Videos: Shaunte Simons Wins Miss Teen
[Updated] 17-year-old Shaunte Simons was crowned the winner of the 2011 Miss Teen Bermuda Islands last night [Aug.7] at the Fairmont Southampton.
No stranger to success, Ms Simons is a recent graduate of Saltus Grammar School, and plans to study law at the University of West England starting in the fall. She received an education award from the ABIC group earlier this year.
While in high school, she was involved in the Youth Parliament, National Youth Council, Youth Peace Builders, Youth News, Youth Net Mentoring Program, Prom Committee, the Student Council and represented Bermuda at a Youth United Nations Conference in New York as the lead debater.
She has performed over 350 hours of community service and was described by her school guidance counselor as “a student with unquestioned integrity, who is not deterred from her goals.”
Ms Simons – who represented Devonshire and also won Miss Sweet Charity – will represent Bermuda in the Miss Talented Teen Haynes Smith Digicel Pageant, which will be held in St Kitts in December 2011. She is pictured below with Pageant Director Terry Smith:
The 4th runner up was Miss Pembroke Allana Bean, the 3rd runner up was Miss St. George’s East Tabia Butterfield, 2nd runner up was Miss Smiths Siairah Minors, and the 1st runner up was Miss St George’s West Kayla Furbert. The top five are pictured below along with Mr Smith:
Organised by Tee’l Productions, the contest is celebrating its 10th anniversary, and was open to teenagers aged from 13 -18. Contestants competed in five categories; Miss Teen Photogenic, Miss Teen Supermodel, Miss Teen Congeniality, Miss Teen Sweet Charity and Miss Teen Talent.
Watch the winning moment below:
Below the new Miss Teen Bermuda and Terry Smith speak briefly after the event. Mr Smith said it was a very successful and exciting show, and it was very tight at the end. Ms Simons thanked Mr Smith for his hard work in producing the contest, and said it was an excellent experience and winning was “the cherry on top.”
Mr Smith and Miss Teen Bermuda Shaunte Simons speak after the show:
Premier Paula Cox was in attendance, and drew loud applause from the friends and family gathered when she said the judges had a hard job as all the young ladies were “stupendous” and had style and substance. The Premier said it is not easy to put yourself on the line to be judged, and all the young ladies deserve commendation.
The Premier’s speech:
The contestants were; Miss St George’s West Kayla Furbert, Miss St. George’s East Tabia Butterfield, Miss Hamilton Parish Denisha Roberts, Miss Smiths Siairah Minors, Miss Devonshire Shaunté Simons, Miss Warwick Melaé Bowen-Daniels, Miss Warwick Zainab Suluki, Miss Southampton Zaakira Lee, and Miss Pembroke Allanna Bean.
Watch all the contestants in the evening gown portion:
The judges were Alexa Lightbourne, Jamel Hardtman, Nikita Robinson, Wanda Willis-Ray and James Howard, and the show was hosted by Alisha Phillips, Miss Talent Teen 2002 and Whitney Morfitt, Miss Teen Bermuda 2001.
Update 10:28am: The morning after winning the Miss Teen Bermuda Islands contest, 17-year-old Shaunte Simons described it all as “exciting.” She said the entire experience was one she really enjoyed, and winning the contest was the “cherry on top.”
A recent graduate from Saltus Grammar School who plans to study law at the University of West England in the fall, the new Miss Teen Bermuda said she is glad to be a role model for young girls.
Ms Simons ordered her pale lavender evening gown online from New York, choosing a “princess-like look” for the contest. Her hair was done by Transformations, whom were also backstage assisting during the night show.
The daughter and step-daughter of Marlene Flynn-Carty and Bobbie Carty, and David Simons and Teresa Simons, she described her parents as being extremely excited and proud of her. They were seated right in front of the stage, and Ms Simons said could hear them cheering loudly as she was announced as the winner.
The Premier – who had to stand on her toes – placed the sash and crown on Ms Simons, who described it as a great experience. She said the Premier is a “lovely lady”, who gave all the contestants good advice when they visited her during the contest preparation period.
When asked what she will be doing to prepare for the Miss Caribbean contest in St. Kitts later this year, she said she hasn’t gotten the details yet – but she is sure that Mr Smith will have her undergo a lot of preparation.
Her first duty as Miss Teen Bermuda was to head to the offices of Power 95, where she was scheduled to appear on radio this morning [Aug.8] along with pageant director Terry Smith.
Update 3:00pm: Full photo gallery added here.
Read More About
Category: All, News, Style & Beauty, Videos
Congratulations to each of you!
Shaunte Simons: a winner all the way! Well done young lady!
CONGRATS ! GOD BLESS YOU AND YOUR FUTURE………..
