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January 2006 Edition Of Excellence
Du'Bois' Dish By Nicole DuBois (MGA 2006)
Happy New Year! Here I find myself on my third Excellence article, and my reign
has only just begun. It has been very surreal thus far being introduced as Miss
Gay America 06, it is a bit overwhelming. In case you have not yet checked out
my web site, feel free to do so. It has been updated by my amazing web designer
Orhan Mc Millan. With new pics from MGA, tour dates, links, etc. and please sign
my guest book.
The month of December found me having my daddy’s/ daughter meeting. We had some
laughs, but then we got down to business at hand, and the hard work begun. I was
then given my handbook or my BIBLE for the next year. I was then tested and we
talked about rules, and regulations. So I guess I passed because they hugged me
2 days later and sent me back home to memorize my BIBLE….Study, study, study…For
those of you who want to become MGA and wear the crown, be prepared to work very
hard. I am excited; it will be a great year.
I trust that everyone had a wonderful Christmas with family and friends. I also
hope that Santa brought you girl’s lots of jewelry, beads, music, and all that
drag!!!It was wonderful being with my family in Baton Rouge, La., we had a great
time as well.
The month of January will be my first preliminary, Miss Colorado, I also get to
work with 2 of my sisters Maya and Sabrina, so I am sure they will be watching
me.. Bring it!!! LOL. At the end of the month I will be on tour in Arizona. The
fabulous Barbra Seville has booked me a week long gig. I also get to work with
Lucinda Holiday as well as Angela Dodd and Amanda Bury, and I also will get to
see Preliminary of the Year Winners, Miss Western States Promoters Danny and
Daniel. So get ready, we are going to have a blast.
As we are gearing up for the upcoming year and as pageants are starting to set
the date, I urge you promoters to call early and reserve your preliminary dates.
This will be the key to a successful pageant. This will also allow you to get
plane tickets early to help with pageant costs, advertising and contestants.
Check out www.missgayamerica.com for new information.
Girls, get your prelims out of the way early. This gives you months of
preparation and the opportunity to book yourselves for exposure and $$ that will
help you to bring the best package possible. Good Luck to you all.
In closing while visiting with Larry and Terry I got a sneak peak at the MGA
prelim nights of competition, they were great. Order your copy online today,
study the package you brought, and evaluate your performance. We all learn from
these DVDs or videos. Remember while only one of you will wear the crown next
year, the experience of competing and the friends you meet will carry on with
you for a lifetime. I wish each of you a blessed, prosperous, and joyous New
Year. May all of your wishes and dreams come true in this upcoming year. Until
next month, take care and keep painting!!
Much Love, Nicole
From the desk of Larry & Terry
Accepting Critique…...
Happy New Year! The
national office of Miss Gay America is filled with excitement. Excitement
because of the comfort level we have in anticipation that Nicole DuBois-Miss Gay
America 2006 is going to be yet another example of what a “Symbol of Excellence”
should be. We have spent many hours with Nicole to make certain that she is
going to be a great administrator for the America system. We have covered
scoring procedures, recent administrative issues and each rule of the Miss Gay
America pageant system and we feel confident that Nicole DuBois will prove to be
a very valuable source for you as a contestant or promoter. Now that we have
received the official promotional photos for Nicole and the first preliminary is
two weeks away, we are really getting excited about another great year in the
history of the Miss Gay America pageant. We are working on even more new
preliminaries for this pageant season as our goal for the year is to surpass the
number of qualified contestants, when compared to last year. Another of our
goals is to raise the bar even higher in terms of professionalism and quality
entertainment and we think Nicole DuBois will be very instrumental in achieving
growth in many areas.
One of the most frequent questions we are receiving from contestants of the Miss
Gay America 2006 pageant is regarding critique. Many contestants are asking for
our opinion/critique of their competition package, which we will be more than
happy to provide, as we want to help each of you to become better entertainers
and can hopefully provide some direction in your efforts to become the next Miss
Gay America. Many contestants have stated that they want more detailed critique
in order to help to better understand why they did not win. We encourage you to
seek critique from many different sources however you should ask those who will
be honest with you, and not only those who will give you “lip service” While
honesty may be painful at first, it will eventually mold you into a better
competitor. In speaking with several of the judges, plus viewing the video,
there were several contestants who had few major flaws but rather had a few
flaws within their competition package that attributed to their placement,
including not winning or making Top 10. You, as contestants, must realize that
the judges each have an opinion, sometimes different but most of the time,
similar, provided they are judging according to the category descriptions and
have a thorough understanding of the sub-category scoring system. As national
promoters, it is our responsibility to ensure diversity and fairness in a panel
of judges. In our opinion, the most important job of the reigning Symbol of
Excellence is to ensure that the judges are scoring with fairness, which is why
we are requiring Nicole to view as much of the contest as possible to ensure
that the judges are seeing the same things. If their scores reflect differently,
then it is the job of Nicole and the promoter to determine why. (This holds true
for the state titleholders as well).
