The Miss Continental Pageant is held every Labor Day weekend in Chicago and is one of the premier transgender pageants in the United States.Y'all know I love watching pageants, but with all the stuff going on in my own life and breaking news last month I just realized I didn't do my annual post to tell you loyal TransGriot readers who won.
Well, 33 contestants hit the stage at the Park West Theater for the 30th annual edition of the Miss Continental pageant wondering if 2008-2009 queen Tulsi would be crowning them as her successor.
It's serious business, peeps. This pageant is not only the most coveted title in the trans pageant world, it comes with a $7,000 cash prize and 35 guaranteed performance bookings.
As usual, it was a hard fought couple of nights and the judges, which included my Houston homegirl and 1999 Miss Continental queen Tommie Ross had a tough task in selecting this year's winner.
But after the talent, evening gown and Q and A was done and the judges scores were tabulated, we finally arrived at the moment the Miss Continental Pageant world, all the peeps who participate in the pageant world and interested parties were waiting for--who would be the new Miss Continental queen for 2009-2010?
The envelope please.
The winner is...Armani Stevens!
The Florida based Armani has been trying for a decade to win this coveted crown. Armani was fourth runner up in 1998 and was an agonizingly close second runner up in 2002.
She finally got it with a talent number echoing the late Michael Jackson.
Her win is a testament to having the determination and persistence to achieve a goal. I've been observing the pageant since the late 90's, and I can only imagine how frustrating at times it's been for her.
I'm happy that she's finally achieved that personal Holy Grail and is now Miss Continental 2009-2010.
Congratulations Armani. It's been a long time coming, and may your reign be a personally satisfying and successful one as well.