Type | International women's beauty pageant |
---|---|
Headquarters | London, United Kingdom |
First edition | 1951 |
Most recent edition | 2023 |
Current titleholder | Krystyna Pyszková Czech Republic |
Founder | Eric Morley |
President | Julia Morley |
Language | English |
Website | www |
Miss World is the oldest existing international beauty pageant. It was created in the United Kingdom by Eric Morley in 1951. [1] [2] Since his death in 2000, Morley's widow, Julia Morley, has co-chaired the pageant. [3] [4] Along with Miss Universe, Miss International, and Miss Earth, it is one of the Big Four beauty pageants. [5]
The current Miss World is Krystyna Pyszková of the Czech Republic who was crowned on 9 March 2024 in Mumbai, India. [6]
In 1951, Eric Morley organised a bikini contest as part of the Festival of Britain celebrations that he called the Festival Bikini Contest. [7] The event was popular with the press, which dubbed it "Miss World". The swimsuit competition was intended as a promotion for the bikini, [8] which had only recently been introduced to the market and was still widely regarded as immodest. When the 1951 Miss World pageant winner, Kerstin "Kiki" Hakansson from Sweden, was crowned in a bikini, it added to the controversy.
The pageant was originally planned as a Pageant for the Festival of Britain, but Morley decided to make the Miss World pageant annual. [9] [10] He registered the "Miss World" name as a trademark, [11] and all future pageants were held under that name. But because of the controversy arising from Håkansson's crowning in a bikini, countries with religious traditions threatened not to send delegates to future events, and the bikini was condemned by the Pope. [12] Objection to the bikini led to its replacement in all future pageants [13] [14] with more modest swimwear, and from 1976 swimsuits were replaced by evening gowns for the crowning. [15] Håkansson remains the only Miss World crowned in a bikini. [11] In Miss World 2013 all participants wore a one-piece swimsuit plus a traditional sarong below the waist as a compromise with local culture. [16]
Morley announced the Miss World winners in the order No. 3, No. 2 and No. 1. This was intended to keep the tension up, and avoid the anticlimax if Nos. 2 and 3 are announced after the winner. [17]
In 1959, the BBC began to broadcast the pageant. Its popularity grew with the advent of television. During the 1960s and 1970s, Miss World was among the most watched programs of the year on British television. [18] In 1970, the contest in London was disrupted by women's liberation protesters armed with flour bombs, stink bombs, and water pistols loaded with ink. [19] The 1970 contest was also controversial when South Africa sent two contestants (one black and one white). Henceforth, South Africa was banned from the contest until apartheid was abolished. More than 18 million people watched the pageant at its peak during the late 1970s and early 1980s. [20]
In the 1980s, the pageant repositioned itself with the slogan "Beauty With a Purpose", with added tests of intelligence and personality. [21] In 1984, BBC1 controller Michael Grade announced that the corporation would cease to broadcast beauty pageants the next January, after it had shown Miss Great Britain, saying, "I believe these contests no longer merit national air time." He added, "They are an anachronism in this day and age of equality and verging on the offensive.'' [22] Thames Television broadcast Miss World between 1980 and 1988, when ITV dropped it. [23] [24]
During the early 1990s, mainstream television broadcasts of the event declined in popularity after it became "increasingly unfashionable" in the late 1980s. The pageant returned on satellite channel Sky One in 1997, [25] [26] before moving to Channel 5 for three years (1998–2000). [20] [27]
Eric Morley died in 2000, and his wife, Julia, succeeded him as chair of the Miss World organisation. [28]
The first black African Miss World winner, Agbani Darego of Nigeria, was crowned in 2001. As part of its marketing strategy, Miss World came up with a "Vote For Me" television special during that edition, featuring the delegates behind the scenes and on the beach, and allowing viewers to phone in or vote online for their favourites. It also sells broadcasters its Talent, Beach Beauty and Sports events as television specials. [29] ITV broadcast the 2001 pageant from South Africa on digital channel ITV2, with the special airing a week earlier on the main ITV channel. [30]
In 2002, the pageant was slated to host its final in Abuja, Nigeria. This choice was controversial, as a northern Nigerian woman, Amina Lawal, was awaiting death by stoning for adultery under Sharia law there, but Miss World used the publicity surrounding its presence to bring greater global awareness and action to Lawal's plight. [31] [32] No British channel agreed to broadcast the event, [33] and there were objections to the contest. [34] [35]
Former Miss World Aishwarya Rai attended the Miss World 2014 ceremony with her husband Abhishek Bachchan, daughter Aaradhya and mother Brinda Rai. [36] The pageant has been broadcast on local TV channel London Live since 2014.