Part of hearing critique is listening and accepting critique. There will be
times, when you might ask five people, of their opinion and get five different
answers, however, you should prepare your competition package to appeal to the
majority of all people. In many instances, the “way out there” competition
package might not score well so you should thoroughly consider each and every
aspect of your competition in order to not “give away” points, for as in the
case in October 2005, every point mattered. If you divide all point spreads
between the five judges, you will see that this was an extremely tight contest
and consistency was going to determine the winner, not being the best in just
one category. While on the surface, it may seem that Nicole won by a
“land-slide” considering she won many of the overall preliminary competition
categories, however you should analyze the scores to see that each category had
several contestants that were very few points apart. The category descriptions
are clear. If not, please feel free to ask and we will make every effort to
ensure your understanding.
Critique is not designed to discourage you from competing, but rather to
encourage you to work on certain portions of your competition to score better.
We suggest that you consult with your promoters in detail regarding your
competition package as they should give you an honest opinion. We want the
promoters to become involved with their contest representatives, after all, this
only ensures the promoters better representation at the nationals. Promoters
should be much more than financial sponsors…they should also serve as pageant
coaches, set-designers, fashion consultants, speech therapist etc., and the list
goes on and on…
As the videos are now available for sale, we encourage you to purchase the
video, then, review the video through the eyes of a judge. Of course it is
difficult to see all flaws from the video when compared to the view of the
judges, however, the quality of the video is exceptional (especially on final
night) and should prove to be a very valuable instrument for you in preparation
for the Miss Gay America 2007 pageant season.
The Miss Gay America pageant system is more than just excellence in pageantry.
It is about molding contestants into exceptional entertainers in order to grow
the art form of female impersonation as well as providing positive leadership
for the world. The America pageant system is merely a reward for being the “best
of the best”. No one is going to give you a title, and if they do, you will not
respect it nearly as much as you would if you had earned it. All the rules,
regulations and category descriptions are present to make to a you, the
contestant, a better disciplined, more professional entertainer, which will flow
through in each and every one of your performances, whether or not there is a
crown on your head.
We are looking forward to another great year of excellence in pageantry. We wish
each of you a very happy, safe, prosperous and healthy New Year.
Until next time…
Promoter Spot Light - Joie DiMercurio, Miss Gay Missouri America Promoter
Five thousand, twenty-five thousand,
six hundred minutes, how do you measure, measure a year.......and what a year it
was. It is my honor to have been selected as best state preliminary award for
2005. It takes much mental preparation as well as hard work from all individuals
involved. First, a pageant can not take place without its contestants as they
are the backbone of the whole organization, second, all of the dedication of the
promoters within the state who are very supportive of the state contest and a
co-promoter who has the love and ambition to see people succeed in their dreams.
This person who wins this award as well is, Reba Lambke Knabe.
I have been involved with Miss Gay America for 20 years either as a contestant,
or a promoter. The privilege that I had as being third alternate to Leslie Rage
was outstanding, winning over all group discussion and male interview. The years
that I spent at Miss Gay America gave me the confidence to succeed in life. I
always say that a Drag Queen knows how to do a pageant as well as how to put one
on. In my 20 years of MGA I have judged over 150 contests and have predicted the
winner every year, it all comes from having the best training, a good eye for
detail and the love of the craft.
Miss Gay America gave me the background to be able to go on and win a national
title in the Continental system. I believe that if you do not spread your wings
and fly you never grow and this might take the advantage of trying everything
that is not to ones norm. The places you go and the people you meet as a
national title holder are overwhelming but it takes someone with a mature mind
and open heart to undertake the endurance and strain of this year out of your
life. The crown is your trophy but the job is your life.
