Photo by Ritchie Wards. "I've never won anything before" gushes an excited Nicholas Brown, reflecting on the Miss Drag Wellington 2010 title his alter ego Nikita van der Kamp won on Sunday night at Wellington's Next Top Drag Queen. "It really means a lot to win something, because I've never won anything before in my life. That's why I wanted to win this so much." Huge preparation went into the event for the determined performer. Brown, who has been performing drag for around four years, started planning weeks before and even had files on each of the aspects of the competition, gathering outfit and performance ideas. Nikita, described as being like 'Disney after dark', stayed true to that moniker with a Hannah Montana performance, featuring back-up dancers, which clearly wowed the judges and the voting audience. A pop fan through and through, Brown lists Britney Spears among his idols, saying he has been following her for years. Photo by Ritchie Wards. He also has a great deal of respect for New Zealand's older drag queens, saying although he didn't have one drag mother as such, he was given plenty of support, advice and encouragement when he started. He says there isn't much difference between older and younger drag queens, other than experience – and there is a great sense of community between performers. Brown says it was an amazing weekend for drag, with the WotW Awards in Auckland and Miss Drag Waikato in Hamilton. He paid tribute to Buckwheat, saying her Supreme Award win at the WotW Awards was well-deserved. "I was really proud of everyone, it was such a big weekend for drag." He agrees perhaps Queen's Birthday Weekend should be renamed Drag Queen Weekend. Among the performer's aims as the title-holder are to promote and revitalise the drag scene in Wellington. "It's just not a gay event without drag," Brown says. Nikita's first major gig as Miss Drag Wellington will be to appear onstage with competition judges Buffy and Bimbo, in their Up Front and Personal show in Wellington this Saturday night at the St James Theatre, where he will reprise his performance of Hannah Montana's The Best of Both Worlds. In the meantime, how does a victorious drag queen celebrate her title? With pizza and an afternoon recovering on the couch with her best friend. Nice. Jacqui Stanford - 8th June 2010