It's three days before the country selects a new queen.
A total of 18 beauties, who are in bootcamp at a secret location, were sashed yesterday for the Miss Universe Zimbabwe 2024 title, at a ceremony held in Chishawasha Hills, Harare.
The pageant will be held this Saturday at Harare Hippodrome, where reigning queen Brooke Bruk will crown her successor.
According to the organisers, this year's edition of the red-carpet show will run under the theme "Met Gala".
Chairperson for the Miss Universe Zimbabwe, Colonel Miniyothabo Chiwenga, encouraged the participants to represent Zimbabwe very well.
"I say congratulations to the contestants. You are all winners and beautiful. On Saturday, we will crown one winner who will represent the country and I encourage you to be brave, diligent and always have your country at heart," she said.
"You should have good behaviour. We are very proud of you all and don't give up on your dreams; show who you are. We journey together and we will learn from each other."
In an interview, national pageant director Tendai Hunda she said it is all systems go.
Hunda said this year's pageant is bigger and better as the winner will walk away with a brand new car.
"We have unveiled the grand prize for the winner, which is a Mercedes Benz C200, 2020 model, apart from consolation prizes," she said.
"We have 18 girls in the bootcamp and voting for a place in top eight will continue up until the day of the pageant, during the evening gown segment. The girl with the highest votes will land a place in the top eight."
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The car was donated by Style by Minnie.
Hunda said the winner will represent Zimbabwe at this year's Miss Universe pageant in Mexico.
She said this year competition is tight.
"The quality of girls we received this year is amazing and there is tight competition. They are receiving their training, grooming and deportment at the boot camp and so far, we haven't had any challenges with the girls."
Hunda thanked corporate sponsors and stakeholders who have come on board.
"We want to thank our partners, including the designers whom we are working with. The girls are beautiful and the dresses are spectacular," she said.
The organisers said two media personalities are set to host this year's show, with top musicians billed to perform at the event.
"Our masters of ceremonies are Ruvheneko Parirenyatwa and Samantha Mussa, affectionately known as 'Misred', in the showbiz circles. We have guests from as far as South Africa, Nigeria and the United Kingdom among other countries."
"The Red carpet starts at 6pm-7pm, the Met Gala version and we are super excited about this phenomenon.
"The preliminary judging will be this Friday at a private location.
"Performances will be by Enzo Ishall, Tammy Moyo and ShaSha. We have learnt from the mistakes and loopholes from our previous shows and, this time around, we need to make sure we give people a good show," she said.
