Young women from across Soweto invaded Orlando West and brightened the area with their beautiful smiles last weekend. The occasion was the Face of Vilakazi Street 2018 pageant auditions.
More than 50 girls from across Soweto and other parts of Johannesburg came to audition for the prestigious pageant. The auditions were held at The Box Shop which is situated on the famous Vilakazi Street.
On its second edition this year, the pageant has been at the forefront of women empowerment. Public Relations manager for the pageant, Lesego Senelo said the most important thing they are looking for is confidence.
“Body size does not matter, we had fully figured girls coming to audition for this pageant. As long as someone is confident, they are welcome to come and audition.”
Unlike the organisers, judges are looking for more than confidence.
They are looking for a good ambassador for one of the most famous streets in the world. That is someone who knows the street like the back of her hand.
From the 50 that auditioned last weekend, judges were able to select 25 that will go on to the elimination round. The second leg of the auditions will select 25 again, making the number that will go to the elimination stages to 50.
Senelo said, “There are many hopefuls who didn’t get the chance to come to the auditions last weekend hence we will have the second leg of auditions. We want to have 50 girls in the elimination round before we can get our finalists.”
The road to being crowned the face of Vilakazi Street is not going to be an easy one for contestants. This is because the pageant puts an emphasis on education more than anything else.
To make it to the final stages and possibly get the crown, contestants are given a series of tasks to perform. All tasks are aimed at training and helping the girls gain confidence on different fields.
The panel of judges in the auditions was made up of a medical doctor by the name of Randy Lamfel, Siya Sepotokele who is an actor, Mpumelelo Maduna who is a model, Sifiso Moyo from The Box Shop and current Miss Soweto Nthabiseng Kgasi.
For more information about the pageant and the next round of auditions like the Face of Vilakazi Street page on Facebook.
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News site 1: Westside-Eldos Urban News, News site 2: Soweto Urban News
