Local girl takes pageant title
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- Published on Friday, March 25, 2016
Submitted photo. Three-year-old Kennedy Brown of Glenella won the Toddler Miss Manitoba title earlier this month.
By Kira Paterson
Neepawa Banner/Neepawa Press
A little girl from Glenella, MB was recently named Toddler Miss Manitoba 2016. She will be competing for a national title at the National Canadian Girl, Teen and Miss (NCGTM) pageant in Edmonton this summer.
Kennedy Brown, who is three years old, won her title at the Manitoba regionals on March 15. As the pageant did not have enough participants to actually hold an event, those who entered sent all the charity and other work done for the pageant in to the director and the winners were chosen from there. Kennedy was chosen for the Toddler Miss category. The Nationals will be held in July at the West Edmonton Mall
“We had first heard about National Canadian Girl Scholarship Pageant in January,” Kennedy’s mother, Katlynn Brown explained. “We did a lot of research on the pageant and found out that it was completely natural. We realized it was nothing like the typical pageants you hear about on TV, where tanning and makeup are involved,” she noted. At the NCGTM pageants, girls and women from 0 to 59 years old are judged based on personality and ability to speak in public rather than “glitz” and beauty. The contestants who are 4 or older are interviewed, while the toddlers, aged 0 to 3, have play time in small groups to get a sense of their personalities and how they interact with others.
The purpose of NCGTM is to build self-esteem in girls, while giving them the opportunity to make friends and learn the importance of community. “National Canadian Girl focuses on being involved, making friends and often refer to themselves as the sisterhood,” Katlynn explained. “Kennedy has always been shy... Since involving ourselves in National Canadian Girl, meeting local moms in Manitoba who are involved, we have seen our little girl come out of her shell, to the point that when she saw herself on the National Canadian Girl website for Toddler Miss, she was more excited about the rest of the girls on the page because they would be her friends.”
The contestants fundraise for local charities as part of their campaign, which teaches them about the importance of community involvement. “As far as charities go, we have not picked any specific ones as of right now and we don’t plan to do just one,” Katlynn said. “We hope to put on fundraisers throughout the summer and each fundraiser proceeds will be going to different charities, and encourage those charities in need to get in contact with us.” Right now, Kennedy is doing a Tupperware fundraiser online, with half the proceeds going towards a charity to be determined and the other half going to fund her pageant journey. The link to her Tupperware fundraising webpage is available on her Facebook page, National Canadian Toddler Miss Manitoba 2016. She is also getting in catalogues for the fundraiser that they plan to hand out. Charities can also get in touch with Kennedy’s family and people can follow her journey on the Facebook page. “In the end, we hope that Kennedy will be able to feel how wonderful it feels to work hard to be able to give back to our community and charities,” her mother said.
At Nationals, the girls compete for scholarships and can win up to $12,000. The winners in each age category, the “Royalty”, get treated to events, photoshoots and trips for a whole year after they’ve been crowned. But Katlynn said that it’s not all about winning. “I absolutely love how everyone is treated the same, you may have a different title come Nationals, but you all receive a gift, a crown, a sash and flowers - no one is left out, everyone is a winner,” she stressed. “As much as Kennedy winning a scholarship would be amazing, that is not our reasoning for entering into pageants, winning is the last thing on our minds. We have solely placed Kennedy into these events so she can meet new friends, have fun and come out of her shell so she isn’t quite as shy.”
Unlike beauty pageants, Katlynn explained that NSGTM is very non-competitive. “So far, from what we have seen in the pageant, I am overwhelmed with the amount of support you receive all around. Every mom helps every mom, there is absolutely no competition. There are parents who simply can not afford to pay for their trip to Edmonton this July, so as parents, everyone is getting together to fund raise to make sure everyone can attend.”
This is Kennedy’s first pageant, and the whole family is excited for this opportunity that she has. “Kennedy is very excited for her journey and can not wait to meet new friends,” Katlynn stated. The direct link to her Facebook page, for those wanting to follow her campaign and see how it’s going, is www.facebook.com/kennedymaralynn. Everyone is encouraged to check it out and show their support for the adorable Toddler Miss Manitoba.
