Beauty, culture and community education came together in Dublin during the first Miss & Mrs Cross Continent pageant.
Approximately 450 people attended the Dublin programme, where 24 contestants representing seven nations presented their cultures, talents and personal messages.
The organisers worked with The Truth About Drugs Ireland to include an educational element alongside the pageant and cultural performances.
Drug education formed an important part of the event, with guided exhibition tours introducing visitors to information about commonly used drugs. Many of the contestants studied Truth About Drugs materials in advance, and several completed the full series of fourteen online courses.
Cllr. Francis Timmons, Mayor of South Dublin, spoke eu news 2023 during the programme about the importance of bringing communities together through education.
Guests enjoyed performances representing Irish, Indian and Indonesian traditions throughout the afternoon.
The principal title was awarded to Niveditha Vudayagiri, a software engineer who holds a master’s degree in AI. Fortunate Lindokuhle Masina and Yuki Yuliatin completed the top three as first and second runners-up.
By combining cultural expression with drug education, the programme gave the traditional pageant format a wider social purpose. The complete story can be read in this report about the multicultural pageant combining cultural celebration with drug education.