Between August 18th and August 23rd 2014, the eighth annual Miss Honduras Universe contest will be hosted in Utila at the New Convention Centre across from the football stadium.
This is the first time in History that a contest of this type and scale has been hosted in the Bay Islands.
Utilas event representative Dra. Ana Muñoz explained that the island was chosen for the venue for the Miss Honduras Universe contest first and foremost because “the organizers of the pageant were really impressed by the Utila Organization ‘Fight Like A Girl’, and wanted to support it. They also visited Utila and immediately fell in love with the beauty of the island, the bohemian style and feel of the island and of course they liked the fact that it is safe”.
There are 18 contestants in the pageant, one woman who is the representative for each of the 18 departments of Honduras.
The actual pageant will be held just one evening on August 23rd, however, the contestants will be on the island for the week prior to the big night, lodging at the Laguna Beach Resort and participating in many of the different activities that Utila has to offer such as snorkeling, diving, hiking and boating.
This event is going to help to boost the economy of tourism on Utila as the event will be heavily publicized both in print media and television media. Proceeds from the event are going to the ‘Utila Fight Like A Girl’ organization to help realize their project of constructing a clinic for the detection of breast cancer on the island of Utila.
Teleprogreso will be televising the event nationally and internationally to 98 countries.
Tickets and VIP packages will be available to the public but as of yet the prices and locations to purchase them have not been released.
The Miss Honduras Universe pageant has been running since 1965 promoting Honduras to the world by providing a cultural ambassador. According to the organizers of this pageant -CARIMAX, the woman who wears the crown at the end of the competition will represent the country of Honduras and is therefore chosen with many aspects in mind, “the Cultural Ambassador who will represent Honduras will be very sure of themselves, have high self-esteem, be educated and know about their culture and history of their country. “
When asked, spokesperson Bryan Espinoza stated they would like to send the following message to the young women of Utila: ‘Not to give up on your dreams and to work toward achieving them and to remember that the most important aspect of the beauty of a person is not with their physical attributes, but with the values that make up that person”.
The winner holds her title for one year, and the woman who earns the crown in Utila will go on to represent Honduras at the Miss Universe pageant in either Dubai or Las Vegas as the location has yet to be confirmed.
