More than R60 000 has been raised for Garden Route charities by the entrants in the Miss 7s Premier League and Miss 7s Teen beauty contests.
The theme for the beauty contests was ‘Beauty for Charity’, with all the contestants having to raise a minimum of R500 for charity as part of the entrance criteria.
The winners were recently crowned during a gala award function at the Mossel Bay Casino.
These pageants, sponsored by the Chas Everitt International property group, were held as part of the advance publicity for the annual NBM 7s Premier League international sevens rugby tournament that took place in George on 14 and 15 December 2012.
The theme for the beauty contests was ‘Beauty for Charity’, with all the contestants having to raise a minimum of R500 for charity as part of the entrance criteria, and all the funds raised by them and at the award function going to local charities such as the centres for Battered and Abused Women and Children in the Oudtshoorn, Mossel Bay, George and Knysna areas, the Masithidane foundation for education and feeding orphaned children near Sedgefield and the Heart to Heart foundation in Mossel Bay.
Ahead of the pageants, the senior finalists also gave girls from the various shelters the opportunity to become ‘princess for a day’ and experience the world of beauty and fashion, while the younger finalists hosted a Christmas party for 40 underprivileged children at the Masithidane centre.
The winner of the Miss 7s Teen contest for entrants aged 15 to 17 is 15 year old Brighitte Deister from George. Her first and second princesses were 16 year old Lume Heyns from Durbanville and 17 year old El-Ray Muller from George.
Twenty year old Donique Leonard from Mossel Bay was crowned queen of the Miss 7s Premier League pageant for 18 to 24 year olds, and her first and second princesses were 21 year old Nenane Oosthuizen from Mossel bay and 18 year old Anja Niewenhuys from Wilderness.
All three winners have automatically qualified as semi-finalists in the next Miss South Africa contest.
Meanwhile, Donique is looking forward to enjoying her first prize, a five-star Mediterranean cruise inclusive of all meals, drinks and entertainment aboard the top of the line Liberty of the Seas in April and May next year.
She will fly from Johannesburg to Dubai and then on to Barcelona, where she will board the luxury liner and cruise down to Cannes in the south of France followed by Livorno and Rome in Italy before returning home.