Miss Drag Wellington

Miss Drag Wellington: Queen of Queens is a talent and entertainment pageant held in Wellington - New Zealand, for drag queens (see: Drag queen) to enter and compete for the annual title. MDW is nationally recognised, and the winner - along with their new celebrity status - would usually tour major clubs in New Zealand's main centres; Auckland, Wellington, and Christchurch.

For the competition, contestants dress in drag, and model, perform and display their talents as well as answering a Q&A section and are scored by community judges (for e.g.: they are assessed upon their appearance, stage presence, choice of costume etc...)

The most recent competition for the 2007 title was held at iMerst, Wellington's self-proclaimed Premier GLBT, Multi-level Dance Venue.

The 2007 Competition
The 2007 competition was held at local Gay Club iMerst on Queens Birthday Weekend, Saturday 2 June 2007 - and was hosted by Lady Trenyce Bhone. Guest judges also included; Mr Gay Wellington 2007 - Allan-John (AJ) Marsh, Auckland Drag Personality - Ribena, and Bobbi Brown Make up artist of the year 2006 Sarah Lee. Contestants had 4 categories to fill, broken by intermissions for club patrons to drink, socialise and for the queens to ready themselves for the next category.

2007 Entrants

 * Ellie Kat - one quarter of drag troupe The Glamazons.
 * Sasha Frieze
 * Nalia Starr
 * Felicity Frockaccino
 * Tinker Witherbox
 * Cherry Blossom
 * Rhubarb Rouge
 * Holly Gram

Introduction
]] Contestants are introduced to the audience by host, Lady Trenyce and asked why they entered the competition. The contestants also mostly modelled clothing that they themselves created. Most notably, Ellie Kat and Felicity Frockaccino created all of their own costumes as well as outfits for some of the other contestants. Tinker Witherbox self-confessedly had "raided her mother's box"  (MDW 2004's Mia Slapper) 

Performance
Entrants pre-selected a song lasting less than 3 minutes prior to the event. They had to also have a complimenting costume, choreograph their own moves and lip-synch to the track's artist. Contestants were graded on a number of areas, including their choice of outfit, stage energy and presence and crowd interaction and response.

Swimwear
Contestants wore outfits that were intended to appear to look as though they would be worn to a beach/pool outing. Most Notable Nalia Starr in a 1920's Beach Costume.

Evening Wear/Q & A
Miss Drag Wellington 2006, stunning Arabia le Veil, took center stage to perform her last show as the reigning queen, before the Evening wear section. The Queens had an evening wear category as the final part of the contest, tied in with a Q&A that were written down from the audience. Lady Trenyce interviewed the contestants with the assistance of adorable Chelsea Sugah.

The Winner Announcement
Following a short interval, the Queens were all announced back on stage along with MC and Host, Lady Trenyce and the reigning Miss Drag Wellington 2006 - Arabia Le Veil. A thank you was announced to the evening's judges, Sarah Lee, AJ Marsh and Ribena and a bouquet of flowers was presented. Drawing on suspense from the crowd, Lady Trenyce announced first of all 2nd Runner up, Nalia Starr. Lady Trenyce then explained that 2nd Place for MDW was for if the first place winner was unable to fulfill her duties, the title would be taken by this winner. 1st Runner up placing for MDW 2007 was won by Sasha Frieze. The title of Miss Drag Wellington 2007 was then given to Ellie Kat.

MDW in Previous Years
Miss Drag Wellington was held at Pound until the April 2006 contest, and then the club closed down in late 2006 due to the owners, Mal & Scotty deciding to have some time away from the "scene" and focus their attentions on a different project. Miss Drag was hosted by NZ GLBT Icon, Pollyfilla in 2006.

MDW Winners

 * MDW 2007 - Ellie Kat
 * MDW 2006 - Arabia Le Veil
 * MDW 2005 - Dawn Breaker
 * MDW 2004 - Mia Slapper
 * MDW 2003 - Amanduh La Whore
 * MDW 1998 - Tammy Pon