The seventh running of the beauty pageant was launched with a brand new format, designed to promote sustainability and introduce the beauty world to the renewable energy industries.

“It was an honour to be crowned Miss Sydney Australia 2017, although the pageant felt less of a competition and more of a fun confidence boosting day, meeting amazing young women,” Miss McEvoy said.

“There was a few awards unlike other pageants, such as ‘Miss Interview’, ‘Miss Bikini’ and ‘Miss Sustainability’ – this highlighted other competitors strengths which I thought was really amazing, as not many other pageants do that.

“To have been crowned the main award was such a great feeling.”

Miss McEvoy described the competition as a ‘boutique entry level pageant with a big message about sustainability’.

“This pageant is more than skin deep,” she said. 

“It has no weight, height or looks restrictions, which really intrigued me, as there is such a negative stigma around pageants being unhealthy for young women.

“No restrictions made it an even playing field for everyone.” 

Due to the new focus of the pageant, the event was held at a sustainable salon in Sydney.

“This gave us an insight into how sustainability is playing a part in the community,” Miss McEvoy said.

“Miss Sydney also gave local designers an opportunity to showcase their work - all of the competitors were dressed in sustainable designs for the fashion parade.” 

The pageant included a sustainable seminar on the day which gave entrants advice about the role sustainability plays in people’s everyday life and how to incorporate it into their own lifestyles.

“Miss Sydney also held an interview section where one by one, the girls were interviewed by the judges, this was a good experience to learn life skills and give confidence for future interviews,” Miss McEvoy said.

Miss McEvoy is currently focusing on her HSC with the view to study law or media at university.

Miss Sydney Australia 2017 was her first pageant.

“I hope to remove the negative stigma around pageants and encourage young women to compete, as it is an amazing experience that builds confidence and creates lifelong friendships,” she said.

“I think a lot of young women don’t always follow their dreams and aspirations for fear of being judged for doing something out of the ordinary, so I’d like to encourage them to take the steps to achieve whatever they want to achieve.”

“Social media has changed the advertising and modelling world and has opened up a lot of opportunities to a range of different people, so I’d like to explore that side of things as well.

“But I would mainly just like to change the way people perceive pageants, make friendships with other amazing young women and if it happened to open up a career path for me that would be bonus.”