Al­most 100 Queens and Kings graced the stage at the Queen's Park Sa­van­nah on Thurs­day night for the pre­lim­i­nary round of the Na­tion­al King and Queen of Car­ni­val com­pe­ti­tion.The pa­trons in the al­most full Grand Stand were treat­ed to a daz­zling mas­ter­class of Car­ni­val pageantry.First place on the night in the Queens cat­e­go­ry with 422 points was Cher­ryann Valere who por­trayed For­est Blos­som.Valere rep­re­sent­ed Good Hope and As­so­ciate's pre­sen­ta­tion What I Saw.

Miss T&T World 2005 Jen­na Marie An­dre from the band Spice, placed sec­ond on the night with 421 points.An­dre por­trayed Botan­i­ca-A Flo­ral Ex­trav­a­gan­za in the band's pre­sen­ta­tion Sig­na­ture Col­lec­tion.Her cos­tume was de­signed by vet­er­an mas­quer­ad­er Cur­tis Eu­stace, al­so of Spice.Nine-time Car­ni­val King and last year's win­ner Eu­stace al­so par­tic­i­pat­ed in the com­pe­ti­tion, por­tray­ing Bo­zo-D-Leg­end Lives On.

Eu­stace, who de­signed his own cos­tume, placed third in the kings cat­e­go­ry with 424 points.The king and queen cos­tumes that were de­signed by Bri­an Mac Far­lane, who is know for his elab­o­rate and mean­ing­ful pro­duc­tion, re­ceived much crowd sup­port on the night. Both cos­tumes, worn by Ger­ard Weekes and Sev­ell Nicholls, re­spec­tive­ly, did not utilise wheels for sup­port, a trade­mark of Mac Far­lane's king and queen de­signs.

Nicholls' cos­tume left the au­di­ence in awe as she danced around the stage grace­ful­ly on stilts while treat­ing every­one to a py­rotech­nics show­case from her cos­tume.Nicholls placed third in the queens cat­e­go­ry with 413 points.Weekes tied for first place in the kings cat­e­go­ry with Wade Madray of Lega­cy who por­trayed Pa­cif­ic Tsuna­mi.The two crowd fa­vorites both re­ceived 436 points from the pan­el of judges.

Weekes' cos­tume por­tray­ing In the Be­gin­ning Good and Evil was one of the high­lights of the night.It was made up of four scrolls that were un­rav­eled as he crossed the stage.It was high­light­ed that newsprint was one of the ma­jor ma­te­ri­als used in con­struct­ing the cos­tume.Of the 98 mas­quer­aders, on­ly 20 kings and 20 queens were cho­sen to com­pete in the semi­fi­nal round that takes place next week.

RE­SULTS

Fol­low­ing is the list­ing of the re­sults for the Queens

Pos Por­tray­al Com­peti­tor Score

1 For­est Blos­som Cher­ryann Valere 422

2 Botan­i­ca- A Flo­ral Ex­trav­a­gan­za Jen­na Marie An­dre 421

3 In The End- Dance And Re­joice Sev­ell Nicholls 413

4 Is­land Queen Kay Ma­son 404

5 D Jew­eled Chandili­er Pe­o­la Marchan 403

6 D Ru­by Brooch Gaayle Mar­cano 394

7 Splen­dor Of Ll­ghts Glo­ria Dalls­ingh 392

8 Anil­lu­sion of a Snow Queen An­ra Bobb 386

9 Ser­pent Sor­cer­ess Rox­anne Oma­lo 385

10 God­dess of Fire Al­en­dra Bai­ley 375

11 Chia - The God­dess Av­er­nell John­son 374

12 "Lakakane" G0ddess Of The Hu­la Pamela Gor­don 373

13 Moth­er Earth Of T&T Joan Mo­hammed 372

14 Rhythm Of Colour And Move­ment In­ez Gould 370

15 Giv­er Of Light Sta­cy King-Mas­si­ah 365

16 Onatah-D Rit­u­al Sun Dancer Rose­marie Ku­ru-Jages­sar 365

17 Any­thing For A Gift Jan­ice Lin­da Richards 364

18 Di­a­monds Are For­ev­er Pa­tri­cia Bai­ley 362

19 Light Up D Sky Lau­ra Ram­per­sad 362

20 Cir­cle Of Life Lisa Pe­ters 361

Fol­low­ing is the list­ing of the re­sults for the Kings (se­niors):

Pos Por­tray­al Com­peti­tor Score

1 Pa­cif­ic Tsuna­mi Wade Madray 436

2 In The Be­gin­ning Good And Evil Ger­ard Weekes 436

3 Bo­zo-D Leg­end Lives on Cur­tis Eu­stace 424

4 Pan On Fire Roland St George 408

5 The Jew­el Spi­der Glenn Dave Lakhan 395

6 Drag­on Dance Earl Beck­les 392

7 Dance Of Se­duc­tion Ansel Price Jr ­391

8 Be­daz­zled Mar­lon Ram­per­sad 389

9 Guardian of D Deep Ronald May­ers 389

10 The Re­turn Of The Fire Man Fareid Car­val­ho 389

11 King Arthur And Ex­cal­ibur Bri­an Chin 388

12 Mukasa-The God Of Wa­ter Leroy Pri­eto 386

13 The Im­mor­tal Hunter Of The Drag­on An­dre Ronald Awong 384

14 Quest Of The Feath­er Seek­er Li­onel Jages­sar Jr 383

14 D' Sa­cred God Of D' Fi­jian Fire Dancers Theophilus Sim­mons 383

16 Blaz­ing Bush Roger Tay­lor Mon­tano 381

17 Sel Dun­can Mu­sic For Lovers Kurt Bap­tiste 380

18 Across The Uni­verse Earl Thomp­son 380

19 Bat­tle Of The Marabun­tas Owen Hinds Jr 378

20 The Hunter An­drew Greene 377