The search for Miss Rwanda 2017 is officially on. The first auditions for the biggest event on the social calendar are scheduled for January 14, in the Western province at Belvedere Hotel. This will be followed by Rubavu District and Northern Province at La Palme Hotel in Musanze the following day, according to Dieudonne Ishimwe of Rwanda Inspiration Backup, the organizers of Miss Rwanda.

In the Southern province, auditions will be held on January 21 at Credo Hotel while the Eastern province auditions will be at Silent Hill Hotel. The Kigali auditions will be held at Hilltop hotel on January 28.

Five lucky girls will be selected from each province before the pre- selections, where out of 25 girls, 10 will be eliminated.

The pre-selection of the top 15 is due on February 4 at Petit Stade. The lucky 15 girls will then head for a two-week boot camp from February 12 – 24 at Golden Tullip Hotel in Nyamata.

This is the sixth edition of the pageant since its inception in 2009. To vie for Miss Rwanda, you must be female and Rwandan by nationality, aged between 18-24.

You should also be a secondary school graduate, fluent in Kinyarwanda and any other language preferably English, French and Swahili.

Your height should not be below 1.7 metres and should weigh between 45-70 kilogrammes. Also you should not have given birth and must be ready to stay in Rwanda at least for one year if selected as Miss Rwanda.

The rules also stipulate that the winner must not get married during her reign.

Ishimwe noted that the crowned Miss Rwanda will also participate in the Miss World pageant after Rwanda participated for the first time last year. "The contest celebrates Rwandan girls, and this year, we hope to inspire more girls to step out of their comfort zones and experience the amazing opportunities this pageant offers,” Ishimwe said. Jolly Mutesi, the reigning queen will hand over the crown to the winner of the grand finale on February 25, in Kigali.

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