Face of africa begins

Feb 16, 2006

She was not the tallest of the 10 girls that made it to the finals, but the (relatively) little, first-time model from Botswana, Kaone Kario, took everybody by surprise by being declared the winner of the 2005 Nokia Face of Africa modelling contest.

By Kalungi Kabuye

She was not the tallest of the 10 girls that made it to the finals, but the (relatively) little, first-time model from Botswana, Kaone Kario, took everybody by surprise by being declared the winner of the 2005 Nokia Face of Africa modelling contest.

To honour that achievement, the auditions for this year’s Face of Africa contest, again sponsored by Nokia, are kicking off this weekend in Gabarone, the capital of Botswana.

According to the schedule of the auditions released early this week, girls from Botswana will congregate at the Gaborone Sun Hotel for the auditions. Kampala is eight on the line, with the casting crew coming to town on March 21 for a four–day stay.

Unlike last year, when the casting took over 10 months across Africa, this time it is set to run from February to April, and will be carried out in 13 cities across the continent. The casting sessions are free to any girl from anywhere in sub-Saharan Africa and can participate in any of the casting sessions wherever they might be held. Thirteen semi-finalists will then be chosen for a special second session from whence the top 10 finalists will be chosen. These will participate in the finals in Sun City, South Africa, on August 13.

The Face of Africa begun in 1998 and was held up to 2001 before taking a break. In that time winners included now international model Oluchi from Nigeria, Benvinda Mundenge (1999) from Namibia, Nombulelo Mazibuko (2000) from South Africa and Ramatoulaye Diallo (2001) from Senegal.

Uganda had finalists in 1998 (Helen Mugisha) and 2000 (Patricia Namayirira). Last year former Miss Uganda Aysha Nassanga reached the semi-finals but was eliminated at that stage.

After Botswana, the casting sessions will be held in Zambia (February 23), Angola, namibia and Ethiopia. They will then go to Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda, Tanzania, Ghana and Nigeria. They will close in Cape Town and Johannesburg, South Africa. The Kampala venue is still to be confirmed.

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