How is ES Team™ Productions related to Miss Latina™ Canada?

ES Team™ Productions is the production company behind the set up and execution of Miss Latina™ Canada including ownership of all legal trademarks associated with the brand, in all languages.

Is ES Team™ Productions or Miss Latina™ Canada a non-profit organization or charity?

No. Both ES Team™ Productions and Miss Latina™ Canada are not a charity.  We are a privately owned company that may choose to work with charities that we deem worthy of our organizations assitance.

Does ES Team™ Productions charge fees to enter into Miss Latina™ Canada?

Yes, Miss Latina™ Canada does have an entry fee.  Every year our program is assessed to see the needs of the project.

Why do you charge fees?

Entrance fees are a standard pageant industry practice.  In Canada pageant entrance fees can range between $500 - $5,000 CAD, depending on the length of time contestants participate at the event, the number of activities being held, and whether or not hotel accommodations are covered.

Entrance fees assist in covering or offsetting some of the participants costs for being involved, such as hotel rooms, sashes, food, transport, theatre rentals, web work, choreographers etc.  However, the amount we charge does not cover the entire cost to have a delegate participate.

For a 4 day 3 night stay, if we are covering the meals and hotel accommodations for participants, it roughly costs our organization $3490.00/person, as estimated by our 2008 expense reports.  If we are not covering hotel and meals, it is estimated that the cost is $1570.00/person over a 4 day program.

How much do you charge?

Every year we have to decide the entrance fee based on what is being offered by our program. The longer the pageant is, the higher the fee can be.

For 2008, the price per entrant was $600 in total.  $300 was a security and administrative deposit, to ensure participants would follow through with their commitments, and the remaining $300 was from delegates sponsors.

Does the price remain the same each year?

No.  Again, this is determined by the length of the event, the number of activities, and how elaborate the production might be.  In the past our fees have been the following:

Why do you charge $1/vote?

We charge $1/vote to ensure that the fast track position associated with it (this means Miss Photogenic), is done fairly. 

It ensures that voting can be properly tracked and prevents technological manipulation such as fake e-mail account creations, changing/renewing of IP addresses, spam mail generated to our organization, and other issues that through our experience have ariesn from click or e-mail voting.

Paid voting is a standard industry practice, although not every pageant uses it.  Other methods of paid voting are done through text messaging/voting (such as American/Canadian Idol, model competitions, Miss World), where you are charged anywhere between $2.00 - $7.00 (USD)  per text via your cellular carrier.

What do you do with the money from the voting?

A contribution towards and educational scholarship is presented to the winner with the most votes.

The difference is used to carry the rest of the participants costs.

How do you profit?

Like any other organization, our profit is calculated once all expenses are accounted for. Profit would be derived from ticket sales, or product/service sales.

What do you do with the profit?

All profit is used to finance the year of the winner.  It covers things like international license fees, travel and hotel accommodations, gas and parking for the winners event appearances.  It is also used the begin financing the items needed for the following year such as venue bookings etc.

Do the executives of ES Team™ Productions receive compensation or a salary from the profit?

To date, and since 2005, our executive team volunteers 100% of their time.  All of our executives work full time jobs elsewhere and often use their own personal finances, including necessary overtime hours to support the continuation of Miss Latina Canada with the hope that it will be able to be a full time endeavor with a salary for both the executives and the winner.

Is there currently anyone who gets paid on your staff?

Yes. Currently there are two staff members who are compensated. They volunteer their year with us, and provide us with a sponsored rate for their services.  Our sales team is commissioned based only, and the remainder of our staff is made up of volunteers, students and interns.