The LaToya Malcolm Scholarship for Resilience was announced on Saturday, 22 August 2026 by Jamaican lawmaker Delano Seiveright, honouring the 2024 Miss Bikini Jamaica International winner who died in July 2026.
Seiveright, a Member of Parliament and Minister of State in the Ministry of Industry, Investment and Commerce, announced the fund during Malcolm’s funeral service that same Saturday, as reported by the Jamaica Observer.
He had known her personally, which shaped how the tribute landed.
What the LaToya Malcolm scholarship will do
The scholarship will give two high school students J$100 000 each, money set aside for their educational development.
Seiveright pitched it as a small push for young people carrying heavy loads, which mirrored what Malcolm’s own pageant run had been. He said of the woman he called a friend:
“LaToya was special, she was loved, and she will not be forgotten. I hope this assistance in her name will give two young people an opportunity to keep pushing forward despite the challenges they may face.”
The wording did a lot of work. The money was framed as help with educational development, not prize money, and picking two recipients kept the whole thing personal instead of institutional.
Calling it a scholarship for resilience tied the fund straight back to how Malcolm had handled her own setbacks.
Who LaToya Malcolm was before the scholarship
Malcolm, 35, spent more than a decade in entertainment as an actress, entertainer and dance instructor.
She entered the 2024 Miss Universe Jamaica competition, then took the Miss Bikini Jamaica International 2024 crown along with the Best Figure, Best Legs and Best Condition titles.
The resilience in the scholarship’s name was not decorative. Malcolm lost her father, Winston, earlier in 2024, then pushed through months of punishing fitness and dance training to win the crown, which she dedicated to his memory.
A sudden death that reached far beyond Jamaica
Her death in July 2026 came suddenly and knocked the wind out of family, friends and the wider entertainment and pageant communities. News of it travelled well beyond Jamaica, drawing international coverage for a woman who had only recently stepped into the spotlight.
Grief at the funeral was raw and public. Her mother, family and friends wept through the final respects, and the service doubled as a gathering point for an entertainment industry still processing how quickly she had gone.
Tributes at the service kept circling the same idea. Those who spoke remembered her as exceptionally kind, loving and good-hearted, the sort of person whose absence would be felt in small daily ways long after the formal goodbyes ended.
Two students will be the first to feel what the fund was built for, each collecting J$100 000 towards school costs in a name their classmates may not know yet.
Malcolm’s resilience, once a pageant backstory, was handed over as something practical for someone else to use.
