Three crowns for Lurgan girls in Disneyland

Three locals have returned starry-eyed from Paris after being crowned champions at a worldwide competition.
By The Newsroom
Published 1st Dec 2015, 06:00 BST
Ciara DeCarteret, Katie McGibbon and Anouska Black are pictured with Face of NI Director, Hayley McDonald, after the three were crowned in Paris.Ciara DeCarteret, Katie McGibbon and Anouska Black are pictured with Face of NI Director, Hayley McDonald, after the three were crowned in Paris.
Ciara DeCarteret, Katie McGibbon and Anouska Black are pictured with Face of NI Director, Hayley McDonald, after the three were crowned in Paris.

Katie McGibbon, Ciara DeCarteret and Anouska Black each qualified for the Face of Europe and the World competition back in July - winning the chance to represent Northern Ireland in Disneyland Paris. The three travelled over with friends and family two weeks ago, and made the journey worthwhile when they scooped some prestigious titles.

Katie, a primary 7 pupil at St Anthony’s, was crowned Miss Charity after raising an amazing £2712 for Downs and Proud and Headway UK between June and November. As well as that, she was named the overall winner in the junior section, leaving Paris as the Junior Face of Europe and the World.

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“In Katie’s age group there were 11 girls - from Brazil, Japan, the Isle of Wight and England,” said Marese McGibbon, Katie’s mum.

“It was a great experience for her to meet people from different cultures and she made friends with all her group!”

Ten year old Katie got creative during the competition when she was told to wear national fancy dress on the first night.

“Katie dressed up as Mrs Tayto!” shared Marese.

Ciara DeCarteret was named joint Princess of the UK - seventh overall in the seniors - while Anouska Black was placed ninth in the world, winning Miss Personality.

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“We absolutely smashed it!” shared Anouska, who travelled to the Paris finals with her partner Chris and son Bailey.

“I think we were one of the top regions, results-wise. We were all placed and did very well - the fact that all three winners were from the same town in the one country is amazing, given the vastness of the competition!”

The competition saw entrants travel from across the world - including countries like Sweden, France and the USA - and Team Northern Ireland are already setting their sights on next year’s contest.

“We’ll be starting to recruit for NI 2016 soon and have loads of exciting things planned!” Anouska explained.

Related topics:Europe