Payday for Mid West beauty, 14

When a 14-year-old Geraldton girl entered a Brisbane beauty pageant last month, fans loved her so much they emptied their pockets.

Young Yamaji woman Kira O’Dene was voted the People’s Choice, an award given after the 2019 Miss Diamond Australia audience paid to vote for their favourite contestant.

The Champion Bay Senior High School student, who plans to make a beeline for the Great Northern Football League when she’s older, said the win had come with a bite from the fashion bug.

“I’d be really keen to do it again next year,” Kira said.

“It was really daunting at first but great at the same time.

“I’m looking into going to Fashion Week in Perth later this year too.”

MDA entrants do not have to meet any physical requirements and use the pageant to raise funds and campaign for a cause of their choice.

Kira said she threw her support behind Geraldton Regional Aboriginal Medical Service, because it funded her travel, accommodation and $450 sponsorship fee.

Kira’s mother, Shooting Stars Mullewa worker Amanda Simpson, said the pageant was a much-needed celebration of diversity and helped reinforce what she had always taught her children.

“Every time you walk into a room, hold your head high,” Ms Simpson said.

“Always be proud of where you come from and never let anybody put you down."

Ms Simpson hopes to instil the same values in her one-year-old foster child, Aimee.