Shauna Griffiths of Ship Harbour, Placentia Bay is your Miss Canada Globe for 2018/19

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Shauna Griffiths of Ship Harbour, Placentia Bay has every reason to be proud. The    21-year-old was crowned Miss Canada Globe 2018 during the pageant in Toronto in August. The title means the 21-year-old will represent her country at the Miss Globe Pageant in Albania in October 2019.

Dream Come True

Winning the title is like a dream come true, Griffiths explains. “When you dream of something so long and it actually happens you just can’t believe that it’s true. And that’s how I felt when they announced my name,” she said. 

It was “an unreal experience” she said, when it came down to herself and one other contestant left onstage and when the other contestant’s name was announced as first-runner-up.

“They put the crown on my head, but it didn’t hit me (that she’d won) until we were singing the National Anthem. I was very emotional,” she admits.

Griffiths also won Miss Newfoundland and Labrador Globe, Miss Runway and Miss Ambassador. 

Miss Canada Globe Productions pageants are about much more than beauty, Griffiths tells readers. “We were judged on interview, talent, national costume, hair and make-up, evening gown, swimsuit, conduct and your platform.”

Community Support

The interview and platform components of the pageant outweighed the other categories, she said, explaining that your platform is the charity or non-profit organization you are representing.

Griffiths is in her fourth year of kinesiology students at Memorial University, completing her final work-term with the university’s Internationalization Office. 

The charity work she promoted at the pageant was the World University Service of Canada (WUSE). “I’ve been working with WUSE since last January… They sponsor student refugees from middle-eastern countries to come study at Canadian universities,” Griffiths said.

While Memorial has international students, she said, it doesn’t have any student refugees. Griffiths shares that her goal is to develop a local committee to do the groundwork in order to recruit student refugees. “We established a committee the beginning of this year to get things started,” she said.

‘Fun Awards’

In preparation for taking to the stage contestants were trained in everything from dance to walking, interview preparation to choreography. There was lots of fun involved with the pageant, she said.

“We had fun awards like Miss Karaoke, Miss Disco, Miss Salsa, and that’s when I was Miss Runway. That’s considered a fun award,” she shared. 

When promoting a national costume, Griffiths went with something most Newfoundlanders, herself included, are familiar with. She dressed as a fisherman – a true representation of Newfoundland culture. Griffiths proudly told those in attendance about her costume. 

“Newfoundland was built on the cod fishery. I wore a sou’wester (yellow oilskin hat), yellow oil skins, I had a needle and twine. I had the gloves that the fishermen wear, I had a teddy-bear fish. I had a wooden marker/buoy (used to mark lobster pots). I had my dad’s rubber boots,” Griffiths said.

Griffiths reveals she made lots of friends while living with the 39 other contestants for two weeks. “We were like sisters,” she said. Griffiths adds that she was greeted by a motorcade when arriving home to Ship Harbour. The support from her community and beyond was very much appreciated, she admits.

Griffiths is both passionate and serious about her Miss Canada Globe 2018 title. When she’s not working or studying, she spends her time wearing her sash and crown while appearing at various community events. 

Griffiths said she’d like to recruit as many young women from this province as she can to next year’s pageant. “It’s a great opportunity. A life-changing opportunity,” she said.

To learn more about Griffiths visit her on Facebook (Shauna Griffiths – Miss Canada Globe 2018) or e-mail [email protected].