Young women encouraged to join Liberation Day pageant

Two candidates from Saipan and Tinian have already turned in their applications to run as 2015 Liberation Day Royal Court contestants and the 2015 Liberation Day Committee is calling for more of the islands’ young women to join what is being touted as the biggest celebration in recent years.

Some of the draws are a $10,000 grand prize for the raffle tickets, candidates will keep 10 percent of their total funds raised, they will learn valuable skills, and that main proceeds will go to charitable organizations.

“This year’s slogan, ‘Peace in Diversity’, calls for many of our young women representing the culturally rich communities we live in to participate in this historic celebration. We would like to invite candidates from Saipan, Tinian, Rota and the Northern Islands to please join and help our communities shine in this year’s 70th anniversary,” said Saipan Mayor David Apatang.

“Candidates could take advantage of this great opportunity to raise funds for themselves, families or favorite nonprofit organizations. Companies and organizations could sponsor a candidate and raise funds for their worthwhile community causes,” he said.

An international event planning firm, Skywalker Communications Group, is leading this year’s festivities with a lineup of fun activities geared for the 2015 Liberation Royal Court.

Earlier in the week, they announced the new slogan, a new logo, and the first ever $10,000 raffle grand prize for only $1 per ticket.

One of the region’s leading independent auditing firms will be lending its expertise to the 2015 Liberation Day Committee with the verification and counting of the official Liberation Day raffle tickets.

Burger Comer Magliari, LLC has close to 30 years in audit and tax services and provides services in Saipan, Guam, Palau and California.

Apatang notes that BCM’s generous assistance ensures that this year’s Liberation Day raffle ticket counting will be done in a fair, efficien, and transparent manner.

“With the integrity and expertise of BCM, LLC, the public could trust that the process in distributing, counting and verifying the results of the 2015 Liberation Day Royal Court competition will be in very good hands,” he said.

Young females from the ages of 16 to 25 years old are encouraged to join and represent their village, family, company or organization.

The 2015 Liberation Day Royal Court contestant criteria is 16-25 years old female, not married, no children, a CNMI resident for at least six months, and of good moral and ethical character.

Each candidate may have individual sponsors to assist with the costs of competing and each candidate will have the ability to sell Liberation Day raffle tickets to raise funds and host other approved fundraisers.

The Liberation Day Royal Court titleholders are determined by the amount of money each candidate raises through the sale of raffle tickets.

The final deadline to apply is on Wednesday, May 20, 2015. Applications may be picked up at the Saipan Mayor’s Office or email liberationcnmi@gmail.com.