A glittering event was held at the City Rooms, Leicester on Friday March 23rd, to chose the lucky girl who would be representing the city to compete for the Miss England crown.
Seventeen-year-old A Level student Lena Walker, who was given the prestigious title of Miss Leicester, not only won the hearts of the judges but also of her fellow contestants and the public as she was selected to be text vote winner, bootcamp winner, and selected as miss personality.
When asked how she felt when her name was announced as the winner, Lena said: “I can’t even describe it – I’m so chuffed. I’m so proud having been born and bred in Leicester. I have such a mixed background of African, Caribbean, Indian and British and I think that it’s a beautiful representation of such a diverse city.”
Dempise Trevor-Wilson, 19, was named as the runner-up and will go on to the Miss England semi-final heat to try and gain a place in the finals. Third place went to Mia Parker, 18.
There were a total of 23 girls who got to the final stage of the event, which was organised by modelling and event agency ModelZed.
Event and operations manager Jemma Simmonds said: “The girls are all aged between 17 and 24. There aren’t really and height or size regulations, we’re really open in that respect. In terms of age, we only have that because the winner goes on to represent the county in Miss England and whoever wins that then goes on to Miss world, so it’s their restrictions we are governed by.”
The girls have to go through a number of processes, which include photo sessions, formal interviews, and a bootcamp.
ModelZed owner Kate Solomons, who is a former Miss Leicester and Miss England runner up was hosting the evening. She said: “We try and organise Miss Leicester quite similarly to Miss England – it’s just on a smaller scale.”
When asked what advice she would give to the winner and runner-up, Kate added: “To carry on being themselves. They’ve got to remember that they’ve won this title by being themselves and they’ve got to continue being down to earth. The last thing we want is for things to change. They need to continue being happy, humble people.”
The panel of judges included; Terianne Sutton (Miss Leicester 2011), Tim Claire (Mr Leicester 2011), Ruth Deane (Editor of Every Model Magazine and national organiser of Mr & Miss Every Model and Mini EM), Angie Beasley (director of Miss England) and Resham Singh Sandhu MBE DL (High Sheriff of Leicestershire 2011/2012).
This year the Miss England finals will be taking place on June 25th and 26th at the Athena venue in Leicester, which Kate will also be hosting.
