Footballer, geotechnical engineer is Miss World TT

FOOTBALLER and geotechnical engineer Annalise Nanton has been crowned Miss World TT 2024.

Nanton, 26, representing Miss Pax Vale, was crowned at the competition on June 23 at the National Academy for the Performing Arts (NAPA).

In a recent social media post she wrote, “There are no limits on who I can be or what spaces I can occupy. I hate when people tell me otherwise, If I want to, I will.”

That’s exactly what she did on in the night on June 23 when she succeeded Aché Abrahams, who placed as a top-four finisher at the Miss World Pageant in India and became Miss World Caribbean – a Continental Queen, part of the Miss World contingent that travels with the current Miss World, Krystyna Pyszková. Pyszková, of the Czech Republic, was crowned on March 9 in Mumbai, India.

Nanton not only earned the title and the right to represent Trinidad and Tobago at the 72nd Miss World festival in February 2025, at a venue still to be decided, but also walked away with most of the special prizes in contention from among the 17 delegates.

These included the People’s Choice, Miss Fitness, Top Model and Best Talent Awards. She used aerial silk, which she wound around her body to do a routine above the floor.

Also in winners’ row were Miss Aranguez, Prishni Rampersadsingh, and Miss Toco, Hannah Roberts, the first and second runners-up respectively.

Navin Boodhai, co-franchise-holder, told the Newsday the competition was of such a high standard that only a few points separated the top five.

“Any one of the five top winners could have won and become a strong representative of Trinidad and Tobago. Just about three points out of 100 separated the top five. This tells you the quality of the delegates we had this year.”

He disagreed that beauty pageants are only about appearance.

“The Miss World philosophy is that the woman must be diverse in terms of her viewpoint, and in terms of her skill set.

“Globally, the Miss World Pageant offers opportunity for young women to become role models and ambassadors for various charitable causes showcasing their talent, fitness, modelling capabilities, social media presence and speaking abilities.

“This is not just a beauty pageant. In fact, we would consider it a developmental programme for young women, because they go through so many different elements of training. We train them in terms of developing projects, social entrepreneurship, fitness, talent, speaking ability, exposure to the media as part of their public speaking development.

"By the time the competition comes around they have evolved into well-grounded women who can stand on their own.

“And the visuals don’t hurt either,” he admitted.

While the race to the finish line was close, Boodhai said the judges’ decision was unanimous in favour of Nanton.

“She is well deserving.”

He said Nanton, who is also a national scholarship winner from Santa Cruz, has been using her passion for sports to empower women, and focused on this aspect of her life in the Beauty With a Purpose category, one of the main elements of the competition.