The mother of five-year-old Dubliner Katie Lambert, Leinster’s Supreme Beauty Queen and Grand Supreme Emerald Queen, says she won’t permit her daughter to enter the ‘Toddlers and Tiaras’ style child beauty pageant moving from the U.S. to Ireland this November, the Evening Herald reported.
The Texas-based Universal Royal Pageant, which is attempting to host its first contest in Ireland next fall, is having difficulty with its public reception on the Emerald Isle, with hotels refusing to hold the pageant on their grounds, IrishCentral previously reported.
Katie’s mother, Linda Lambert, says Irish pageants are completely different from American ones, which have garnered criticism on the grounds of child protection, according to the Herald.
“The only comparison is that they all get crowned at the end, nothing else is the same,” Lambert told the Herald.
In Irish child beauty pageants, the contestants receive toys as prizes, rather than the monetary compensation provided in the States.
“No child goes home without a prize” in the Irish competitions, according to Lambert.
The Irish pageants are a “fun day out” for her daughter, Lambert told the Herald. “They play around for the day, and they hold hands walking up and down the stage so there’s no competition.”
But apparently there are some in Ireland who seek the more cutthroat Stateside competitions; over 300 Irish parents wrote to Universal Royal asking them to bring their pageant to Ireland, IrishCentral previously reported.
As for Katie Lambert, she’s won three out of four Irish beauty pageants she entered this year, according to the Herald, and bagged specific prizes for ‘Best Eyes’ and ‘Best Hair,’ Dublin People reported. Modeling is Ms. Lambert’s goal for her daughter, who she has signed with Star4Now talent agency.
5 Comments
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Switch to the desktop site to post a comment.corkkerry | Jul 15, 2012, 02:36 PM EDT
So thankful to hear the Irish are leading the way to enlightenment on this issue...may the pageants be banned throughout Ireland
AustinBarry | Jul 14, 2012, 07:57 PM EDT
No doubt in the fetid, cassock-hung rooms behind the altar the theocratic, child-abusing thugs are rubbing their hands in anticipation. Surely, this event should be banned?
jacersagain | Jul 14, 2012, 02:58 PM EDT
Given the uproar about child abuse these past few years I’m very surprised that American authorities would allow child-abusing T&T competitions to be staged anywhere in the US. The parents of such children should be charged with abusing their own innocent children. If they do get the go-ahead to hold one in Ireland, they can be sure of a most ferocious un-welcome.
TisEyerish | Jul 14, 2012, 10:18 AM EDT
I hope that T&T never finds a foothold in Ireland. I have never watched the show, but have seen the trailers. It seems to me as though these events are thinly veiled child abuse at it's worst. Not to mention the spoiled brats that are being unleashed on the world. It's all just sad.
hermitTalker | Jul 14, 2012, 10:06 AM EDT
There is much too much offered in the fashion world to promote the sexualisation of children. The island does not need more opportunities to promote the trend. First communion fanaticism and fashion is already doing enough to destroy simple values and the meaning of that sacrament and social mores. Stick with the Bonnie Baby photos please!