Miss Northern Arts Awards slated for February

Chairman of the Northern Arts Awards (NAA) Ontiretse Zuma Nthinthie Bakaile recently told VIBE that they will host Miss NAA on 28 February in Francistown., in continued efforts to brand the awards. Bakaile further said that registration for the beauty pageant is on and they have decided to target all those who have won the past Miss Independence crown at their various villages and town more especially in the northern part of the country.

“Apart from targeting the past winning queens, we have also decided to rope in reigning queens from various tertiary institutions in the north to also give them a platform to show off their talent in beauty pageants. This event will be an annual event well ahead of the yearly awards which will be in its fourth instalment,” he said.

Bakaile noted that the winning queen will be given a task to frequently visit a hospital of their choice to check up on ailing patients and satisfy their needs where necessary. “Apart from checking on patients, the reigning queen will also be empowered through the initiative of the NAA to help other underprivileged women in the north by giving them the necessary information which can assist them in their business future endeavours,” he said. Bakaile poured cold water on talk that the NAA event in December was a near flop. Although the past NAA were full of controversy as a result of the venue, Bakaile downplayed the whole unfortunate incident which resulted in the awards starting very late.

“People should not be bothered much by the past unfortunate development since this time around everything has been well organised ahead of the beauty pageant that will take place at the Francistown Civic centre,” he said. Bakaile also defended the P200 registration fee, saying that it was a reasonable amount considering the cost of the logistics required to host the event.