Young Pageant Contestant Wins Big

Zachary Cannon walked out of Sunday’s Los Angeles Pageant of Hope a winner, proudly bearing the title “Sparkliest Personality.”

The five-year-old DIamond Bar resident was one of several kids to take part in the pageant, which is open to youngsters who suffer from illnesses or disabilities. Cannon has DiGeorge Syndrome, and also underwent heart surgery at nine days old.

“It was really neat for the kids,” said Zachary’s mother, Tricia Cannon. “I’ve never seen anything like that.”

Before the pageant, the contestants hit up several different tables, including ones for nails, hair, and makeup. Former beauty queens who volunteered for the event also took each contestant and showed them how to walk down the runway.

“A lot of the girls you could tell were excited to be there and do the stage wave,” Tricia said. “It was a really, really a good thing.”

During the pageant, the beauty queens accompanied most of the contestants as they went down the runway, and then the judges tallied up everything and gave out different titles.

“Everyone was a winner,” Tricia said.

Pageants of Hope have been held across the country and overseas, with the idea coming from 2007‘s Miss Georgia Teen USA Jena Sims. While many local people volunteer for the pageants, several former beauty queens (who wear shirts that say ‘HBBQ - Has Been Beauty Queen’) make sure to donate their time and expertise.

“All of the beauty queens were excellent,” Tricia said. “It was such a phenomenal thing.”

The pageant was filmed for the ABC reality series Everyday Health, with the footage scheduled to air in December. Zachary found the cameras fascinating, and “Every time he was near the camera, he had to get right near the microphone, and his face was right in the camera,” Tricia said.