When I attended the Western regional contest for Miss Uganda in May, it was understandable for some contestants to use unclear English and misconstrue questions.

But for a school otherwise considered classy, St Lawrence was far from dazzling at its own pageant, with contestants that had no idea about the questions asked, and diction that seemed to belong to Uganda's remoter areas. This is the drama at the Miss Teen contest last Saturday at St Lawrence, Horizon campus.

The event organized by Mirinda alongside Fireworks is aimed at allowing youth explore their talents, for example in design and modeling. Racheal Kajuna a form three student simply went off topic for all questions asked by the judges.

"What will you do when you become Miss Teen?" asked one judge.

"Good morning ladies and gentlemen, I am going to make sure when I become Miss Teen that people start believing in these things," Kajuna answered.

Her fellow students guffawed, first for the wrong greeting because it was evening and then for her weird answer. Other contestants also had issues of slang use, no creative wear, lack of confidence and style in their modeling. Not that the judges particularly creative, asking the same questions to every contestant.

Unlike most beauty contests that are about size and height, Miss Teen is all about "swag", creativity and brains. Nevertheless, the event had its fun moments, with great performances from Navio and other upcoming artistes from Swangz Avenue, who got most of the girls screaming and dashing for autographs and free CDs.

The grand finale is set for August after second term. So far close to five schools have been auditioned; Mariam High, Trinity College Nabbingo and Seeta High.