Trinidad and Tobago’s Georgia-Lee Gill was yesterday crowned Miss World Caribbean during the international competition in Vietnam, earning her a continental title and a platform to promote humanitarian causes through Miss World’s “Beauty With a Purpose” initiative.National director and local franchise holder Charu Lochan Dass said everyone associated with the victory was ecstatic and called for greater Government and corporate support for beauty pageants to help T&T’s representatives compete at a higher level internationally.
winner: The 2026 Miss World title was won by the Dominican Republic’s Joheirry Mola.
Lochan Dass said Gill performed exceptionally well throughout the competition, representing T&T with “grace, poise and brilliance”.“The judges had no choice but to fall in love with her. We are extremely proud of her,” she said.Speaking with the Sunday Express from Vietnam at 4 a.m., Lochan Dass said she was too excited to sleep after the announcement.She said Gill was shocked when her name was called but quickly became “ecstatic and overjoyed”.Gill’s parents were also “shocked but extremely ecstatic”, Lochan Dass said.“It was just all of us jumping for joy,” she recalled.Lochan Dass said it was heartwarming to see the other delegates hug and cheer for Gill, with some moved to tears.She said the reaction demonstrated the quality of Gill as a queen, noting that Gill had won Miss Congeniality during the local leg of the competition.Lochan Dass also praised the local team that prepared Gill for the international competition.“A lot of work goes into this process, and when you get an end result like this, nothing is quite like it,” she said.The extensive preparation paid off, with Gill not only winning the crown but also securing victory in the Americas and Caribbean regional head-to-head challenge. That result placed her among the competition’s top 40 delegates.Gill, who is from Arima, will return to T&T on Tuesday with her parents and will be welcomed with a homecoming ceremony.Within a month, she will begin travelling internationally with the Miss World organisation and the other continental queens during her year-long reign.Lochan Dass said Gill will also participate in charity initiatives and help raise funds through “Beauty with a Purpose”, the Miss World organisation’s humanitarian and charitable programme.She also used the occasion to call for greater pageant sponsorship.“To be able to make bigger strides internationally, we need to have proper support from our Government and even from corporate sponsors,” Lochan Dass said.“We really do need that level of support for us to be able to do things at a certain level and gain that level of visibility. That is when you start shining internationally.”She added: “Just as it takes a village to raise a child, it takes a village to prepare contestants for international pageants.”The Ministry of Culture and Community Development took to Facebook to celebrate Gill’s victory yesterday.“We proudly celebrate this outstanding achievement and commend Georgia-Lee for representing Trinidad and Tobago on the global stage with confidence, beauty and class,” it said.“Your poise and presence continue to make our nation proud and showcase the brilliance of Trinidad and Tobago to the world,” the post stated,Public Utilities Minister Barry Padarath also took to social media to celebrate the win.“Huge congratulations to Miss Trinidad and Tobago Georgia Lee Gill on being crowned Miss World Caribbean. Georgia has been radiant, articulate and simply amazing during her representation of our nation on the world stage,” Padarath posted.The 2026 Miss World title was won by the Dominican Republic’s Joheirry Mola.Spain’s Elisabeth Reynes was named first runner-up, while Malaysia’s Taanusiya Chetty was named second runner-up.
