A beauty pageant is a competition that has traditionally focused on judging and ranking the physical attributes of the contestants. Pageants have now evolved to include inner beauty, with criteria covering judging of personality, intelligence, talent, character, and charitable involvement, through private interviews with judges and answers to public on-stage questions. The term beauty pageant refers originally to the Big Four international beauty pageants.
Miss World is the oldest existing international beauty pageant. It was created in the United Kingdom by Eric Morley in 1951. Since his death in 2000, Morley's widow, Julia Morley, has co-chaired the pageant. Along with Miss Universe, Miss International, and Miss Earth, it is one of the Big Four beauty pageants.
Miss America is an annual competition that is open to women from the United States between the ages of 18 and 28. Originating in 1921 as a "bathing beauty revue", the contest is now judged on these competition segments with the following scoring percentages: Private Interview (30%) – a 10-minute press conference-style interview with a panel of judges, On Stage Question (10%) – answering of a judge's question while onstage, Talent or HER Story (20%) – a performance talent or 90 second speech, Health and Fitness (20%) – contestants demonstrate physical fitness onstage while dressed in athletic wear, and Evening Gown (20%) – contestants model evening-wear onstage.
The Miss Universe Canada or "The Beauties of Canada" is a national beauty pageant in Canada, which sends its winners to the Miss Universe pageant.
The Most Beautiful Girl in Nigeria – often abbreviated as MBGN – is a pageant organised by Silverbird Group with the main purpose of sending representatives to international competitions. Originally known as Miss Universe Nigeria, it was renamed Most Beautiful Girl in Nigeria after news publishers Daily Times lost their license to send delegates from rival contest Miss Nigeria to Miss World. Since 2005, the pageant has produced multiple representatives, but the MBGN World recipient is considered the overall winner. Miss Universe Nigeria was reestablished in 2023, breaking away from MBGN and operating as an entirely different pageant.
The Miss New York scholarship competition selects the representative for the state of New York in the Miss America scholarship competition.
Riza Raquel Santos is a currently the Vice President of Argyle Fox Inc., a technology firm headquartered in Calgary, Alberta and a former Canadian actress, TV Host and the first Canadian beauty pageant titleholder who achieved the "Canada's Triple Crown": Miss Earth Canada 2006, Miss World Canada 2011 and Miss Universe Canada 2013.
Miss Universe 1954 was the third Miss Universe pageant, held at the Long Beach Municipal Auditorium in Long Beach, California, United States on 24 July 1954.
Miss Nigeria is an annual pageant showcasing positive attributes of Nigerian women, and awarding university scholarships. The winner emerges winner portrays exemplary qualities and serves as a role model for young women in the country. The pageant is currently organised by Daily Times.
Miss Pakistan World is a beauty pageant for women of Pakistani descent from around the world. The event used to be held in Toronto, Canada but has moved to Pakistan and is held annually in Lahore, Pakistan.
Miss Asia Pacific World is an annual beauty pageant held in South Korea. It has been subject to a number of controversies over rankings, bribes, and breast augmentation surgeries. In the 2014 Miss Asia Pacific World competition, May Myat Noe of Burma was crowned on 31 May 2014, but dethroned three months later. This prompted the organization to conduct a new pageant in the following months. The title was won by Swetha Raj from India.
Tara Teng is a Canadian former pageant winner. She was named Miss Canada in 2011 and Miss World Canada in 2012. During her title reigns she was an advocate for human rights and spoke about human trafficking.
Denise Garrido is a Canadian model and beauty pageant titleholder. Garrido was the first Canadian to win two National Grand Slam Pageants, Miss Earth Canada 2008 and Miss World Canada 2010, and she appeared to be the first to win all three National Grand Slam Pageants when she was wrongly crowned as Miss Universe Canada 2013. However, it was discovered the following day that there had been a human error when entering the final scores. This error changed the final order of the Top 5. By the judges' score cards, Garrido had placed 3rd runner-up. Only 24 hours after being crowned, Garrido handed over her crown and sash to Riza Santos, the rightful Miss Universe Canada 2013.
Miss World 2015, the 65th edition of the Miss World pageant, was held on 19 December 2015 at the outdoor arena of the Crown of Beauty Theatre in Sanya, China. 114 contestants from all over the world competed for the crown. Rolene Strauss of South Africa crowned her successor Mireia Lalaguna of Spain at the end of the event. It was the first time in the history of Miss World that Spain won the pageant.
Alexandra D. "Allie" Curtis is an American beauty pageant titleholder from Pensacola, Florida, who was crowned Miss Rhode Island 2015. She competed for the Miss America 2016 title in September 2015 and placed outside the Top 15. She currently serves as a Field Artillery Officer in the Rhode Island National Guard.
Jeanné Kapela is an American politician and beauty pageant titleholder who has represented Hawaii's fifth district in the Hawaii House of Representatives since 2020. A Democrat, Kapela also was previously crowned Miss Hawaii 2015 and competed in Miss America 2016.
Rebecca Anderson (Muessle) (born May 1991) is an American beauty pageant titleholder from Oregon City, Oregon. She won a series of local titles beginning in 2011 and was crowned Miss Oregon 2014.
Siera Bearchell is a Canadian entrepreneur, activist and beauty pageant titleholder who was crowned Miss Universe Canada 2016. She represented Canada in the Miss Universe 2016 competition in Manila, where she placed in the top nine. While competing in Miss Universe, Bearchell received media attention for her curvier figure, which was seen as a detraction from the typical body standards associated with beauty pageants, and for her response to immense body shaming from Internet trolls.
Courage Productions runs the Miss BC pageant, including the Mrs. BC, Miss Teen BC, and Miss Charity BC titles. It was founded in Langley in 2002 by Darren Storsley. The final pageant night is televised by Shaw TV. The pageant has not been held since 2019 due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
