Hewlett chosen for Miss World pageant

By Davion Smith, BVI News Online Journalist

One of the young ladies who tied for second position in the 2017 Miss BVI pageant, Helina Hewlett, has been selected to represent the British Virgin Islands (BVI) in the Miss World final to be held in China on November 18.

Reigning Miss BVI Khephra Sylvester was slated to compete in both the Miss World and Miss Universe pageants this year.

However, she will only participate in the Miss Universe competition that is also slated for November. It will take place in the Philippines.

Co-chairman of the Miss BVI Pageant Committee, Damion Grange, said Sylvester is only able to compete at Miss Universe because of the closeness of the dates for the two internationally renowned pageants.

Sylvester therefore selected Hewlett to represent the BVI at Miss World in her stead.

“The girls already knew that, in the event the dates overlapped, the first runner-up would be selected to go [to one of the international pageants],” Grange explained.

Hewlett tied for second place in the 2017 Miss BVI competition with Ayana Phillip.

“Khephra is the winner. She won the right to go to both shows. We thought that the fact that it’s her prize she should be the one deciding which of the two runner-ups should go [to the Ms World competition]. She should decide who should represent her and so, I guess after careful consideration, she nominated Helina to go,” Grange further told BVI News Online.

Sylvester and Hewlett, in the meantime will now begin preparation for their respective international pageants.

“They are going to start their etiquette training and all of that, and we’re going to go into the groups that focus on requirements for the international pageants so that the girls are prepared for those,” Grange further said.

“They’re practically mostly prepared already, simply because of the way we designed the programme this year. We designed it so that, when they’re preparing for Miss BVI, they would be meeting some of the requirements for the international pageant. So, that is why some of the structures and the training sessions for Miss BVI were edited – in order to meet that [international standard].”

“I didn’t just want to prepare the girls for the local pageant. I wanted for them to be able to leave the following day after the [local] pageant and they would not feel out of place if they move on to the international thing right away,” Grange further told BVI News Online.