The 18-year-old Sophie Bennie Yarboh was crowned the Inter-Collegiate Personality Queen. Her crowning put to rest the question of who was going to wear that crown.

Sophie Bennie Yarboh, the youngest and yet the tallest among the contestants, was crowned Miss intercollegiate Personality Queen for the year 2003. She was carried and shown round in a palanquin by four machomen to the admiration of the audience. For her prize, she will have the opportunity of attending Expo 2003 in the United Kingdom in October plus a scholarship to pursue a post graduate programme in Ghana, a personal computer, ?5 million cash which includes ?1 million participation prize, a cooker a set of furniture and clothes from a designer.

The first runner-up, Dzifa Albertine Agudetse took home a cooker, a personal computer, ?3 million cash, a set of furniture and clothes from a designer.

Evelyn Akayete Ayerbase who was the second runner-up, was given ?2 million, a personal computer, a refrigerator and clothes from designer.

The event which started an hour late saw Kiki Gyan setting the pace for other performances as he sang some very popular tunes of Osibisa of which he was part — We Are Going, Coffee and Fire Will Burn You. He did these songs with such a passion in his voice that the audience could not help but join him in singing. He was followed by Soul Black, an acapella group, who sang to the admiration of the audience.

The nine contestants made their first appearance clad in Woodin cloths and performed a choreography which had the title, Children At Play, while the Wulomei backed them with one of their songs.

The nine contestants, who looked very groomed and appeared to have gone through a lot of training in presentation skills and hair and skin beautification, were flexible and elegant in the way they turned and twisted their bodies as they performed. This proved that they were all very talented.

The judges for the night included Manuella Medie, a flight attendant and a former Miss Ghana, Miss Marlene, a reporter for a Paris magazine, Kwame Boadi, a 32-year-old teacher and TV producer, Mrs Efua Ghartey, a legal practitioner and Miss Eva Lokko, Director General of Ghana Broadcasting Corporation.

The MCs, Samira Ramadan and Chris Attoh, contributed to the success of the programme.

Batman and Nana King succeeded in thrilling the audience. Batman performed two songs from his yet-to-be-released album. There was an uproarious laughter when Nana King fell into the pool of water as he performed, but this was part of the set design.

Unlike other beauty pageants, the Miss Intercollegiate Personality 2003 Awards gave the audience the chance to submit questions they wanted to be answered by the contestants. This part was dubbed “The Audience Interrogative Segment.” All the contestants answered questions ranging from health issues to the effect of the use of Internet facilities in our society and the world as a whole.

Appearing very lovely traditional outfits, the contestants showcased their second choreography after which the Wulomei performed Kaafo, an old lullaby.

In their next appearance of the contestants were in their regional wears as they gave regional messages from all parts of the country.

Later, they came on stage in their evening wear, uniquely designed to enhance the contestants physical beauty. Dzifa Albertine Agudetse, Sophie Bennie Yarboh, Evelyn Akayete, Patience Eshun and Gilda Ennin emerged as the five finalist who made it to the next segment and were later required to answer questions from the judges.

The Inter-Collegiate Personality 2003 was organised by Studio One with sponsorship from Secure (GSMF), FC Beauty Klinik, Pace Car Rentals, Woodin, Bamboo Bar and Grill and La Palm Royal Beach Hotel.

Others were Ivana Coutre, Westside Travels, Newlands Risk Management, GIHOC Distilleries, WWWPlus, TV3, Radio Gold, Metrol TV, GTV, Happy FM, Aviation Social Centre and St. Martin’s Hotel.