Miss Grand Malaysia

Last updated
Miss Grand Malaysia
FormationAugust 29, 2013;12 years ago (2013-08-29)
FounderAnson Chong
Type Beauty pageant
Headquarters Kuala Lumpur
Location
Membership Miss Grand International
Official language
English
National Director
Melisha Lin
Parent organization

HyperLive Entertainment Sdn Bhd
Website

Miss Grand Malaysia is an annual female beauty pageant in Malaysia, aiming to select the country's representative for Miss Grand International, which is an annual international beauty pageant promoting World Peace and against all kinds of conflicts. [1] [2] During 2015 to 2021, the contest was run by Introducing Talent Sdn Bhd, under the leadership of Jude Benjamin Lisa. [3] [4] Since 2022, the franchise has belonged to the Singapore-based start-up HyperLive Entertainment. [5]

Contents

Malaysia holds a record of 4 placements at Miss Grand International, which were obtained in 2016, [4] [6] 2020, [7] 2021, [8] and 2024. [9] The highest achievement was fifth runner-up won by Melisha Lin of Selangor. [6]

The current Miss Grand Malaysia is Viviana Lin Winston of Sarawak. [10] She will represent her country at the Miss Grand International 2025 pageant to be held at Bangkok, Thailand.

History

The Miss Grand Malaysia beauty contest was founded in 2013 by Penang-based businessperson Anson Chong who ran the inaugural edition at Queensbay Mall in Bayan Lepas, featuring 12 national finalists representing all Malaysia states. [11] [12] Of which, Michelle Madeleine Boey from the host state was announced as the winner and won the prizes worth 10,000 RM [13] [14] During 2014 to 2016, no national pageant held to determine the winner, the country representatives for the international competition were designated by different national directors. [15] [16]

After three years of hiatus, the pageant was brought back in 2017 by a public relation and digital marketing consultant from Sarawak Jude Benjamin Lisa, who served as the national licensee for Miss Grand International in Malaysia during 2015 to 2021. Together with the business partner Josh Oneill, he also set up the event organizer privately held firm Introducing Talent Sdn Bhd to be responsible for managing the affiliated pageant, [6] beginning with the second edition of Miss Grand Malaysia, in which Sanjeda John from Sabah was named the winner at a contest held at Evolve Concept Mall in Selangor on 5 August outclassing 15 other finalists. In the same event, the country representative for Miss Interncontinental 2017 was also crowned. [17] Since then, the pageant has been held annually to select the Malaysian candidates for various international pageants including Miss Grand International until the organization lost the franchise to the Singapore-based start-up company HyperLive Entertainment Pte Ltd in 2022. [5] The national titleholder for Miss Grand International has been determined through the Miss World Malaysia ever since. [5] The event was organized by Fantastic Golden Sdn. Bhd., who was appointed by the Singaporean franchise holder company as its official partner to produce the event in Malaysia. [5]

Since 2017, the organization has been franchising the state competitions to the individual organizers, who would name the state titleholders to compete in the national pageant. [3] Beginning with three state pageants in 2017 including Sabah, Sarawak, and Kuala Lumpur, [4] Melaka became the fourth member in 2018, [18] while Selangor and Johor first joined the contest in 2019 and 2020, respectively. [6] The organizer also planned to held the seventh-state pageant in Penang in 2022, [6] [19] but, unfortunately, lost the franchise to HyperLive Entertainment. [5]

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the pageant was virtually held for two consecutive years in 2020 and 2021. [6] Originally, the organizer planned to conduct the 2020 physical contest at Bangi Avenue Convention Centre in late June, [20] but postponed it twice, first to mid-October, [21] and then to 30 January 2021. [22] However, in early 2021, the situation of the outbreak has not improved, causing the organizer to hold the contest virtually instead, in which Jasebel Robert was chosen to participate at the Miss Grand International 2020 in Thailand, while the remainder of the candidates was qualified to compete at the 2021 national contest automatically. [23]

Selection of contestants

The Regional Pageants of Miss Grand Malaysia in 2020.

Color keys
  Red pog.svg   State Pageants (6)
  Blue pog.svg   Local Pageants in Sarawak (8)
  Blue pog.svg   Local Pageants in Sabah (16)
   Casting event
  White star in red circle.svg   National pageant
  No Pageant Held

Since 2017, the national finalists' selection of the Miss Grand Malaysia has been operated via three systems, including (1) the multiplex regional pageant system, in which the state franchisee conducts several local pageants and casting events to determine the state finalists, or franchising the local competition to individual organizers, who would name their representative to compete at the state pageants. (2) a simple regional pageant system, the state pageant is held to select the national finalists with no lower pageants or casting events, and (3) a central direct application through the national licensee, the organization then selects the candidates based on their profiles. [20]

The winner, as well as the 1-2 runners-up of each state pageant, will automatically qualify to the national stage while other runners-up and some finalists candidates will be entered to the wild card round, in which the national organizer will then select the supplementary national candidates based on their discretion. [20]

As of 2020, six states was held the state contest for the Miss Grand Malaysia, including:

Simple state pageants

Multiplex state pageants

  • Sabah : held annually since 2017, the highest number of local pageants is 16 in 2020. [4]
  • Sarawak : held annually since 2017, the highest number of local pageants is 18 in 2018. [4]
Miss Grand Malaysia National Finalists Selection Procedure
(2017  2021)
Stage/SystemMultiplex Regional
(East Malaysia States)
Simple Regional
(West Malaysia States)
Centrally Direct
(Organizer Selection)
Stage 1Local Pageant (s)Local Casting (s)Profile Screening
Stage 2State level PageantState level Pageant
Others RU & finalists
Winner & RU
(2-4 spot/state)
Winner & RU
(1-3 spot/state)
Wild Card Challenge
Stage 3National Pageant

Editions

Location and date

The following list is the edition detail of the Miss Grand Malaysia contest, since its inception in 2013.