The Miss World Organization owns and manages the annual Miss World Finals, a competition that has grown into one of the world's biggest. [37] Since its launch in 1951, the Miss World organisation has raised more than £1 billion for children's charities [38] that help disabled and underprivileged children. [39] Miss World is franchised in more than 100 countries. [40] [41]
The Miss World pageant has been the target of many controversies since its inception.
In the year leading up the finals in Nigeria, several European title holders lobbied their governments and the EU parliament to support Amina Lawal's cause. [48] A number of contestants followed the lead of Kathrine Sørland of Norway in boycotting the contest (despite the controversy, Sørland became a semifinalist in both the Miss World and Miss Universe contests), while others, such as Costa Rica, were instructed by their national governments and parliaments not to attend. Among the other boycotting nations were Denmark, Spain, Switzerland, Panama, Belgium and Kenya. There was further controversy over the possibly suspended participation of France and South Africa, which might or might not have been due to the boycott. [49] Lawal asked that contestants not suspend their participation in the contest, saying that it was for the good of her country and that they could, as the representative of Sweden had earlier remarked, make a much stronger case for her on the ground in Nigeria. [50]
Despite the increasing international profile the boycott was garnering in the world press, the contest proceeded in Nigeria after being rescheduled to avoid taking place during Ramadan, with many prominent nations sending delegates. Osmel Sousa of Venezuela, one of the world's most influential national directors, said, "there is no question about it [the participation of Miss Venezuela in the contest]." But the trouble did not end there. A ThisDay (Lagos, Nigeria) newspaper editorial suggesting that Muhammad would probably have chosen one of his wives from among the contestants had he been alive to see it resulted in inter-religious riots that started on 22 November in which over 200 people were killed in the city of Kaduna and many houses of worship were burned by religious zealots. [51] Because of these riots, the 2002 pageant was moved to London, following widely circulated reports that Canada's and Korea's representatives had withdrawn from the contest and returned to their respective countries out of safety concerns. A fatwa urging the beheading of the woman who wrote the offending words, Isioma Daniel, was issued in Nigeria, but was declared null and void by the relevant Saudi Arabian authorities. [52] [53] [54] [55] Upon the pageant's return to Britain, many of the boycotting contestants chose to attend, including Miss Norway, Kathrine Sørland, who was ironically tipped in the last few days as the favourite for the crown she had previously boycotted. [56] [57] [58] [59] [60]
The eventual winner of the pageant was Azra Akın of Turkey, the first predominantly Muslim country to hold the title since Egypt in 1954. [61]
In Miss World 2013, protests by Islamic groups began a few weeks before the contest began, resulting in the pageant's finale and all pre-pageant activities being isolated to Hindu-majority Bali. [62]
Anastasia Lin, Miss World Canada, was not given a visa to travel in China and hence missed the official deadline of 20 November 2015 for entry to the 2015 pageant, and was declared persona non grata by the Chinese Embassy in Ottawa for openly criticizing China's human rights violations. The Miss World Organization later allowed her to compete at Miss World 2016. [63] [64]
After the 2019 pageant, the organization chose Thailand as the host country of Miss World 2020, to be held in Phuket. But due to the spread of COVID-19, most national organizations and the Miss World organization agreed to cancel the 2020 pageant to assure the delegates' safety.
