Beauty, talent, elegance, and intelligence all came together at the first annual African Queen USA Pageant held at the East Hartford Community Center in Ct., on Sunday September 2nd, 2007. Eight young ladies of African descent living in the United States came together for a celebration of African Culture. "The pageant was to unite all People of African Heritage for a better Africa" said the pageant coordinator Kwadjo Osei-Wusu( Don Cuzy)."Not only was it about unity, it was to show that the ladies had more than just beauty-they had a lot to offer. It also provided an opportunity to show people African Culture through the different dances and clothing." The contestants represented their respective African nations. For more than a month, the contestants got to know each other during thier weekly practices. "I had a lot of fun getting to know all of these wonderful girls," said contestant Sandy Osafo who is majoring Occupational Theraphy at Manchester College in CT. Hosting the show was Abena Sarfo-Mensah who is attending University of Connecticut, and Ghanaian singer/rapper Kwesoul. there were performances by Kwesoul, Danteh, Oheneba PK and Omar (Jamaican gospel artist). Four Judges evaluated the contestants based on beauty, personality, talent, self-expresion, and their thinking abilities. The competition included a swimwear, talent and evening wear section. in the talent competition, the contestants performed a variety of talents, including traditional dance routines, the reading of poetry and singing. the last section of the contest, that proved to be the most important, as well as the deciding factor, was the question and answer. Each contestant had to reach in bowl that contained different questions, and they had to answer them. the questions were all theme around issues concerning Africa. Because each contestant could have easily worn the crown, it took a while for judges to make a decision on who would be the winner. After the liberations, Michelle Koduah from Ghana was awarded second runner up, Trudy Blamo From Liberia was the first runner up, and Nikki Duah From Ghana was named the 2007 African Queen. There were other awards, such as Best talent- Trudy Blamo, Evening wear- Nikki Duah, Miss Congeniality- Winny Barozi from Uganda, Miss Photogenic- Lisa Gray from Nigeria and Organizers award- Edith Kensah. This pageant will be a yearly event. for more info about registration to take and the next pageant date, send your emails to doncuzy@yahoo.co.uk