With just nine days to the grand final of the coveted Miss LG Ghana 2005 crown, the prize package of the overall beauty queen appears to be the most guarded secret in the country today.
Also shrouded in secrecy are the prizes to be won by the first and second runners-up as well as the rest of the contestants of the pageant. And it?s been four months since the search for the nation?s most beautiful woman began.
Although earlier advertisements of the pageant mentioned a car, thousands of dollars for career and education enhancement, several LG appliances and more as prizes, later advertisements as the contest progressed towards the final have been mute on prizes.
Unlike previous Miss Ghana pageants where exact prizes were publicly announced during the regional shows and well before the main event, the silence of the organisers over this year?s prize package has triggered mind boggling questions among the general public.
Rife among them is the belief that the organisers are being vague about the prizes as a safety catch in case they are not able to fulfil their side of the bargain.
But Miss Shirley Frimpong Manso, Chief Executive of Sparrow Productions, organisers of the LG Miss Ghana beauty pageant, gives another explanation. ? We not highlighting the ultimate prize package and the others is intentional.
We have decided not to be specific. The idea is to ensure that the ladies do not express interest in the pageant simply because of the prize package but rather because of the responsibilities that come with being crowned Miss Ghana.?
She said as at now, all the 21 finalists who are currently living in the ?LG Dream House? have been told of the exact prizes at stake. When asked why these prizes have been kept from the public.
Miss Frimpong Manso said ?the contestants matter most and since they are aware of what they are getting, then we have no problem. Most beauty pageants in the world do not make known the exact prizes to be won.
Tell me, how many people know the exact prizes that will be given to this year?s Miss World beauty queen?? she asked.
Apart from the car, Miss Frimpong-Manso said, thousands of dollars and job opportunities will be offered Miss LG Ghana 2005. She said that the winner will also dedicate her entire one year reign to work on programmes with the Ministries of Tourism and Women and Children?s Affair to promote development in the country.
Currently, 21 finalists are being groomed in the ?LG Dream House? to face the world with confidence before, during and after the show which will take-off at the Accra International Conference Centre on Saturday July 9.
