Miss NI 2021 - Over and Out

The few weeks that followed becoming a Miss NI Finalist to now have been an absolute whirlwind. I now have the time to finally put pen to paper (well, hands to keyboard) and tell you all about my amazing summer as a finalist in the Miss Northern Ireland Contest 2021.

I want to begin this blog by congratulating Miss Northern Ireland 2021, Anna Leitch. You are an absolutely fantastic role model and a wonderful representative for our country. Through the entire competition Anna has been poised, well-spoken, classy and beautiful, you will absolutely shine at Miss World and I’m so inspired by you and cannot wait to see what you do with the title!

Beauty with a Purpose

If you follow me on Instagram, you’ll already know all about how a vital element of the Miss Northern Ireland & Miss World competitions is the Beauty with a Purpose Category.

Many people think that Miss NI & Miss World are all about smiling prettily, obsessing over your lipstick shade and avoiding carbs, and I always mention Beauty with a Purpose first when I’m explaining how wrong that is.

Beauty with a Purpose is the idea that all Miss NI/Miss World contestants use the organisation’s platform to raise awareness/funds for an important charity/cause.

My Beauty with a Purpose project was to raise funds that would go towards a practical donation of pads/tampons/wipes/underwear to The Homeless Period Belfast.

I made a short film about HPB a couple of years ago when I was a student but I left for University of Salford soon after I wrapped on it and after covid, the thought to get involved again honestly didn’t occur to me.

It was taking part in this year’s Miss Northern Ireland competition that gave me the boost and motivation I needed to get hands on and involved again, and I’m so glad I did.

I’m so proud to say that (with your help and generosity) I raised £663, which I spent on what was then a huge practical donation to The Homeless Period Belfast, which will then use the products donated to make up invaluable ‘period packs’ to be distributed to people in our community who need them.

This is entirely as a result of the Miss Northern Ireland contest; they are what gave me the motivation to get hands on and encourage my community to help me assist this charity who do such essential work. When you consider this, and the many other fantastic Beauty with a Purpose Projects (we collectively raised over £530,900!), you can’t deny that the Miss Northern Ireland and Miss World organisations inspire women to make strides and do so much good!

Final Weekend

Myself and the other Miss NI finalists arrived at the Europa on the Saturday before the Gala final on Monday evening. We spent the weekend completing further catwalk practice/training (my absolute favourite part) under the experienced & skilled eyes of our chaperones, the fabulous ‘Formers’ - Meagan Green & Rebekah Shirley.

The final always opens with us all performing a group dance routine in our white t-shirts and shorts, so we spent the weekend learning and practicing it too! If you know me in real life, you’ll know that my enthusiasm and confidence do NOT match up with my skill level or rhythm when it comes to dancing. So, in spite of being what I’ll call ‘rhythmically challenged’ I had an absolute ball learning and performing our dance number!

The Saturday evening was a fantastic bonding experience, after heading up to our rooms to shower/take our makeup off, we all headed back downstairs in our PJs to get spray tanned and eat pizza, it really was like Miss Congeniality in real life!

It was such a wonderful way to kick off the weekend and pick Rebekah and Meagan’s brains for their advice and guidance, which they gave by the bucketload, I loved hearing about their experiences winning Miss NI and going on to Miss World

Day 2 was kicked off with a trip to Michele international to get our hair blow-dried and pinned, I LOVED how well my hair sat the last time I got a curly blow dry with them so I was really excited, it was such a lovely treat to start the day.

We headed back to the Europa for more catwalk/dance practice, and headed to the Broken Shaker (all of us with our curls still pinned) for a gorgeous lunch.

After lunch, it was dress rehearsal time, I was glad to practice on the stage in my dress, and it all started to feel ‘real’ and the excitement kicked in!

On Monday morning I was up, dressed, packed and down for breakfast an hour early (7am) like a child on Christmas morning. Breakfast hadn’t even been served yet when I arrived so I was chatting away to the lovely Europa staff. I used the extra time to load up on a 2-course breakfast and head upstairs to be the first one in the hair and makeup chairs (as per Meagan’s advice!)

I got my makeup done by Kashia from the Makeup Pro Store Team and absolutely loved it, she completely nailed what I asked her to do! I got my curls unpinned and styled by Denise from Michele International and I was LIVING for the volume!

I was so grateful for the Makeup Pro Store and Michele International teams for helping me feel so confident and camera-ready!

After hair and makeup, we headed down to our press call outside the Europa, we were all matching in our white tees and shorts with our sashes on! We were all allowed to touch the crown (I may have gone a little bit “Gollum” with it…) and I got to help hold up the crown in one of the press calls!

We also did the iconic ‘crossing the road to the Europa’ shot which was such a ‘pinch-me’ moment for me! 

Once our press shots were wrapped, we headed inside to get changed into our bikinis for our interviews with the judges, which was honestly a far less daunting experience than I had hyped it up to be in my head, they were friendly and smiling, and I don’t think anyone was being interviewed for any longer than 10 minutes. It was a very pleasant chat and I felt confident and pleased as I left the room.

The last activity before the evening began was just final rehearsals and hair/makeup top ups before we had to don our evening gowns and meet our friends and family for the drinks reception!

I am absolutely delighted with how the evening show went, I had an absolute ball and couldn’t fault the experience one bit! Congratulations again to all of the Top 12, Top 5, and Final 3, you were all fabulous and should be so incredibly proud of yourselves!

How I’ve Grown as a Person as a Result

My mum has been continually joking that the training I received as part of taking part in the contest is like attending a finishing school, I’ve learnt how to walk confidently in heels, how to do both pageant and fashion-style catwalks and how to sit elegantly.

I’m now so much more confident in formal settings, I know I can now sit and present myself well in my next job interview, walk confidently in a gown and heels at an awards show, and speak elegantly on stage/in a presentation the next time my job requires it. These are invaluable life skills that I will benefit from for years to come.

I am so grateful to have been selected as a finalist in this year’s Miss Northern Ireland Contest, I am genuinely awe-struck by each and every one of the other finalists this year. I cannot explain enough how diverse and strong this year’s line-up was, from Women in STEM, language therapists, teachers, lawyers… and wee me in the film & tv sector!

All of the girls have inspired me to improve as a person, to be kinder, work harder, and challenge myself more. I could not be more grateful to all of the girls for proving the ‘catty pageant girl’ stereotype completely wrong and making it such a fantastic experience, I have so much love, admiration and respect for you all.

This includes our fabulous chaperones Meagan and Rebekah, I’m so grateful to have benefitted from your experience and your practical advice. Your presence was so calming and you really eased my nerves, thank you for being our mother hens/big sisters through the weekend.

I would love to thank Victoria Withers and Warren McElveen for organising the competition and looking after us so well. I had an absolute ball and a fantastic experience that I wouldn’t change for the world, thank you so so much for this opportunity, I will cherish these memories forever 

Thank you so so much too to all of my friends and family for supporting me throughout the entire process, you’ve all been so wonderful and I couldn’t have asked for any more love and support.

Thank you all so much again to everyone,

Stacey Xx