Or it could have been the ingenuity of her talent piece, in which she depicted ‘Stabroek Market’, famous clock and all, and all the activities therein.

Or the appropriateness of her answer to the question: Had you to paint a picture for someone who had never before seen ‘Mash’, what would it be?

To this she replied, in so many words that she would paint them a picture of all six of Guyana’s races each dressed in cultural costume and bearing replicas of the ‘Golden Arrowhead’ in their hands.

Whatever it was, it was enough to earn 16-year-old Melissa Ann Atwell the judges’ nod to bear the title of ‘Miss Mashramani’ for the remainder of the year, and to represent her country at the ‘Miss Carinival’ show billed for July 5 in St Vincent and the Grenadines.

The contest, now in its second year, was run off on Saturday night at the National Cultural Centre (NCC) on Homestretch and Mandela Avenues.

The judges were Ms Patricia Woolford, Mr Edwin Seeraj, Ms Beverly Johnson and Ms Ingrid Fung. Chief judge was Mr Odinga Lumumba, Political Adviser to the President on Empowerment.

The title of first runner-up went to University of Guyana (UG) student, 21-year-old Antoinette Da Silva, who promised that should she win the contest, she would hold regular fund-raising activities so that Mash celebrations could be held in all ten of Guyana’s administrative Regions.

The girl who looked the most promising up until then, made the error of saying that Mash celebrations were currently only being held in Regions Three (West Demerara/Essequibo Islands), Four (Demerara/Mahaica) and Five (Mahaica/Berbice) alone.

The actual question was, should she win, what would she do to promote Mashramani.

Second runner-up is 17-year-old High Court employee, Nicola Andrea Durant, who lists among her hobbies singing, reading and modelling. The five foot four inches beauty, who also copped the prize for ‘Best Swim-wear’ cried when she learnt that she was among the three finalists. She had this advice for the delegates of next year’s Miss Mashramani pageant: “Reach for the stars and whatever you do, do it to the best of your ability.”

Her gown was a simple grey spaghetti-strapped number with matching applique works down front and along the hemline. For her talent piece, she chose to depict a typical Bourda Market vendor as opposed to DaSilva, who gave a realistic display of what life is like for an ‘Indigenous Woman’, for which she copped the prize for ‘Best Costume’.

DaSilva’s evening attire, a Nadia Thomas/Fiona Moe creation, was a simple cold-shouldered affair in wine with silver trimmings. Silver accessories and black and silver strappy sandals completed the ensemble of this contestant who hails from the riverain community of Ebini, in the Upper Berbice River.

The prizes for ‘Best Smile’ and ‘Best Evening Gown’ went to the svelte Sissel Moore who wore a Michelle Cole creation of white with gold finish and matching shawl.

Tiny Reza Carew, whose ill-fitting two-piece evening wear may have been part of her undoing, made up for this lapse on the part of her designer by winning the ‘Miss Amity’ and ‘Best Essay’ prizes.

Among the abundance of local talent appearing on the programme were the ‘Tarana’ and ‘Fast Forward’ dance troupes; ‘Sheriff Deputies’ Samantha Grant; reigning ‘Miss Guyana Talented Teen’ Asha Pieters who did a dramatic poem entitled, ‘I am a Guyanese’; and Denise Rodrigues who performed an interesting solo entitled, ‘Dance of Thanksgiving’.

An otherwise pleasant evening, was marred by the poor support the show received, which was largely due, some say, to it’s having to compete with the ‘Mash Calypso Finals’ despite the fact that the latter was being held all the way up at Blairmont, West Bank Berbice.