Jameelah is Miss La Reine Rive

JAMEELAH PHILLIPS is the new Miss La Reine Rive. Phillips, 20, who represented Barataria Community Council, defeated 19 other delegates to win the coveted title in the 2004 Prime Minister’s Best Village Trophy Competition, which took place on Saturday night at the Grand Stand, Queen’s Park Savannah, Port-of-Spain. A production of the Ministry of Community Development, Culture and Gender Affairs, Miss La Reine Rive featured 20 community ambassadors from Icacos to Charlotteville in rustic wear, vying for the top prize and the accompanying $20,000 in cash.

This feat by Phillips made her the fourth Miss La Reine Rive queen coming out of the Barataria Community Council camp. Consequently, she has broken the group’s dry-spell of wins in this category of the national festival. The last time Barataria Community Council produced a Miss La Reine Rive was in the early 1980s. Phillips, a standard three teacher at Morvant Anglican Primary School and part-time dance student at the University of the West Indies, St Augustine, was the last contestant to take centre-stage at Miss La Reine Rive, but sent the Grand Stand audience wild with her majestic entrance. The ladies were being judged for evening gown, self-expression, hairstyle and make-up. The costume and talent segments were adjudicated earlier in the series.

Phillips was refine and fitted the shoes of royalty with her powerful presence and poise, complemented by her charm and sex appeal, underlined with her winning and hypnotic smile. As she strutted across the stage, evenly, Phillips had a special glow and signalled her intention to be victorious. But taking home the Miss La Reine Rive crown was not enough for Phillips, who copped three major special awards. They were: Best Evening Gown titled “Hibiscus in Full Bloom,” designed by Christopher Quammie and Stephanie Reyes; Best Make-up done by Bernadette Jennings and Best Hairstyle worked on by Cindy King. Having won the title of Miss La Reine Rive 2004, Phillips brought renewed hope to her group and her community. This year, for the first time in 40 years of unbroken participation, Barataria Community Council was not a finalist in the folk theatre segment of the festival.

Speaking to Newsday Phillips said: “It feels great! To all those who said I could not do it, I have. Members of the group encouraged me to compete. They said this was my year. I was reluctant at first. Then I thought I could do this. I am strong. This was the first year since entering Best Village that the group was not in the final of the folk theatre category. So it was up to me to fly the flag and I did. I am a perfectionist. I did not want to be a disappointment. Now, the Barataria community has something to feel proud.” As promised by Norvan Fullerton, production manager of the Prime Minister’s Best Village Trophy Competition, Miss La Reine Rive 2004 was completed in two hours. It started at 8 pm.

Principals of community groups taking part in the contest pulled out all the stops to ensure that their representatives entered and exited the stage in dramatic style. The packed Grand Stand audience, which included Prime Minister Patrick Manning and his wife Hazel, Culture Minister Joan Yuille-Williams, as well as Ministers Edward Hart, Eulalie James and Eudine Job-Davis were treated to live and entertaining performances by the Trinidad and Tobago Police Band, five-time Calypso Monarch Black Stalin, Marilyn Williams and various community troupes. However, the ultimate community title of “Best Village” went to Five Rivers Community Council. For its efforts, the group earned $200,000 that would go towards projects of choice.