The finale of Miss World Northern Ireland 2018 (Miss Northern Ireland 2018) took place on May 28, 2018 at the Europa Hotel in Belfast. Amidst the glitz and glitter of the finale night, a news queen was crowned to represent Northern Ireland at the Miss World 2018 pageant, in China later this year.

Miss World Northern Ireland 2017 Anna Henry crowned her successor at the finale, and officially ended her reign. Katharine Walker (23 years old) was crowned Miss Northern Ireland 2018 in Belfast. She's a nurse and from Hillsborough. Walker stands 1.7 m tall and will represent Northern Ireland at Miss world 2018 on 8 October in Sanya, China.

Katherine competed against over 20 others to win the title of Miss World Northern Ireland 2018.

Her winning package includes an all expenses paid trip to the competition, as well as a modelling contract with ACA models, she will take home a wardrobe of designer dresses as part of the prize package, and treats including a year's supply of beauty treatments, a bespoke personal training package, and the use of a car for a year.

The finale event was of Miss World Northern Ireland 2018 hosted by former beauty queen, Zoe Salmon-Corrie and UTV’s, Marc Mallett. Lucy Spratt was titled as the first runner up and Klaudia Gorska was adjudged as the second runner up.

Katharine took to her Instagram account and posted a picture of her crowning. She wrote;

DREAMS DO COME TRUE

Over the moon to be crowned @insanitytan Miss Northern Ireland 2018

Completely overwhelmed by the support from everyone over the last couple of days massiveee thanks to @acamodels for everything, to our incredible glam squad @insanitytan, @bronzesalons, @makeupprostore, @michele_international_ and @rosiescloset1 And finally to the other 24 finalists for being so wonderful and making the last few days so bloody fantastic #InsanityTanMissNI #2018 #MissNorthernireland #cloud9 #dreamy #bestdayever #shook #tothecore

Addressing the audience at last night's awards ceremony, organiser Alison Clarke, who was crowned Miss Northern Ireland in 1982, said that this year's group of finalists had been "one of the best" that the competition had seen.