New Miss Kingston and St Andrew Festival Queen crowned - Danielle Cox walks away with the title

From a field of 11 confident, articulate and inspiring young ladies, it was Danielle Cox who the judges agreed was the best representative to claim the title Miss Kingston and St Andrew Festival Queen 2026. At the exciting coronation show held at the Ranny Williams Entertainment Centre on Hope Road on Sunday, a beaming 23-year-old Cox also walked away with sectional prizes for Most Poised and Most Popular on Social Media.

One of the favourites to wear the crown, Cox told The Gleaner that she certainly did not take it for granted that she would win, mainly because the other 10 contestants were so talented.

“When I heard my name called as winner, I was in awe. I was in awe of how the Lord heard me, how He came through for me and how I was able to deliver amidst all the challenges. I’m grateful. I knew that I had the ability to win, but the competition was stiff. All the contestants were extremely talented … they had several strengths,” Cox said, sharing that she had to give herself a pep talk.

“ I said to myself, ‘Bwoy Danielle, yuh can do it enuh, but it’s anybody’s game. Don’t get comfortable. Work hard.”

Clearly, it worked.

Cox, who is a business development coordinator, listed the challenges during the competition as mastering the walk and poise, for which she was adjudged the best, and the question-and-answer segment.

“Contrary to popular belief, the Q&A had me in a bind a little bit, especially in rehearsals; I had some issues in coming up with the answers in the way I would have wanted to. But I had amazing support,” she shared.

Cox said that her motivation for entering the Festival Queen Competition stemmed from a need to inspire young girls like herself to understand that, whatever they can envision for themselves, they can achieve.

“From I was about eight, I would see women in crowns and say, ‘Bwoy, I want to do something like that one day. I want to make an impact,” Cox said. “I want to be remembered for my impact. I want to enter a space as the girl that can speak life into.

She shared that the highlight of the journey was the sisterhood, which saw her developing what she hopes will be a lifelong bond with the 10 other contestants in the competition.

TWO MOTHERS

Cox has an interesting story which, not surprisingly, has informed her community project. When family members of the contestants were allowed backstage for photo ops, two women, happily holding hands, appeared, stating that they were both her mother.

“I am the biological mother, and she is her adopted mother,” the younger woman joyfully explained to security, and they were both let through. Cox’s biological mother, Tenuke Doyle, told The Gleaner that she was “relieved and happy”.

“I knew that she could have done it. I had the confidence in her and … she’s my girl,” Doyle said.

Lorna Duncan, who has raised Cox as her daughter since she was three months old, provided the loving, Christian support when a teenager at her Seventh-day Adventist church got pregnant – “I saw the need, and I responded.”

On Sunday night, her happiness overflowed in teardrops

“I am feeling extremely happy and extremely proud of the woman she has become … a beautiful queen. I am at a loss for words, but my heart is really overflowing with joy for my baby,” Duncan told The Gleaner.

Sharing a snapshot of their lives, Duncan said she never had any major problem with her daughter, except that she was very talkative from a very young age, and recalled that all through primary school the teachers would say “Danielle will do her work, but she talks too much.”

“When she told me that she wanted to enter, I was saying to myself ‘Hmmm’ … because of our religion and stuff like that. I would not want her to enter other pageants where you have to walk up in swimsuits and stuff like that … you know, as mothers how we are. I said to her, ‘All right, let’s give this one a shot, and that’s it’. So, for her to reach this stage, I am elated. I could not have asked for anything else. She is a good girl, she is a go-getter, she knows what she wants,” a proud Duncan said.