Each year FLAGCOM's Mardi Gras Miss International Queen beauty pageant-variety show is an event much awaited by its local and international followers.   This year's event is special in more ways than one.  Firstly, it marks the important milestone of FLAGCOM's 10th year anniversary. That is a solid track record of providing services to what was once an ostracised and marginalised sector of our community - the gays, the lesbians, the transgenders and others known now as the LBTQi group.  It has successfully brought this group and the wider community together, as recognised by the nomination for the ZEST Awards for promoting community harmony and cohesion, as well as promoting safe sex practices.

 

 

The event which is well known for its glitz, glamour and amazing entertainment has been officially included by the Sydney's Gays and Lesbians Mardi Gras as an activity during the Mardi Gras celebration month.  The three hour long event boasts of three hosts to keep the proceedings run smoothly - Christine Charlesworth, Glyssa Perez and Trixie Maristela, with Michelle Baltazar, Marcus Rivera and Jojo Sebastian acting as anchors providing interesting recaps of information and audience participation. The talented and popular artists who will be performing are Jersay Delaney, King of the Drums, Criz Guce, Annie Marquez, Lada Marks and Laelani Kealoha.

This year's show theme is titled "In the beginning, there was Adam and Eve".  The theme will trace the evolution of the first man and the first woman into another gender, and how this gender had been accepted by the wider multicultural society.  For the cultural part of the evening's show, Albert Dimarucut, a UP Professor will direct and oversee the choreography of the performances of the dance numbers.  There are no less than seven community dance groups to perform folk and modern dances; these are:  the Sinulog Dancers, Filipinas Dance Group of APCO, VSD Dancers, Baille Internationale, La Fiesta Entertainment, Sri Ohm Community Dancers and DJ Huelgas.

As usual, the event has attracted candidates not just from Australia but also from the Philippines, Thailand and Malaysia.  There is a total of  12 candidates, composed of one Australian Aboriginal, five Filipinos, five Thais and one Malaysian/Persian. As can be seem from the gallery of photos taken by the event's official photographer, Bob Reyes, all the candidates are gorgeous and truly of pageant material so to speak.  They are also from varied professions and pursue advocacies they are passionate about. They are: Gwen, Iyana, Jen, Krista, Mara, Nadia, Rita, Sara, Sophia, Stephanie, Uly and Yosita.

The candidates in their swimwear photo shoot in La Perouse.

Indeed the Main Judges will need to have their wits about them and extensive experience in their respective fields to help them carry out their difficult task of sorting the candidates and pick the winner to wear the various crowns.  The Main Judges are:  Chelsea Bun, Novy Bereber, Sir Trevor Garland, Katherine Kanyarat and Angelica Whitelaw.

Some of the candidates in a photo shoot with official photographer Bob Reyes. In photo is Trevor Garland former Ambassador of the Solomon Islands and will be one of the judges of the pageant.


In addition to the pageant's crowns, there are special awards to be given out as follows:

Best in Themed Costume - Chris Styles

Best in Swim Wear - Lillian Delos Reyes

Best in Long Gown - Ruel Rivera

Best in Mardi Gras Costume - Rene Rivas

Best in Runway Walk - Nadia Trinidad

Photographer's Choice- Bob Reyes Photography and Dreamlove Photography

Darling of the Crowd- Western Sydney Councils Forum

Most Popular Online- Mike Ilagan

Media Influencer Award- Flagcom Team

Star of the Night - Henry Roth and Ballina Gee


A special feature of the event is the fashion commentary during the various segments of the pageant by Ballina Gee and Henry Weinrich Roth. Ballina Gee, known as the Pacific Diva, is very popular with the Filipino-Australian community as she has performed in a lot fundraising concerts and other community events. Henry who maybe considered as the FLAGCOM's coup for this event,  is very well known for his involvement in some of the highest rating shows in the USA such as Oprah,Good Morning America, Entertainment Tonight, ESPN makeovers, Fox and Friends- Fox Network, CNN-fn Fashion Predictions reports, Fashion Police with Joan Rivers, to name a few.  Upon his return to Australia, his ongoing broadcasting career included appearing as Mentor on award-winning Project Runway Australia; Makeover Director for Beauty and The Geek; Makeover Director on Australia’s Biggest Loser, and Style Contributor for Today Show Australia and Studio 10.projects that have earned him the title of Australia's 'Makeover King'.

When FLAGCOM Director Albie Prias was asked to give his overall comment about the event, he said:  "FLAGCOM’s Mardi Gras event is a labour of love. It requires hours and hours of planning, promoting and organising. It requires a lot of manpower and financial support not just from patrons but also from my personal pocket. Inspite of this, I know that somehow sometime people will notice what really our objective is in doing this event - Acceptance in the Community and Recognition of leadership skills. Acceptance begets respect and respect begets duplication. If people will duplicate our work and objectives, then we can say that the years that we have been doing this event are very productive thus we have achieved success in all levels."

The event is sponsored by Aids Council of NSW [ACON] and "It's More Fun in the Philippines".

The candidates of MaGIQ2020 with ACON Representative Tim Chen and Flagcom Managing Director Albie Prias.

With pizzazz, much passion, varied talents and strong advocacy, as we as the skills of the FLAGCOM Production Team, underpinning the FLAGCOM'S Mardi Gras Miss International Queen 2020, it is all set to shine brilliantly.   This special event will be held in the popular Metro Theatre in the Sydney's CBD.  Be there and be part of FLAGCOM'S special and historic event.  HAPPY MARDI GRAS!!!!

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