Congrat Shaunte I agree with star man you are a winner all the way. So proud of you!
Congrats Shunte, I am sure your father is very proud of you, So nice to see you doing great things!! Keep up the good work!!
These young girls all have shown grace and poise, and most of all class. Way to go!!
Beautiful young lady. Ridiculous looking crown! Come on organizers, you can do better than that!
Why don’t you get something for the young ladies. Well done Shaunte!
Terry you deserve cudos as well. You are helping to keep our youth off the street.
THANK FROM THE BOTTOM OF MY HEART.
Because I’m not the organizer.
rigged
shuddup and enjoy…..I like thick
People always have something negative to say when the person they want to win does not win but Shaunte is not only beautiful but she has a mind that is absolutely mind blowing, her intelligence is in a class of its own. Many people think you have to be a size 3/4 to win and it’s a shame. All the girls did very well; however, in the end the Shaunte won because she had beauty and brains.
Well done Shaunte I am very proud of you and I’m sure the rest of your old Advisory Group are too!! Keep in touch. xx
Congrats Shaunte MF-C must be very proud and rightly so, congrats to all the other young ladies also. Oh btw I love the all the gowns and the crowns. Keep on doing big things ya’ll. Kudos to the promoters also……
Glad to see that for once the plus sized girl won. Comes to show your at these shows are truly about personality, perseverance brains and lastly, beauty. You go girl. Represent your country with your head held high because you are beautiful, inside and out.
I don’t think ‘glad to see that for once the plus sized girl won’ was the best way to start a point about beauty being ‘last’.
Bermuda’s FINEST bermp bermp
I am proud of this young lady! You are Beautiful and Brilliant..Let these girls know its not about lookin like Barbie, its more than that! Represent Bermuda well and congratulations!
like wtf! this is wat we sendin in de world to represent us? they gonna laugh in our faces just like they wen we try play cricket or fotball internationally! for christ sake ppl u not try of de world laughing at us!
You are so ignorant I feel sorry for you. Shaunte is one of the smartest young women in Bermuda who may have to represent your ignorant A$$ in the future.
@ talk de ting u are apparently such a dumb a$$ ignorant person who prpobably hasnt even accomplished anything worth bragging about, with no intelligence what so ever!! Seems as if you dont have respect anyway and your probably just a low life. I mean really thats whats wrong with “YOU” type of people you are all too judgemental must be boring be you cause you have nothing else to do but judge people!
It’s folks like you, hiding behind your computer screen typing negative remarks to young people who are trying to do something positive with their lives, that gets on my nerves. Whay would you say something STUPID like that? It’s you showing your stupidity by trying to down your own. All of us are under one umbrella. Shaunte WILL be representing BERMUDA, that means ALL of us. Let’s put aside our differences and show moral support, especially when she travels to St. Kitts in December. WE will ALL be in her corner, cheering and encouraging her on, because MISS TEEN will be representing BERMUDA and she will represent well. She will make us all proud. Even if she is not crowned,I will still be a proud father by all that she has accomplished thus far, and for being the bright, beautiful young woman that she has grown into. Shaunte is a very strong willed, determined young woman and accomplishes everything she set out to do. ALL of the young women represented their Parishes well and made us proud. As an instructor in Martial Arts who has worked with young children/peole of all ages for over twenty five years, I know how important it is to not let negative people like yourself stop them from aquiring their dreams/goals, no matter the color of their skin or SIZE. It just happen to be my daughter Shaunte this time so let us all pull together and show the support that is needed.Stop being a silly goose, bashing our young people that are role models. Can anyone say they want to be just like you when they grow up? I doubt it. United we stand, divided we fall!!
Talk di ting need to go have a look in the mirror and see why he has not achieved half of what this young lady has achieved. Well now we know why our girls and boys are so violent and ultimately shooting each other. When an adult can not say something positive about our young people’s achievements, it is no wonder that our children are going astray. Where is the village it takes to raise a child? All the girls were beautiful and all did a great job. Ultimately, Shaunte won! She did an excellent job and we need to get behind her and push her, pray that she do well and hope for the best! No time for negativity…Time to encourage and support our young people. No time for disrespect…The contest was about beauty & intelligence. This young lady has been in the news doing positive things two or three times per month since about February if I recall correctly. Anybody who know her knows that she is a
positive roll model. This is what Bermuda need and the world is looking for!
Shaunte I saw you on TV last night and in the RG yesterday. Today, you are on page 2 and 8 and you are a beautiful young lady. I also heard the 14 or so people that called into Power 95 to congratulate you yesterday! Keep up the good work…. Your Honour…hope when you come back from law school ….talk di ting could afford your services ….Miss Attorney!!!!!