A bevy of 20 beauties vying for Miss Unique scheduled for Shamva Country Club on Christmas Eve are already in camp where are they expected to attend a two-day peer education workshop hosted by the Miss Unique Trust (MUT).

The beauty contest will also see performances by dancehall chanter King Shaddy, Jay C, Mostafa, Leah and Crystol Man Gunz among others.

The models, drawn from Musiwa, Wadzanai, Bushu and Madziva, will be eyeing the coveted title and US$500 prize money and a food hamper up for grabs. The first and second princesses will walk away with US$400 and US$300 respectively while the losing finalists will get US$50 each.

MUT chairperson John Laisani said: "The workshop is meant to educate our models on different issues that include sexual reproductive, behaviour change, child abuse among other related issues," said Laisani.

The workshop, which opened yesterday ends today and is aimed at educating models who are going to participate at the Miss Shamva and those that will compete for the Miss Bindura title on Christmas Day at Bindura Country Club. Miss Shamva has been running for the past 10 years. Maria Nyabvedzi (18) from Chitungwiza is the outgoing Miss Shamva.

MUT is a non- governmental organisation based in Shamva, which focuses on HIV and Aids prevention for teenage girls.

The contest is sponsored by Peter Valentine of Base Minerals in Shamva.