This year ‘s Miss Photogenic segment of the newly franchised Miss Bahamas Universe pageant will have a new flair or shall we say flash. Bahamas On-Line, bronze sponsor of the Miss Bahamas Universe pageant,  and designer and host of the pageant’s website www.missbahamasuniverse.com, will be designing, facilitating and administrating the Miss Bahamas Universe Miss Photogenic contest, the first ever beauty online contest in The Bahamas.

“This interactive element is not only a highlight of the pageant but essential and can only ad value to the pageant, increase awareness, audience participation and support and ensure it’s success and longevity,” said Mr. Mark Sweeting, vice president, Internet Operations, Bahamas On-Line.

““Practically every credible and official pageant in the world now offers on-line voting for Miss Photogenic.  The website would and online voting would not be possible without the collaboration of the Eduardo Jiminez, president of the Bahamas Association of Photographers and Fujii Film and the  sponsorship of Bahamas On-Line. BOL will be providing access to the online community of The Bahamas and indeed the world, truly making us international.” said Doug Gardiner, National Pageant Director.

Voting online for Miss Photogenic is not scheduled to begin until February 20^th and end March 7^th.  The online voting site will be unveiled and demonstrated to the press prior to that date.

“During the voting period we will do weekly drawings for three months of free internet. Voters will be automatically entered into the drawing and also entered to win the grand prize of two tickets for the pageant. Tickets cost $100 a piece. When the voting ends on March 7^th,  Bahamas On-Line will tabulate the votes and the winner will be announced  live during the pageant.

The winner of the Miss Photogenic Award will one free year of Internet service and a $1000 cash award and trophy created by Apex Awards. This award will be presented onstage the evening of the finals at Miss Bahamas Universe. It is hoped that Mrs. Ava Burke Thompson the country’s only Miss Photogenic winner in Miss Universe will be on hand to announce the award.

Mr. Sweeting  believes that online voting for Miss Photogenic will elicit a great response based on the success of global online Miss Photogenic contests but also on response to a recent survey on broadband usage conducted by  Bahamas On-Line for all ISP subscribers that received over 600 hits in just four weeks.

“On-Line voting is much anticipated and it’s certainly long overdue. The beauty pageant should have an even wider appeal, especially from teenagers, and young adults. We project that we will see hundreds if not thousands of votes as voting is open to persons 12 and older. We have developed a system to authenticate the voting process so there is no need to worry about duplicate votes. They will be disqualified.”

“Members of the  public will be given an opportunity to vote for their choice of Miss Photogenic by visiting the Bahamas On-Line Portal at www.bahamas.net.bs or www.missbahamasuniverse.com site  which is also linked to the Bahamas On-Line portal. They will be able to click on the Miss Bahamas Universe Link on the portal and visit its website or click on the  Bahamas On-Line icon and visit our portal and homepage.”

Bahamas On-Line is a subsidiary of Systems Resource Group (SRG). SRG is the country’s sole provider of turnkey, project-managed solutions that encompass business equipment, software applications, systems and network integration, consulting services, electronic commerce and wide area communications.