Madison Ramsingh was crowned Miss USVI on Sunday night at the Island Center for the Performing Arts on St. Croix. Photo Credit: V.I. CONSORTIUM
At the end of an evening of fierce competition, where Bria James won three of the five judged categories during Sunday night's show, while Madison Ramsingh won two of the five judged categories along with the pre-pageant interview, Ms. Ramsingh edged out Ms. James to be crowned Miss USVI on Sunday night.
One of four competitors for the 2023 title, Madison - Ms. Turtle Dove Key - wowed the judges in the talent segment, where she performed a solo baton twirling routine. She also triumphed with her evening wear – a yellow, one-shouldered gown with a cutout on one side of the waist. Both neckline and cutout were encrusted with glittering gems and a chiffon cape of the same color dangled from her shoulder. Ms. Ramsingh received the judge’s favor for the pre-pageant interview as well. The pre-pageant interview segment is usually shown at the show for the audience to see, however it was not during the Miss USVI pageant Sunday night.
Ms. Ramsingh also received the the nod for Miss Photogenic and Miss Popularity, though those segments don't carry points.
Contestant #3, Bria James, was right behind Ms. Ramsingh, coming up just two points shy of the overall pageant winner at the end of the evening, according to the judges. Ms. James wowed the judges in the swimwear segment, where her claret suit and matching gloves paid homage to her favorite grape punch from the once ubiquitous USVI brand, Island Dairies. She also got the nod for her cultural wear — an elaborate madras gown with a jeweled corset bodice and a deeply ruffled skirt which opened to reveal hand painted scenes of VI culture. Ms. James further took home the Miss Intellect segment, a historically closely watched category of pageantry as one of the deciding factors of a competition's winner. In all, Ms. James won three of the five judged categories during last night's pageant, while Ms. Ramsingh won two, with the pre-pageant interview win making up her third win.
Miss USVI 2023 1st Runner-up, Bria James. (Credit: V.I. Consortium)
The two other competitors were Bianca Malone and Brianna McSween.
Both winner and runner up referenced their platforms during the interview segment, where the question was about their ideas to help women and girls who suffer from depression and anxiety in the territory. Ms. James said that Pretty Scientific, her program to educate girls in Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics, would leverage its science education component to achieve better diagnoses of depression among the program’s cohort, as well as better access to care and treatment from program participants.
Ms. Ramsingh, for her part, spoke about how her platform worked to build self-confidence among girls. “Your confidence is the foundation of success,” Madison said, noting that she had been working with younger twirlers in the Virgin Islands to help build their skills and therefore their confidence.
At the end of the evening, it was Madison Ramsingh, with a two-point lead, who came out on top. “The work starts now for me,” the newly-crowned Miss USVI told Consortium journalists after her victory on Sunday night. Her goal, when representing the territory at upcoming international pageants, is to “show them how powerful and talented our Virgin Islanders are.”
“I know a lot of hearts are hurt,” Jaielean Jagrup, current owner of the Miss USVI franchise, told the Consortium following the show. “It was a close race…it was tight from the very beginning.”
Ms. Jagrup noted that all four contestants would be tasked with representing the territory at various international pageants in the year to come, and thus everyone on stage on Sunday night would need the support of all Virgin Islands as they went on to compete on the world stage.