As a promoter it is our job to put on the best pageant of our ability and to
send two qualified contestants to the national pageant. It takes the
understanding of everyone to know the great financial strain it takes to put on
a pageant of three days and dealing with all the staff of people around you
making sure everyone is happy. I truly am blessed to have some great former miss
Missouri's who dedicate their time and talents to bring a new generation of
female impersonation to life. I also believe in rules and stand by those rules
no matter what the outcome may be.
Not only is Missouri one of the oldest preliminaries but I guess you can say
that I am one of the oldest laisons involved...that is my honor. I must say with
the help of Reba as co promoter together we pair up both worlds and communicate
our thoughts, sometimes by just looking at each other. It is uncanny how she can
read my mind and my thoughts as well as having her own opinions as well...and
boy can she judge a pageant!
When I was first asked to write this article, I was ambivalent about what I
should write. So many of you know me as a worker, an eclectic human being who
digs down deep to find answers right for me. I have come to realize at this time
in my life that in order to make anything a reality one has to set a goal and
then reach for it. Keeping my faith in who I am, I believe all good prevails.
During this year of preparation it is important for all of us to remember that
it is important to love ourselves for who we are and that we all want a better
world for all gays and lesbians: a safer better world for all our communities.
I encourage everyone to become involved in Miss Gay America and in your
community, because to take part is to be involved and to be involved is to show
concern about your craft and community. Before I close I would like to say
"Don't look down on what I do, just look up at what I have become and know that
you have a former Miss Gay Missouri America 1992 ,Tumara Mahorning who cares for
the needs of everyone."
Affectionately....
Joie DiMercurio Miss Gay Missouri America Promoter winner 2005.....
Promoter
Spot Light - Daniel Eckstrom and Danny Scott, Miss Gay Western States America
Promoters
January 2006!!! We hope that everyone
had a happy and joyous holiday season. It has been close to three months since
Memphis, and already so many people are preparing and awaiting the start of the
Miss Gay America preliminaries. It all starts off with a new preliminary, Miss
Gay Colorado. We wish the best of luck to the new promoter and the new winner.
It is great to see new preliminaries out here in the West Coast.
We would like to thank Larry and Terry for having such a fabulous first year and
making everyone feel welcome and part of a big family. We would also like to
thank Raquel Chevallier, Miss Gay America 2005, for awarding us with a great
honor, Regional Preliminary of the Year. We never thought we would have such a
successful first year. Being nominated with big name preliminaries was an honor.
A lot of blood, sweat and tears go into promoting a preliminary, and we would
like to congratulate all the promoters for doing such a great job. To all the
new and returning promoters, this is going to be a great year!!
To all the contestants, we hope that you return this year better than ever. We
were very impressed with all the talent we saw each preliminary night and final
night. You all should be very proud of yourself for all the hard work you did to
make it to Miss Gay America 2006. Many of you have the dream and desire of Miss
Gay America inside your hearts, do not get discouraged, make your dream a
reality!
Congratulations to Nicole Dubois, Miss Gay America 2006. You achieved a goal and
now enjoy every minute of it. We cannot wait to see you in January and in April
for Miss Gay Western States America 2006. It will be a great event and we look
forward to working with you.
The date for Miss Gay Western States is set for April 15, 2006…Tax Day!!! Now
that we have to live up to a preliminary of the year reputation, we have some
fun and exciting things planned for this year’s pageant. It is an event not to
be missed! A special thank you to Angela Dodd, our current Miss Gay Western
States, for making our first year even better. Please visit our web site for
more information. You can view pictures, download rules and regulations and sign
our guest book so we can keep in touch with everyone. Good luck to all on a
great and exciting New Year!!!
All our love from the Desert, Daniel Eckstrom and Danny Scott
Promoters, Miss Gay Western States America
Regional Preliminary of the Year 2006
A Note From The Editor
The Excellence strives to be an informative newsletter delivered to the promoters of the Miss Gay America Pageant System throughout the year. Should there be any issue or topic of discussion a promoter would like to see addressed (or to write an article to be published) in a future newsletter, please contact the editor via
Email.
Please note, any article, comments, or opinions faxed, mailed, (postal or electronics),
or otherwise sent to any of our "addresses" become our property and carry an implied consent of publication should we choose to do so. No articles will be published in which one or more of the following occurs:
- complete identity of the author is not known
- plagiarism
- defamation of an individual or company
- false or misleading information (as we are able to determine)
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