EditionDateFinal venueHost StateEntrantsRef.
1st29 September 2013Ground floor, Central Atrium, Queensbay Mall Penang 12 [14] [12]
2nd 5 August 2017Grand Pacific Ballroom, Evolve Concept Mall, Petaling Jaya Selangor 16 [4] [17]
3rd 12 May 2018
24
4th 28 April 2019Meritz Hotel, Miri Sarawak 24 [26]
5th 28 January 2020The pageant was held virtually, due to the spreading of the COVID-19
17
[6]
6th 2 August 2021
23
7th 27 August 2022 Sabah International Convention Centre, Kota Kinabalu Sabah
15
[28] [29]
8th 14 August 2023The Zodiac Theatre, 7th floor Genting Dream Cruise11 [30]
9th 22 August 2024Galaxy Banquet Hall, HGH Convention Centre Kuala Lumpur 12 [31]
10th 30 July 2025
8

Competition result

EditionWinnerRunners-upRef.
FirstSecondThirdFourthFifth
1stMichelle Boey
(Penang)
Malena Yvelisse
(Kedah)
Natelynn Tiow
(Kuala Lumpur)
Not awarded [13]
2nd Sanjeda John
(Sabah)
Cass Chen
(Putrajaya)
Fiolla Redup
(Sarawak)
Not awarded [17]
3rd Debra Jeanne Poh
(Sabah)
Kate Cantwell
(Sabah)
Scarlett Megan Liew
(Sabah)
Taanusiya Veerapandian
(Kuala Lumpur)
Rachel Chin
(Sarawak)
Not awarded [25]
4th Mel Dequanne Abar
(Sabah)
Saroopdeep Kaur Bath
(Perak)
Haaraneei Muthu Kumar
(Selangor)
Julie Minele Senele
(Sarawak)
Lishallinny Kanaran
(Selangor)
Not awarded [34]
5th Jasebel Robert
(Kuala Lumpur)
No runners-up, the remaining delegates automatically qualified for the 2021 national contest. [35]
6th Lishallinny Kanaran
(Selangor)
Malveen Kaur
(Johor)
Poorani Rajoo
(Kuala Lumpur)
Not awarded [27]
7th Charissa Chong
(Selangor)
Vivienna Alfred
(Sarawak)
Angela Quah
(Johor)
Not awarded [28]
8th Kash Bhullar
(Selangor)
Natalie Ang Ai Dee
(Putrajaya)
Poorani Rajoo
(Kuala Lumpur)
Chai Shu Wen
(Sabah)
Sisnitha Thirumaran
(Negeri Sembilan)
Angela Quah
(Johor)
[36]
9th Melisha Lin
(Selangor)
Geetha William
(Kuala Lumpur)
Lilyannie Christie
(Sabah)
Linasni Kusraju
(Selangor)
Esther Marius Tito
(Sabah)
Kiki Khor
(Kuala Lumpur)
[37]
10th Viviana Lin Winston
(Sarawak)
Nisha Thayananthan
(Negeri Sembilan)
Rochil Saga
(Sabah)
Orange Ooi
(Johor)
Fumiko Kriss
(Sarawak)
Not awarded [38]

International competition

The following is a list of Malaysian representatives competed at the Miss Grand International pageant.

Color keys
YearStateMiss Grand MalaysiaTitlePlacementSpecial AwardsNational Director
2025 Sarawak Viviana Lin Winston [39] Miss Grand Malaysia 2025 TBAMelisha Lin
2024 Selangor Melisha Lin [9] Miss Grand Malaysia 2024 5th Runner-up [a] Sean Wong
2023 Selangor Kash Bhullar [36] Miss Grand Malaysia 2023 Unplaced
2022 Selangor Charissa Chong [28] Miss Grand Malaysia 2022 Unplaced
2021 Selangor Lishallinny Kanaran [8] Miss Grand Malaysia 2021 Top 20
  • Best National Costume
Jude Benjamin Lisa
2020 Kuala Lumpur Jasebel Robert [6] [7] Miss Grand Malaysia 2020 Top 10
  • Miss Popular Vote
2019 Sabah Mel Dequanne Abar [34] Miss Grand Malaysia 2019 Unplaced
2018 Sabah Debra Jeanne Poh [25] Miss Grand Malaysia 2018 Unplaced
2017 Sabah Sanjeda John [17] Miss Grand Malaysia 2017 Unplaced
2016 Selangor Ranmeet Jassal [16] [6] 1st runner-up Miss World Malaysia 2016 Top 20
2015 Kelantan Santhawan Boonratana [15] Miss World Malaysia 2015 FinalistUnplacedInvited
2014 Kuala Lumpur Jane Koo Wai Kuan [40] AppointedUnplacedAnson Chong
2013 Penang Michelle Boey [13] Miss Grand Malaysia 2013Unplaced
Note
  1. Originally named the top 20 finalists but was promoted to the 5th runner-up (Top 10) following the resignation and dethronement of several top 5 finalists.

See also

References

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