By Adesina Wahab

The eighth edition of the Nigerian Teen Beauty Pageant is scheduled to hold in September this year in Lagos. It has as theme ” The Renaissance.”

With over 500 entries received it promises to be a finale of glitz and glamour and of course a new set of Nigerian teen change ambassadors who will emerge on the night.

The Nigerian Teen Beauty Pageant celebrates unique physical qualities, personality traits, intelligence and talents by creating a platform for young people within the ages of 14 to 19 to express such attributes, build confidence and fully live their dreams.

The organisation was founded in 2018 by Dominic Emmanuel Chinedu, an entrepreneur and also the founder of Lumin8 Lifestyle Magazine. The pageant held its maiden edition in September of the same year and has remained ever consistent every year till date. It is important to note that the competition started out as a unisex pageant but was later re-branded just for females in 2021.

The current title holder is Queen Faith Harrison who clinched the 7th World title beating 36 other contestants along the way to victory. She hails from Uyo, the capital of Akwa Ibom State and has since launched her F.L.I.P (Females Leading In Power) campaign which she uses as a tool for mental health awareness and menstrual hygiene sensitization amongst Nigerian Teenage Girls courtesy of The Nigerian Teen Foundation, a subsidiary initiative of the pageant which aims to inspire future generations of Nigerian teenagers.

Her predecessor, in the person of Queen Ifunanya Onyejekwe (6th Nigerian Teen World) was also intentional about menstrual hygiene and eradicating period poverty, hence her drive to launch her Period Power Foundation, a platform which she used to consistently fight period poverty throughout her reign as Queen.

Also note that in May 2023, the organisation acquired a national franchise from the International Queen of Cocoa Pageant, a Venezuelan organisation and went ahead to produce Nigeria’s first chocolate ambassador, Queen Nmesoma Obasi (Queen of Cocoa Nigeria).