Throughout this year’s edition, many speculated that Miss Rwanda would lose its charm. But the contest has yet again proven to doubters that it remains among the most entertaining events on Rwanda’s social calendar. The public was not allowed to attend the grand finale held on Saturday, March 20 at Intare Conference Arena as large gatherings remain banned to contain the spread of the coronavirus pandemic. Only the beauty pageant organisers and their partners’ representatives, hosts, contestants, former Miss Rwanda winners and the jury were allowed into the arena as the crown awaited its next holder. Meanwhile, the public was able to follow the finale either on their screens live on both Rwanda Television and KC2, the national broadcaster’s TV channels, or watch the live stream show on the pageant’s YouTube channel at a fee of $3. However, the virtual attendance was highly felt on social media as viewers shared their reaction and support, mostly on Twitter. At exactly 7pm, a large audience already had their eyes on their screens with so much anticipation and curiosity for who would replace Naomie Nishimwe to the crown. At a quarter to 8 pm the trio of the finale hosts made up of Luckman Nzeyimana, Davy-Carmel Ingabire and Martina Abera, all of whom are TV presenters at the national public broadcaster, called the contestants on to the stage to present to the public what they learned from the two-week boot camp, at La Palisse Hotel, Nyamata. The crew hosted the event in three official languages: English, French and Kinyarwanda. The stage lighting, the décor and clothing collections, catwalk and Q&A sessions, are among the highlights of the event that appealed to the audience. As is the norm, entertainment was also part of the show, this time round with Shauku Band entertaining the audience with its talented vocals and traditional dance. Donned in eye-catching gowns from Ian Collections, each of the 20 finalists cat walked before the audience and later showcased their traditional dance moves before they were reduced to ten contestants, based on their performances from different challenges held during the boot camp. Laila Kabagema however was lucky to progress through to the next round after gathering the highest number of votes. The top 10 then proceeded to a round of Q&A sessions before a panel of judges that comprised of Agnes Mukazibera, a former parliamentarian as the lead judge, joined by The New Times’ James Munyaneza, Pamela Mudakikwa, a Communication specialist, Teddy Kaberuka an Economic analyst and RBA’s Evelyne Umurerwa. They quizzed the contestants on a range of topics like culture heritage preservation and the country’s response to the covid-19 pandemic among others. In the end, the jury had to make the toughest decision, and picked Amanda Akaliza, Grace Ingabire and Witness Umutoni for the final three before Ingabire beat the two to the crown after another round of Q&A session. Akaliza and Witness emerged first and second runners-up respectively. Before announcing the crown winner, however, three contestants were given time to showcase their talents in a session that saw Sandrine Umutoniwase emerge the most talented contestant with excellent skills in painting. Other crown winners are Marie-Paul Kayirebwa who won the Miss Popularity crown, Phionah Uwase (Miss Photogenic), Sonia Ishimwe (Miss Heritage), Evelyne Gaju (Miss Congeniality) and Sandrine Umutoniwase (Miss Talent). Meanwhile, Hense Teta Musana’s project, which is about producing environment-friendly paper cups, emerged as the Most Innovative Project and will get funding of up to Rwf 6,000,000 annually from Bank of Kigali. As the winner, Ingabire won herself a brand new Hyundai Creta 2021, worth Rwf35 million sponsored by Hyundai Rwanda. She will also get a monthly allowance of Rwf800, 000 during her reign and work as the brand ambassador of Africa Improved Foods, one of the pageant’s partners, in different initiatives and campaigning during her 12-month reign. In addition, she plans to implement a project that aims to promote dance as a learning tool that complements formal education. A university graduate in Dance from Bates University in Maine, United States, the 25-year-old becomes the 11th beauty queen since the pageant was launched in 1993. Her win makes it the third consecutive time that the crown goes to a representative of the City of Kigali. The first and second runners-up will also get annual allowances of Rwf1,800,000 from Volcano Express and Bella Flowers, respectively, while Miss Heritage (IGIHE Ltd), Miss Talent (HDI), Miss Congeniality (Peters Bakers), Miss Photogenic, and Miss Popularity (MTN) will get the same allowance from Miss Rwanda organisation sponsors. The latter will also become the brand ambassador of MTN Rwanda. The contestants entertained with traditional dances. Sandrine Umutoniwase emerged Miss Talent. Shauku Band were the entertainers of the night.
