Miss & Mister Deaf International

Miss & Mister Deaf International
MMDI
Awarded for	International Beauty pageant
Location	Las Vegas
Country	United States
Hosted by	Bonita Ann Leek
Formerly called	Miss Deaf International (MDI)
Preshow host(s)	Jose Alvarado
First award	2010
Winners	♀ Kemmonye Mamatsits (2019) ♂ Ajith Kumar (2019)
Highlights
Miss Deaf International 2010	♀ Julie Abbou (2010)
Website	missmisterdeafinternational.org

Miss & Mister Deaf International (MMDI) is an international beauty pageant which crowns young Deaf women to "Miss Deaf International" and young Deaf men to "Mister Deaf International" every year.

History

MMDI is a Nonprofit organization which was created in February 2010. ^[1] The Chief executive officer of pageant is Bonita Ann Leek, ^[2]

In 2005, Leek founded the Miss Deaf USA (MDU) contest ^[3] in Las Vegas, Nevada. In the early 2005, she was told about the Miss Deaf World pageant, which was held in Prague, the Czech Republic. The Miss Deaf USA 2005 winner was the first USA participant in this competition. As MDU's CEO, Leek attended the event and met pageant directors from other countries, who expressed their will to initiate a similar pageant in the US as well as in other countries. ^[4] In the spring of 2009, Deaf Nation, ^[5] granted Miss Deaf International (MDI) a permission to host its international event in conjunction with the Deaf World Expo in July 2010. ^[4] On July 31, 2010, Julie Abbou from France won Miss Deaf International 2010 in Las Vegas. ^[6] On June 18, 2012, Abbou won again the second vice Miss Ile de France 2012. ^[7]

From the experience in 2010, Miss Deaf International added three continental pageants: Miss Deaf Europe, Miss Deaf South America, and Miss Deaf Asia. ^[4] MDI international coordinator, Kasia Galasiewicz, ^[8] recruited Deaf ladies from all over the world to participate in Orlando, Florida in July 2011. During the meeting in Orlando, MDI agreed to include a Mister Deaf International pageant, and its name was changed into Miss & Mister Deaf International Inc. In July 2012, MMDI 2012 was held in Ankara, Turkey, and the Ankara Deaf Club volunteers made the pageant possible. ^[4]

The contestants from the world advanced their personal, educational, career, and humanitarian goals, as well as the lives and goals of others. ^[4] Following this policy, Mister Deaf Spain 2012 was disqualified of his title "Mister Deaf Europe 2012", after being disrespectful to the MMDI staff as well as displaying unacceptable sexual behavior. ^[9] Miss Deaf Germany 2012 was disqualified of her title "Miss Deaf Congeniality 2012", after she had broken the arranged expectations of MMDI. ^[10]

Titleholders

Date and Place	Miss Deaf International	Mister Deaf International	Miss Deaf Queen International	Mrs Deaf International
July 13, 2019 Saint Petersburg, Russia	Kemmonye Mamatsits [11] [12]   Botswana	Ajith Kumar   India	Not awarded	Not awarded
July 14, 2018 Taipei, Taiwan	Natalia Colombo[ citation needed ]   Italy	Mergim Noshaj[ citation needed ]   Kosovo	Somporn Kaewkeod[ citation needed ]   Thailand	Bussara Sangkrut Okada[ citation needed ]   Thailand
July 15, 2017 Paris, France	Céline Cornia[ citation needed ]   Belgium	Mateusz Borowski[ citation needed ]   Poland	Not awarded	Not awarded
July 2016 Las Vegas, United States	Iwona Cichosz [13] [14]   Poland	Calvin Vogefu Musalia [15]   Kenya	Somsakul Thongfaung   Thailand
August 5, 2014 London, United Kingdom	YeJin Kim [16] [17]   South Korea	Aarron Loggins [ citation needed ]   United States	Not awarded
July 31, 2013 Sofia, Bulgaria	Laís Gonçalves   Brazil	Rafael Grombelka   Germany
July 27, 2012 Ankara, Turkey	Natalia Ryabova [18]   Belarus	Cevat Şimşek   Turkey
July 16, 2011 Orlando, Florida	Cassandra Whyte [19] [20]   Jamaica	Not awarded
July 31, 2010 Las Vegas, United States	Julie Abbou [6]   France

See also

• List of beauty pageants

References

1. "Miss Deaf International in Las Vegas, Nevada", Nonprofitfacts.com/NV/Miss-Deaf-International, Retrieved September 9, 2019.
2. "Bonita Ann Leek". FNL Network. Retrieved September 9, 2019.
3. "Miss & Mister Deaf United States frequently asked questions". MMDU. Retrieved September 11, 2019.
4. "Miss & Mister Deaf International History". MMDI. Retrieved September 11, 2019.
5. "Deaf Nation". DeafNation. Retrieved September 11, 2019.
6. "Miss Deaf International in Las Vegas". Sourds net, Le Portail D'Information sur les Sourds (in French). video length 3:11 minutes. August 13, 2010. Archived from the original on March 28, 2019. Retrieved September 9, 2019.
7. Un monde de miss (October 24, 2012). "Election régionale – Miss Ile de France 2012" [Regional Election – Miss Ile de France 2012]. Skyrock (in French). Retrieved September 11, 2019. La jeune femme de 18 ans, qui prépare un DUT technique de commercialisation, a devancé Amélie Perez et Julie Abbou, candidate malentendante (The 18 years old, who is preparing a technical degree in marketing, has beaten Amélie Perez and Julie Abbou, a hearing impaired candidate).
8. Kasia Galasiewicz's channel on YouTube
9. The disqualifying notice of Mister Deaf Spain on Facebook , November 21, 2012. Retrieved September 11, 2019.
10. The disqualifying notice of Miss Deaf Germany on Facebook , November 21, 2012. Retrieved September 11, 2019.
11. K24Tv Team (July 18, 2019). "Just concluded Miss and Mister Deaf International beauty contest shines". K24 TV . Retrieved September 9, 2019.
12. Musembi Nzengu (July 19, 2019). "Beauty duo gets hero's reception after Russia trip". The Star (Kenya) . Retrieved September 9, 2019.
13. Onet Rano, Miss Świata Głuchych Iwona Cichosz on YouTube, November 16, 2016, 48:02 minutes (in Polish)
14. Iwona Cichosz on Instagram
15. Collins Omulo (July 20, 2016). "City man makes history by winning Mr Deaf 2016 title". Nairobi News. Retrieved September 9, 2019.
16. Pakman (September 11, 2014). "Miss Deaf International winner Kim Ye Jin is ambitious and wants to help the deaf community". Allkpop . Retrieved September 9, 2019.
17. Joel Barish. "Miss Deaf International 2014, YeJin Kim". DeafNation. Retrieved September 9, 2019.^{[ permanent dead link ]} 8:00 minutes (captioned)
18. Новости онлайн (News online) (July 31, 2012). "18-летняя белоруска Наталья Рябова победила на международном конкурсе красоты Miss Deaf International-2012" [18 year old Natalia Ryabova the Belarusian won the international beauty contest Miss Deaf International 2012]. STV (Capital TV) (in Belarusian). Archived from the original on October 31, 2021. Retrieved September 9, 2019.
19. "Jamaican Wins Miss Deaf International 2011". Jamaica-Gleaner . July 20, 2011. Retrieved September 9, 2019.
20. Webmin (July 21, 2011). "Jamaican wins Miss Deaf International Contest". Yardflex.com. Archived from the original on July 6, 2016. Retrieved September 9, 2019.

External links

• Miss & Mister Deaf International on Facebook