Solomon Islands wins bid to host 2025 Miss Pacific Pageant
Solomon Islands will welcome beauty pageants from Pacific Islands states on its shores after winning the bid to host the 2025 Miss Pacific Islands Pageant in Honiara.
The bid was presented on behalf of the country by Ms. Joyce Konofilia, the Pageant Director of Miss Solomon Islands, a Board member, and a Judge at the Miss Pacific Islands Pageant.
When confirming the exciting news from Nauru last night to SIBC News, Ms. Konofilia said she is overjoyed and is looking forward to returning to the country and start organizing.
Pageant Director of Miss Solomon Islands Joyce Konofilia
“The bid submission is a joint effort, a public and private sector partnership which was prepared by my team and was endorsed and supported by the caretaker government through the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, the Ministry of Women, Youth, and Family Affairs, the Ministry of Finance and the Prime Minister’s Office.
“It is because of the bid endorsement that pushed the bid through,” Ms. Konofilia pointed out.
She added that in their bid submission, they developed a timeline of events which will lead up to the main one next year which is the Miss Pacific Islands Pageant.
“There is a timeline of events and activities that we will make sure will happen,” she said.
Ms. Konofilia said she would meet with all stakeholders involved and set up a working committee to look after the running of the pageant show in the country.
She also mentioned that Solomon Islands was unable to organize a national Miss Solomon pageant show last year because of the Pacific Games event resulting in Solomon Islands not participating in the current Miss Pacific Islands Pageant show in Nauru.
Miss Pacific Pageant Board. Photo Joyce Konofilia
“Obviously because of the Pacific Games last year, we were not about to organize a Miss Solomon beauty pageant show.
“This is because our main sponsor is also one of the sponsors of the 2023 Pacific Games. So, we were unable to secure funding to stage the pageant show last year. But this year as part of the plan, we are looking to host a national pageant event in the third or fourth quarter so we can have a contestant in the event we will be hosting next year.
“I’m assuming this year’s Miss Solomon pageant will be a tough competition because we want to raise the standards of our contestant who will be participating in the 2025 Miss Pacific Pageant in the country,” Ms. Konofilia said.
She in the meantime acknowledged the support rendered by all stakeholders namely; the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, the Ministry of Women, Youth, and Family Affairs, the Ministry of Finance and the Prime Minister’s Office and others.
Solomon Islands hosted the Miss Pacific Islands pageant for the first time in 2013, and it was Cook Islands who won the Miss Pacific title.
The country will be looking to perform well in next years event given that the country has never won a title in the Miss Pacific Islands pageant competition since the event started back in 1987.
Cook Islands is the record holder having won eight (8) titles followed by Samoa with seven (7), American Samoa on third place with six (6) titles and Fiji and Papua New Guinea (PNG) won three (3) titles each.
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By Alex Dadamu