The edition was originally scheduled for the end of 2020 but postponed indefinitely due to the global COVID-19 pandemic. [65] On 8 March 2021, the date was set for 16 December 2021. [66] The threat of the Omicron variant had already been detected in some parts of the world during the pre-pageant activities, as the disease started swept across the island. On 14 December, Miss World Indonesia Carla Yules tested positive for COVID-19. As a precaution, her roommate Miss World India Manasa Varanasi and five others were classified as suspected cases. Miss World Organization chair Julia Morley confirmed that the delegates were isolated and quarantined and would not be onstage for the final show if they did not produce a negative PCR test. [67] [68] [69] [70] On 15 December, the Puerto Rico Department of Health confirmed 17 positive cases for COVID-19 related to the Miss World pageant activities, including contestants and technical personnel. [71] [72] [73] On 16 December, it was announced that Miss World Malaysia Lavanya Sivaji had tested positive for COVID-19. [70] She was required to be isolated for 10 days and not permitted onstage during the finals. The finale, originally slated for 16 December, was postponed. [74] During a 16 December Puerto Rico Department of Health press conference, epidemiologist Melissa Marzán confirmed 15 staff and 23 contestant positive cases associated with Miss World. She added that pageant organizers, not the island's authorities, decided to postpone. [75] The rescheduled 70th Miss World pageant took place on 16 March 2022, at Puerto Rico's José Miguel Agrelot Coliseum. [76] [77] [78]
Year | Representing | Miss World | National Title | Location | Number of Entrants | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2019 | Jamaica | Toni-Ann Singh | Miss Jamaica World 2019 | London, England | 111 | |
2020 | No pageant held due to the COVID-19 pandemic | |||||
2021 | Poland | Karolina Bielawska | Miss Polonia 2019 | San Juan, Puerto Rico | 97 | |
2022 | No pageant held due to the delay of the 2021 pageant | |||||
2023 | Czech Republic | Krystyna Pyszková | Miss Czech Republic 2022 | Mumbai, India | 112 | |
Fast-track events of Miss World is a set of competition to decide the semifinalist or the placement of Miss World. Fast-track events was one of deciding factor to choose semifinalist beside Preliminary Interview by combining those rounds with using points system table. Prior to 2016 the winner of the fast-track events received huge amount of points but not securing semifinalist spot, however since 2016 the points system table in fast-track were abolished. Since then the winners of the "fast-track" competitions automatically make it to the quarter- or semifinals. [79] The Miss World fast-track categories are: Beauty With a Purpose, Multimedia Challenge, Sports Challenge, Talent, and Top Model. Miss World Talent added in 2001, Miss World Sports added in 2003, Miss World Top Model added in 2004, Miss World Beauty With a Purpose added in 2005, and Miss World Multimedia added in 2012. There was a fast-track named Miss World Beach Beauty (2003–2015) but it is a discontinued event due to dissatisfaction and cons in many conservative countries, this event was replacing Miss World Best in Swimsuit.
The Beauty with a Purpose is an event established in 1972 that is celebrated before the Miss World pageant. [80] It awards the contestant with the most relevant and important charity project in her nation. The first winner of Beauty With a Purpose was Miss World Korea 2005 Oh Eun-young. [81] Miss World 2017 Manushi Chhillar is the first and only Beauty With a Purpose recipient to win Miss World.
Miss World Talent is a talent or fast-track competition in which contestants show their abilities in singing, dancing, poetry, etc. [85] Introduced in Miss World 1978, the winner of the event automatically makes it into the semifinals starting 2016. The award returned at Miss World 2001.
The Miss World Top Model is a modeling fast-track competition. [106] It was first held in 2004, but not in 2005–2006. It has been held since 2007; since 2016 the winner of the competition automatically qualifies for the semifinals.
Year | Winner | Represented | Placement at Miss World |
---|---|---|---|
2004 | Yessica Ramírez | Mexico | Top 15 |
2007 | Zhang Zilin | China | Miss World 2007 |
2008 [107] | Ksenia Sukhinova | Russia | Miss World 2008 [107] |
2009 | Perla Beltrán | Mexico | 1st Runner-up |
2010 [82] | Mariann Birkedal | Norway | Top 7 |
2011 | Zhanna Zhumaliyeva | Kazakhstan | Top 15 |
2012 | Atong Demach | South Sudan | Top 7 |
2013 | