{"id":397714,"date":"2026-04-25T23:30:08","date_gmt":"2026-04-25T23:30:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/397714\/"},"modified":"2026-04-25T23:30:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-25T23:30:08","slug":"on-the-up-rotoruas-essjay-bennett-competes-in-the-little-miss-and-mister-aotearoa-new-zealand-2026-pageant","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/397714\/","title":{"rendered":"On The Up: Rotorua\u2019s Essjay Bennett competes in the Little Miss and Mister Aotearoa New Zealand 2026 pageant"},"content":{"rendered":"

The event is in its third year. Winners will travel to Sanya, China in May for an international exchange.<\/p>\n

Former Mrs Universe contestant Kogi So started the pageant to develop leadership, celebrate culture and connect young people.<\/p>\n

Contestants create their own looks and performances to present on stage.<\/p>\n

Essjay will perform a taiaha routine, using traditional M\u0101ori movement with rhythm, control and precision.<\/p>\n

He is keeping his designs a secret until the day. One involves rolling thousands of newspapers.<\/p>\n

Essjay started designing at 8, inspired by his mum Angela Tamata\u2019s passion for fashion.<\/p>\n

He placed second in the Dress for Success \u201cRecycle the Runway\u201d competition, part of the Vanish Landfill Challenge. He also entered Envirohub\u2019s recycled fashion competition.<\/p>\n

Essjay was a guest designer<\/a> for the Dress for Success \u201cThrough the Ages\u201d fashion show, hosted by Vanish at AUT in 2024.<\/p>\n

\"EssjayEssjay Bennett (right) and his mum, Angela Tamata, in 2024. Photo \/ Andrew Warner<\/p>\n

He usually works with second-hand materials, experimenting with structure and texture to rebuild garments in new ways.<\/p>\n

One design flipped a men\u2019s suit jacket inside out, bringing the lining to the front because he said it was too \u201cbeautiful\u201d to hide.<\/p>\n

He is working on a collection inspired by T\u0101ne Mahuta, which he described as \u201cbig and strong\u201d and something that \u201cstands out\u201d.<\/p>\n

It features structured pieces, such as corsets.<\/p>\n

Tamata said incorporating M\u0101ori culture was important to her son.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s who he is.\u201d<\/p>\n

Giving back is part of the pageant, and finalists are encouraged to support their communities.<\/p>\n

Essjay volunteers at Classic Couture on Hinemoa St, organising stock, setting up displays and helping with sales.<\/p>\n

He also sells his own clothing.<\/p>\n

Classic Couture sells donated clothing and supports Dress for Success Rotorua, which provides support, workplace attire and development tools for people entering the workforce.<\/p>\n

Shop owner Ans Hoyle was Essjay\u2019s \u201cbiggest supporter in the whole wide world\u201d, Tamata said.<\/p>\n

Tamata works with Kiddiewinks and said the charity supported young people through modelling, choreography and creative direction, while teaching skills such as sewing, construction and draping.<\/p>\n

Essjay has set up a Givealittle page<\/a> to continue his fundraising.<\/p>\n

Most funds will go to DFS Rotorua and Kiddiewinks; 20% will go to the pageant and its charity work.<\/p>\n

Tamata said Essjay was \u201cvery open\u201d to giving back, whether that meant helping with mahi, supporting local initiatives or contributing in meaningful ways.<\/p>\n

Essjay hoped to become a famous fashion designer one day. <\/p>\n

Annabel Reid<\/a> is a multimedia journalist for the Bay of Plenty Times and Rotorua Daily Post, based in Rotorua. Originally from Hawke\u2019s Bay, she has a Bachelor of Communications from the University of Canterbury.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The event is in its third year. Winners will travel to Sanya, China in May for an international…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":397715,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[13502,2246,95,12889,57197,3269,96156,2950,205456,78,6093,14574,205457,117,111,43,139,69,90,42119,1327,38715,223,810,14638,80],"class_list":["post-397714","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-12yearold","tag-2246","tag-and","tag-aotearoa","tag-bennett","tag-build","tag-competes","tag-confidence","tag-essjay","tag-in","tag-little","tag-miss","tag-mister","tag-new","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-on","tag-pageant","tag-rotorua","tag-rotoruas","tag-the","tag-up","tag-wants","tag-zealand"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/397714","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=397714"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/397714\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/397715"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=397714"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=397714"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=397714"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}