SALAMANCA — Amilia Rivera is now considered royalty and she has three crowns to prove it, along with four trophies and four medals. The 6-year old from Salamanca competed in the Winter Princess/Prince Pageant March 4 presented by Sunburst USA at the Chautauqua Mall, in Lakewood.
Her mother, Amy Rivera, said this was the very first beauty pageant for Amilia, who is a first grader at Prospect Elementary School.
“I don’t know exactly how I came across it, but I saw it on a pageant site,” she said. “It wasn’t anything we had well-planned out because I discovered it just days before it was scheduled.”
Rivera said Amilia was very excited and kept saying over and over that she really wanted to be in the pageant. She said it wasn’t anything they went into thinking she would win because she’d never been onstage like that by herself, with the exception of dance events. With only a couple of days to prepare, Amilia practiced walking around at home in high heels — something she likes to do anyway.
“I went online and with the click of a button, I bought a pageant dress for her on Amazon.com, as well as a winter wear outfit that had tall, white, furry boots with rhinestones on them, a white shawl, little cute earmuffs, earrings and other accessories,” she said.
According to Rivera, the Sunburst Beauty Pageant has been featured on the Travel Channel and the Discovery Channel. The pageant is for age groups ranging from babies three and under to four- through 27-year-olds. No modeling or interview is required and contestants are judged on facial beauty, overall appearance, projection and personality.
“Amilia was judged for quite a few different categories and she won in four different areas where she received trophies and a medal for each, along with three crowns,” she said.
Rivera said her daughter won Top Model Look, Most Photogenic, Best Attire and Winter Wear. Top Model Look/Face is a “look” that the judges feel would look cute in catalog print work, in commercials and other media. To enter the Most Photogenic category, they had to take a picture with them. Since they weren’t prepared, it was not a professional picture, but a cute basketball picture they had taken of Amilia.
With almost everyone at the mall watching the event, Amilia competed in the Pee Wee group for four- to six-year-olds and was the first to go onstage. Her mother said Amelia wasn’t nervous and she was surprised because she had no experience and little time to practice.
“She was very ‘stagy’ when she was practicing at home, but we were worried about what might happen when she got to the pageant and saw all the other girls. We thought she might be overwhelmed and not want to go walk onstage,” she said. “We were surprised because she was onstage posing and smiling. When I asked her how she knew what to do, she said she watched a video of a pageant on YouTube.”
Rivera said one of Amilia’s favorite things about the pageant was seeing the little babies on stage. When the judges asked what her favorite things to do are, she told them she loves dancing, gymnastics and baking. Then they asked her what her favorite food was and she said “candy,” and everyone laughed.
“We were very proud of her for doing so well,” she said. “When you think about that age group, it’s a big thing for them not to be shy. In fact, one of the judges came over to me and said she had no idea this was Amilia’s first pageant.”
Amilia was excited to show her cousins her big trophy she brought home, and she’s looking forward to doing another pageant, her mother said. When Amilia goes to the Syracuse Pageant in May, she will compete in the Little Miss group for seven- to 10-year-olds because she will turn seven on April 20. Because she won, her entry fee to go to the state finals in May will be paid by Sunburst.
“It’s a little overwhelming to be going to the state finals because they have so many different categories and Amilia could ultimately go all the way to the international competition,” she said. “I’m just kind of getting my feet wet in this, but we’ll see how far she wants to take it. I know it’s a lot for her to go all the way to Syracuse, but we’re excited.
“We will be getting her dress for the state pageant through her aunt who is going to buy it and send it to us. It’ll be a very unique dress from Puerto Rico and Amelia wants a bright orange pageant dress.”
Amilia’s father is Giovanni Rivera of Salamanca. She has a brother, Giovanni, who is 9. She is the granddaughter of Carol and Bob Ellis, also of Salamanca.
