Miss Malawi 2009 is Joyce Mphande

It came as no surprise when the judges announced that Miss Malawi 2008 is 20 year old Joyce Mphande. She will be the representative of her country at the Miss World 2009 Pageant to be held in Johannesburg, South Africa.

The audience had been anticipating it all along as she had been the favourite through out the pageant which lasted four and a half hours at Sunbird Capital Hotel in Lilongwe Sunday night.

When her name was announced, the crowd went into frenzy and rushed to the stage to give the new Miss Malawi a hug. It had to take the organisers to push back the crowd who might have ended up hurting the beauty queen with all their excitement.

Lilongwe based Joyce who holds a Diploma in Insurance went away with a cash prize of K150,000 plus other prizes.

The position of First Princess went to Chancellor College Bachelor of Arts student, Karen Chimkwita, 20 who went away with K100,000 cash.

The Second Princess was 22-year-old Yvonne Nkhata from Blantyre who holds a Diploma in Hotel Management and went away with K50,000 cash.

Karen, Rhoda Chirwa, Dilia Kamzati and Tamara Chitanda were also voted Miss Personality, Miss Confidence, Miss Catwalk and Miss Smile in that order. They each went away with K20,000 cash courtesy of Travel Options.

From the start it was clear that Joyce was the most likely candidate to carry the day, as she had the height, the looks and the right body structure.

However Joyce also faced a strong contender in Karen, who despite being short, had a flair of natural beauty, exuded confidence and answered all her questions intelligently.

Excite Events Media did their best to give a spectacular show, which was all in all well organised.

The girls paraded in five different categories that included casual wear, traditional wear, sports wear, office wear and evening wear.

In between wardrobe changes the show was spiced up with performances from various artists that included Dan Lufani, Kwame, Heart Bitz, Sniper, Thange, Annie Matumbi, Sam Simakweli and Wachipeta Mkandawire.

Deputy Minister of Tourism, Billy Kaunda also graced the occasion as guest of honour. He was forced by the audience to sing a song and he performed his popular Lupanga, which attracted the audience which had all along been sitting on the dance floor.

After all the fun, Perth Msiska the outgoing queen crowned Joyce as the new Miss Malawi 2008.

Perth who looked elegant in a traditional gown said she was happy that she was finally relinquishing the title after holding it for three years.

“I know that I have done well during my reign. To the new queen please do not be intimidated, there will be a lot of criticism going around. And to the organisers please don’t live the new queen alone, walk with her all the way,” said Msiska adding that she hoped that the event will now become an annual event.

Director of Excite Events Media, Alinafe Mgwadira said his seven-member team wanted to bring a Miss Malawi of class that was representative of the cream that the country has to offer.

In keeping in line with new trends, the Excite team gave all the winners their monetary prizes in cash right on the stage.

Other prizes that went to the winners included a colour printer from Gestetner worth K115,000, accommodation at Sunbird, dinners at various restaurants, make up kits and five trips on Axa coaches.

Eleven girls participated in this year’s event.

Judges included stockbrokers Atupele Chilambe and Yolanda Kala, gym instructor Samantha Msumuko, former footballer Shadreck Chikhosi and journalist Kondwani Munthali.

Munthali representing the judges said in their judgement that they were looking for height, catwalking, personality, smile and intelligence.

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