Bermuda has a new princess -- and her name is Maxene Mathias.

She was crowned Little Miss Paradise last weekend.

Ten-year-old Maxene will this week enter Warwick Academy for her first year of middle school as the third Little Miss Paradise.

Maxene, Miss Southampton, was crowned at the Ruth Seaton James Centre for the Performing Arts and takes over from Chan DelValle who had the crown for two years.

The winner of the Miss Congeniality was Takara Burgess, Ms Warwick, and Miss Photogenic was ThayJa Simons, of Hamilton Parish.

"Chan DelValle is a very nice girl,'' Maxene said. "I burst out crying when I won. My mother was crying too. We could have filled the auditorium with our tears.'' Maxene said her favourite part of the night was the swimsuit modelling portion of the pageant when she got to use a cellular telephone as a prop.

"The most fun in the pageant was the swimsuit part where I had this cell phone and I kept talking on it while I was modelling,'' she said. "Everyone was laughing!'' Maxene and her fellow contestants spent two weeks in preparation for the pageant and toured Harbour Nights and the Sonesta Beach Hotel.

She won the large winners trophy, a $150 travel voucher, seven gift certificates from Hamilton stores, books, and a photo shoot with Little Miss Paradise official photographer Graham Mocklow.

In addition to a stereo system, a major prize will be a shopping spree in a Hamilton store of her choice.

During the pageant she answered such questions as "What is the coldest month of the year '' -- February and "If you were able to change Bermuda, what would you change?'' Maxene told the gathered audience she would change the prices of goods sold in the Island to make it less expensive for tourists.

In a later round she answered a question on how she would describe Bermuda to a pen pal.

Of her future plans, Maxene would like to become a fashion designer or a fashion model or both.

And during the pageant for the talent portion, Maxene sang "The Perfect Fan'' -- a song about mothers -- from the Backstreet Boys' new album.