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By Ashley Lavallee-Koenig, Josh Hall

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Lindsay Thurber student named Miss Teenage Red Deer 2024

May 27, 2024 | 1:42 PM

The Miss Teenage Red Deer 2024 title has been awarded to Elizabela Mackenzie, who will be travelling to Toronto in July to represent the city in the Miss Teenage Canada pageant.

A grade nine student at Lindsay Thurber Comprehensive High School, Mackenzie travelled to Calgary on April 27 to compete in the provincial pageant where she won the Miss Teenage Overall High Score and earned her title as Red Deer’s delegate for the national stage.

The competition involved interviewing candidates to understand who they are and how they would carry themselves as representatives, as well as a model walk.

“Lots of people think it’s all about — like the State’s pageants, fake everything, spray tans, big hair — but there’s lots of rules for that kind of thing in pageants. We’re not allowed to make anything big about ourselves,” Mackenzie explains. “Pageants in Canada are all about the kind of person you are, your confidence level and not so much about your looks; it’s about how you carry yourself and promote your platform.”

For their platforms, candidates must choose a cause they are passionate about and promote it via social media. Mackenzie produces the “Literary Warriors” YouTube channel in which she reads children’s novels to promote literacy for kids that struggle to read on their own.

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“I just feel like every child deserves that different reality to escape to. Reading has a domino effect. It affects future jobs, relationships; it’s really important,” she says.

The national pageant has a similar structure to the provincial competition, but with the addition of a talent component; Mackenzie will be singing, which is one reason she joined the pageant world in the first place.

“The reason I started was to be a role model, to promote the platform, which is children’s literacy, and I also wanted to try being a singer which I’ve loved doing since I was a kid, and this is kind of the start for that,” she says.

Mackenzie is seeking sponsors for her national competition in Toronto to aid with flights, accommodations, and pageant dresses.

You can follow Mackenzie’s accounts on Instagram @mackenzieelizabellaa and on YouTube by searching LiteraryWarriors24. Email kristina_mackenzie for more information.

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