The Bridge Crossing Jubilee would not feel right without having a Miss Jubilee crowned at the start of the celebration to represent her community for the rest of the weekend.

As hundreds flock to Selma for the annual event, D’Essence Hampton will represent Selma as the Miss Jubilee 2013, wearing the crown.

The pageant competition saw six young women compete this year with casual wear, evening gown, talent and interview portions of the night. There were “amens” coming from the crowd as Lea Haywood and Q’ianna Chapman performed praise dances for their talent and cheers as Amber Johnson sang, Marissa Geneva-Luoise Moore danced and Chantel Nicole Douresseaux performed a poem about womanhood. Hampton performed a lyrical dance.

“I think all the girls did a great job,” judge Krystal Atkins said. “I was looking for a girl that caught my attention, one that just had something in them, a sparkle.” And judge Shuntelra Logan-Hale agreed saying that she was looking for, “girls that carried themselves well and when I think about a pageant I think about a role model and a representative of her community.”

Ironically Hampton does act as a representative for her community off the pageant stage — as a member of Youth Leadership Selma Dallas County.

She said with the leadership program she has, “learned that there is more to Selma than what meets the eye.”

“We actually have had the opportunity to go behind the scenes and see what people do in their jobs that have made Selma what it is today,” Hampton said, who is a senior at Selma High School.

In the interview portion she was asked about someone in the last ten years she has looked up to, which she said the U.S. President Barack Obama and mentioned after her win that she is thrilled to know Vice President Biden will pay a visit to something she calls a, “family tradition and celebration at the same time.”