The search for Rwanda’s first-ever Miss and Mr East Africa University 2011 beauty pageant gets underway in earnest today in Kigali.  The pre-selections will run for two days at Petit Stade in Remera.

The contestants are competing for six slots available for Rwanda at the eventual regional contest. The local winners (three young men and three young women) will be announced in a grand finale on March 19 at Kigali Serena Hotel, organisers say.

They will then proceed to the regional contest due in May in Dar-es-Salam, where they will compete with other finalists from Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and Burundi.

And, the winners of the regional contest will then tussle it out with other finalists from other parts of the world for the finals in Mexico, later this year.

IPROMO, a local company with a track record in managing Miss events in the country, was selected by the Ministry of Culture and Sports to handle the Miss University East Africa pageant in Rwanda.

The event is the premier beauty pageant exclusively for university students, and seeks to promote harmony and cordial relations between participating countries. It’s an international contest.

Miss and Mister University was launched in 1978 in Japan, as an endeavor for the restoration and redefinition of human beauty.

Previous finals were held in Seoul, Moscow, Beijing, New York and Manila.

Speaking to The New Times, Jean Pierre Higiro, an official from IPROMO, said pageant will also help enhance integration of the East African members, since all partner states are involved in the competition.

Ends