Ngahuia was recently crowned Miss Earth Air New Zealand 2021, runner-up in the Miss Earth 2021 pageant. Photos / Ruihana Te Nahu
Since starting in 2020, Rotorua's Ngahuia Hona-Paku has been on a jam-packed whirlwind of a pageant journey, and it isn't looking to slow down anytime soon.
Ngahuia was recently crowned Miss Earth Air New Zealand 2021, runner-up in the Miss Earth 2021 pageant.
The ceremony was held at the Hamilton Gardens.
Ngahuia's pageant journey began with Miss Rotorua in 2020, where she received the title of Miss Te Arawa 2020.
From there, she was scoped to compete in the national pageant Miss Earth 2021.
Miss Earth New Zealand aims to raise the awareness of environmental issues nationally and internationally, and develop the skills of young leaders that will help build, protect, and sustain New Zealand's eco-system.
It is carried out to assure that each of the participating candidates is environmentally knowledgeable.
Ngahuia says the training for Miss Earth 2021 started with sessions in Auckland, but due to the Covid pandemic the pageant ended up moving online.
She says this move to online was challenging as it was only her second pageant and presenting yourself through camera was hard, but she was glad she had the experience and overcame the challenges.
While in Auckland, they had done a lot of cultivating and tree planting, and the pageant was about channelling all of the learnings for a better future, she says.
"It's such a cool opportunity. You get to meet so many other beauty queens. It's jam-packed with so much in six weeks."
As well as the training sessions, contestants also had to submit an environmental video clip.
"I was so passionate about this video because Rotorua is known for its tourism industry, and especially with me being brought up in Whakarewarewa Village and knowing the village is no longer how it was."
She says the national pageant had included a swimwear section, which was not in the Miss Rotorua one and had been a bold move for her.
The Miss Earth New Zealand 2021 title was won by Eva Wilson, and Ngahuia says being in her presence taught her a lot as well.
She says seeing women who are willing to make a change for a better future gives a lot of hope in that our future will be secure.
Ngahuia's pageant journey will not be slowing down any time soon.
She had been given the opportunity to travel to China for a pageant, but the country had been going back into a lockdown so that pageant was no longer going ahead.
However, she has now been asked to go to Manila, the Philippines, at the start of September for Ms Universe Tourism 2022.
"I've gone from my hometown, to national, to international which is amazing. Things are starting to fall into place which is scary but very exciting."
She gives a special mention to the Miss Rotorua Foundation team, family, friends and her partner for all their support, and Mark and Rebecca at PhoneLife for their sponsorship.
"I was so well taken care of here in the community, so I felt Iike I would be okay, could take it on and be a representative of not just Rotorua but also the women that have ingrained themselves in me."
The jury's marathon deliberations ran for two weeks.