failing that, we will continue to see these girls parade themselves year after year with the same outcome.
Have we got a girl to send to the Miss Mafia Contest? It is the world’s first pageant exclusively for girls convicted of Mafia-connected crimes it was held in Budapest, Hungary this year. I can imagine its only a matter of time before we have a contestant for that pageant too.
Congratulations Annalyn, you are really a beautiful girl, well worded and quite deserving of your crown, I hope that you will be able to take advantage of all the opportunities presented to you and be able to at least place a spotlight on those in your community that needs help, just don’t emphasize on a single sex though or you will be doing what all the women before you have done, young men needs to be focused on as much as young women which has not been done in Belize for many years as I can remember growing up it was always the belief that little girls needs to be cute and have the best dresses and shoes while it is ok for little boys to wear anything and walk barefooted and they won’t look so bad and probably still is that way in Belizean society, most women wants a little girl so they can dress her cute, this is probably a contributing factor to the crimes in the community since these guys has grown up believing that they are not so important to their mothers since they always had to mostly fend for themselves.
Channel 5 why the big secret about the ownership of The Queen of Jewel franchise I am assuming that it is the same company that owns channel 5 correct me if I am wrong since I hate assuming.
GOOD JOB
CONGRATS
I agree with RadicalBelizean: I enjoy, support these contests, I enjoy watching Duets…but…the world have enough entertainers, Belize have enough entertainers…I want to see more Doctors, Educators, Scientists, Mathematicians, Engineers…I want to see more intellectuals in Belize…sorry but entertainment today is just shallow amusement for the masses and provides absolutely nothing beneficial on any grand scale…this is why America is one of the dumbest nations on the Planet…even with all their money…most young people can name all basketball and football team and all the best players on each team…yet most can’t name all 50 States.
However, I will still say congrats; she won and deserves that much.
Rootsman, as a parent, let me assure you that we love our children unconditionally regardless of gender. A little girl who appears to be neglected or poor in our society is more vulnerable to abuse & sometimes the packaging is more for protection not our way pf telling our sons that they are less important. You may be surprised to find that many women have a view completely contrary to yours. Please remember that there was a time when parents had less resources & had to choose between educating their daughters or their sons & the boys usually got top billing.
There are body building competitions for men. While these competitions are not there to showcase intellect, it can give some exposure. Keep in mind, the Governor of California, used his brawn to get attention, earn a living & a degree in Economics.
SO WE CAN’T CALL HER …………………….MISS BELIZE????????????????
EXPLAIN……………….
BZNinCALI I respect your opinion on that however I believe that the question of how a child feels about the situation can only be answered by the child, people claims to love and show love in many different ways but it will be up to the person that this so called love is directed to that can tell what he or she is feeling.
Belize needs a PBS — something on TV that has substance.
Queen of the wat? There is no jewel in that pageant…..! Tanks to Opal and Malik for making girls fear the participation in the pageant! And to the miss universe franchise opal be ready I just bought it for $40k US so the next miss Belize will be the thing not queen of the jewel! Go miss Delgado and miss castillo!
Rootsman, I was a child. I had parents & passed the insanity on to my children. My parents, grandparents & great grandparents treated the boys & girls differently. I missed things like working on the car with my Dad & resented the freedom the boys were given which as a child I saw as preferential treatment.. I had the chance to watch my father grow old, as imperfect as he was, there was never a day in my life when I woke up & thought that he didn’t love all of us & my little brother will tell you the same. Our boys are angry because MOTHERS & FATHERS are not making the effort to stay together to finish the job.
By the way, some of our girls like sports & aren’t interested in dressing up & I have run around the track with & hit fly balls & ground balls to that one too.
It would be very respectful if Belizeans learn to give to ceasar his/her due; it is so easy to put down our own and readily accept what is foreign generally speaking. There’s a lot that goes on behind the scenes with regards to pageantry in Belize; but I like to call a spade a spade and without a doubt, Ms Annlyn Apolonio fearly won that pageant.It would be very beneficial to all involved in pageantry in Belize to work collaborately in order to move this industry forward. If this were to come to fruition, then our beauties with brains and intrinsic charisma would be better prepared for international pageantry. ENJOY YOUR REIGN, Annlyn and remember that the sky is the limit; keep pursuing your dream!
MUST ADMIT THAT AFTER ALMOST A YEAR MS. ANNLYN APOLONIO is currently in Cina representing the Jewel in the Miss International 2011 Pageant ! GOOD LUCK AND BLESSINS!