The organisers of the Miss Rwanda beauty pageant yesterday, February 4, announced slight changes on the format of the 2021 beauty contest that has been stalled due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. Due to the pandemic and ongoing restrictions, Miss Rwanda organisers came up with a concrete plan and a roadmap that will ensure that the 2021 edition of the pageant is held but in the safest of ways, for both the organisers and the contestants. The organisers of the pageant, who in December 2020 announced major changes in the 2021 edition, resolved to conduct this year’s Miss Rwanda auditions virtually while other phases that will follow will be conducted in a bubble system to ensure the safety of contestants. Under the bubble system, all contestants will be tested for Covid-19, isolated while training at the boot camp and the jury will be conducted virtually and will get a PCR Test 24 hours before they face contestants at the boot camp. Under the new arrangement, the auditions, which had been slated for January 9, were postponed following the tougher Covid-19 preventive measures, and other preliminary events will be held virtually while pre-selection, the boot camp and finals will be conducted in a bubble system, in a bid to ensure that all the five phases of the pageant are conducted safely. The public will follow all the phases via the official broadcaster and Miss Rwanda platforms. “Miss Rwanda is an annual pageant that many girls want to participate in. Over the years, the contest has become popular in and outside Rwanda while the opportunities it offers have also been increasing every year. “Having already announced Miss Rwanda 2021 and considering the fact that prospective contestants were already registered online, we thought it was important to find ways of conducting the pageant virtually and safely in a bubble, rather than postpone it,” explains Meghan Nimwiza, Head of Communications at Miss Rwanda. How it will be conducted Online registration is currently ongoing and will close on February 8, 2021. The decision to continue with the organisation was reached after an assessment which was done, showed that Miss Rwanda can be organised virtually. “The decision was mainly informed by the fact that many girls had already registered and expressed interest to participate and we could not deny them the opportunity. It is our hope that the pandemic will subside soon to allow a certain level of normalcy but even if it doesn’t, life must go on,” Nimwiza adds. Under the new changes, registration will close on February 8 while virtual audition events will commence from February 9 to 18. During the auditions, aspirants will be given model questions/topics to discuss. They will take a three-minute video while doing presentations on the given topics and then send the video to organisers. The videos will be forwarded to the panel of judges to analyse the answers. The judges will then, from February 19, announce who passes and who stays from each province. From February 19, the organisers will start revealing provincial representatives who will have passed the auditions after. Online and SMS voting will kick off on February 22 to determine those who will make it to the top 20. Contestants will enter a bubble on March 3 while the pre-selection exercise will take place on March 6. According to the statement, contestants will be required to submit their videos with specific requirements, which judges will review and then based on the theme of ‘beauty, brain and culture’, select contestants who meet the criteria. The contestants who will make it through from the auditions and the entire organising team will be subjected to a PCR Covid-19 test and then put in a bubble where all the next phases will be held till the grand finale. “This plan has been vetted and agreed upon by all parties and sponsors after lengthy consultations. All the phases will be communicated and the public will follow all the developments on Rwanda Broadcasting Agency (RBA), the official media broadcaster and other media platforms. “Most activities across the world have had to adjust to the new normal of doing things in the wake of the pandemic, and so has Miss Rwanda. All avenues have been explored to ensure that the 2021 edition is successfully held virtually and safely in a bubble, as most events worldwide,” Nimwiza adds. The top 20, who will make it to the finals, will go into the boot camp which will start on March 6 and end on March 20, when the grand finale will be held. The finale will take place at Kigali Arena and will be broadcast live on RBA.
