CEBU, Philippines - Beauty, grace and confidence come in different forms but Christine Jael Abellanosa possesses the finest in all these, enabling her to win the most coveted title of Sinulog Festival Queen 2014.
Last Friday night, the 19 year-old Abellanosa stood out from all the 11 candidates that vied for the Sinulog Queen Festival title at the Cebu City Sports Complex.
Abellanosa is a BS Tourism student from the University of Perpetual System Dalta and hails from the municipality of Tuburan. She represents Tribu Tinubdan sa Kauswagan.
The search for Sinulog Festival Queen is now on its tenth year, discovering and showcasing the best Sinulog lead dancers from participating contingents all over the country.
Abellanosa sashayed her way to the stage with her gold and white-colored costume designed by one of Cebu's finest, Roy Erwin Tizon, collaborated with Aldo Loquinario and Jim Villaflores.
Her costume won the Best Festival Costume, an award given to the designer of the winning gown which is judged not only on over-all aesthetics but also according to its functionality in the context of dance, performance and choreography.
Tizon's Sto. Niño, which he named Sangkay, served as his inspiration in making the design of the gown. "My concept is actually simple because I don't want her (Abellanosa) to have difficulties when she dance and at the same time we tried to keep it lightweight despite of its huge size."
It took them a week to make the costume and even at the last minute, just before the pictorials, they had to do some alterations with the design to keep it clean and to give emphasis to the beauty of the festival queen.
With the fine-detailed costume plus Abellanosa's exquisite dancing to the Sinulog beat, Tuburan's representative left not only with the top prize but also bagged majority of the special awards including the Miss SM 2014, Medicard's Miss Congeniality, Best in festival Costume, Best in Solo Performance, Miss Devant, Miss Casino Femme, and Miss PLDT.
The title Sinulog Festival Queen 2014 gave her other awards as well such as: 2Go Express Festival Queen, Miss More Fun Ambassador, Miss Quick and Fast, Miss Uratex and Miss Suncellular. She took the crown plus a whopping P50,000 in cash.
"Everything is unexpected and I never thought of winning these awards. All of our hard works are paid off. Viva Pit Senyor," she said in an interview.
Tribu Tinubdan sa Kauswagan also garnered Best in Musicality and Best in Group Production Presentation which was based on the group's choreography and performance during their two minute presentation.
Sinulog Festival Queen's first-runner up is Pauline Amelinckx, who represented Tribu Himag-Ulaw from Placer, Masbate. She also took with her the awards such as Best in Group Performance, Miss Phoenix Petroleum, Miss Suncellular and Miss Sinulog Allphones.
Jaya Lozano from Carcar City, Cebu took the second runner up spot bringing with her 20,000 cash as well as the Miss Lecit-E special award.
The thirrd runner up is from Tribu Panglaoanon of Panglao, Bohol, Luvina Joy Bullanday. She is also Miss Ever Bilena while placing 4th runner up is Charrise Clair Lanchenibre from Banay Talamban, who also won Miss 2Go Travel special award.
Sinulog Festival Queen 2014's Miss Photogenic is Sinandulay Cultural Group's representative Maria Janica Zuno from Tangub, Misamis Occidental. She also got Miss Myphone Sinulog 2014 award.
The crowd was further entertained by Sinulog Idol Season 5 grand champion Claudio Deiparine together with runner ups Sheila Mae Bucog and Railyn Alicaya. / ATO (FREEMAN)