Dan's Papers - December 7, 2007 - Miss Latina Hamptons 2007

One of the most cultural events to take place in the Hamptons is the Miss Latina Hamptons Beauty Competition. First, because in just three years it has become a staple in the winter events category on the East End and second, because it brings together all cultures of the Hispanic heritage to display a community at its finest.

In a country where Hispanic illegal immigration is a hot issue, Miss Latina Hamptons is a reminder of how celebrating one's culture in a positive spirit where everyone is welcome, whether you are Hispanic or not, can be just as American as an Irish parade or a walk through Little Italy in New York City. Juliana Holguin, an American citizen of Colombian decent, has put together a show that the Hamptons community can feel good about.

With that being said, let's talk about these beautiful women and, of course, the 2007 Miss Latina Hamptons winner, Miss Springs of Dominican heritage, Hannely Cruceta. She, along with Miss Sagaponack (Liz Eliana Franco) and Miss Amagansett (Ana Isabel Castellanos), were favorites from the very beginning of the competition. And it is just that, a very serious competition, which included a panel of five judges, Lu Berry of Lu Berry Swimwear, Denise Bornschein of Hamptons Magazine, Frank Cilione of Flirt Nightclub, Jose Luis Jimenez of www.hamptonslatinoonline.com, Tommy Hill of East End Limosine and myself. We were required to judge all of these girls in a variety of different categories, including things as superficial as face and body, along with gown presentation, native dress, swimsuit presentation and an interview.

At East Hampton Studios with upwards of 1,000 people present, these girls put every effort forward to give them the advantage in the competition. Because all of them were so closely matched in their performance, small details mattered. Forgetting to smile for just a second, adjusting a dress and walking too fast or too slow, were all little things that the judges had to take very seriously if we were going to be able to distinguish which one of the girls deserved to win first place. And believe me it was a difficult decision.

Miss Latina Hamptons is very serious business to these girls. That really makes this event entertaining and exciting. The girls, who were as young as sixteen years old, acted elegant and refined and drew cheers, oohhhs and ahhs. During the gown presentation, a young boy dressed up in a full tuxedo, maybe age six, would bring out each contestant, who was dressed in a stunning evening gown, and hold hands with her and then wait patiently on stage as she walked the runway. One of the cutest parts of the competition was how each boy couldn't wait for their queen to come back, because they received a much-anticipated kiss on the cheek, which the audience adored.

It was a very, very difficult decision for the judges to decide who won. The first part of the competition was based solely on looks, presence and a video interview that was presented on a large screen. But when we got down to the top five, the most important part of the competition was a question pulled out of a fishbowl at random.

One of the most interesting parts of this process was the decision to have the girls' answers translated from Spanish to English, instead of letting them answer in both languages. All of the girls spoke fluently in English and in Spanish, but the majority of the judges spoke only English, with just two of the five judges speaking fluent Spanish. I later found out that the decision to have the girls' answers translated to English was not deliberate and that it just ended up happening that way, but the ability of the translator to convey to the judges exactly what they said was argued after the competition.

By this point, Miss Sagaponack and Miss Springs were clearly the most popular, and the only way to decide the winner of the competition was based on their answers to the questions. Unfortunately for Miss Sagaponack, who was suffering from a sore throat that day, her inability to project her answer was noticed by all of the judges. Miss Springs, on the other hand, with true poise and presence, not only gave her answer, but also repeated it so the translator could catch up with her. She showed no irritation, even though she knew her translation was not perfect, and instead remained poised. Of course, in the back of her mind she must have been thinking, "He better not screw this up for me."

After the questions, the judges were all in agreement that Miss Springs was the winner. East Hampton studios went bananas as confetti flew everywhere and a crowd gathering on stage to crown the new Miss Latina Hamptons.

"This has really been my dream," Miss Springs told me. "I'm just so happy."

With poise, all of the beauty contestants one by one hugged and congratulated the new Queen, as well as the previous winners of earlier competitions and then the crowd went on to enjoy a party at Flirt Nightclub in East Hampton.

The organizers of the event could not have done this event without the support of the Town of East Hampton and the Fire Marshal of East Hampton for making sure everyone was safe. On Saturday in East Hampton, some tears of sadness and happiness were shed, a new Queen was crowned and a Hamptons community of all colors enjoyed each other's company.