On Sunday night, the 13 entrants put their training in public speaking, etiquette and media to the final test at the gala dinner where Taylor Fletcher was announced as the queen.

University of New England student Sarah Norris was among those who had taken part in this year's quest.

While she grew up in the small town of Somerton, west of Tamworth, and later moved to Sydney to study, she transferred her Bachelor of Education degree to Armidale in 2015 to be closer to home.

"Having talked to a number of people outside the region recently it is surprising how many of them are unaware that we have a queen quest, nor what it stands for," she said.

"I wanted to help promote the queen quest itself.”

As part of her duties as an entrant Miss Norris attended many of the big concerts in Toyota Park, helped out at AELEC and delivered papers to campers in sites on the banks of the Peel River

The incoming queen, Mrs Fletcher, said after the announcement that she was "completely overwhelmed”.

 “We were all saying that any one of us would have been an incredible ambassador for the town. You will not find a more intelligent, interesting bunch of women in the town. We’ve had the most fun.”

The princess, Tara Grant, said that she “couldn’t have met a better bunch of girls to hang out with over the past 10 days”. 

She also won the Miss Social Media  title. Miss Congeniality, voted on by the entrants, was won by Maddy Robinson.

This was the first year that the Zonta Club of Tamworth had taken over running the quest, giving the entrants training and public engagements to better prepare them for judging and being ambassadors for the city during the festival.

Each entrant had been scrunitised taking part in public duties throughout the festival (collecting for charity, barefoot bowling, helping set up gigs) and judged on their local knowledge.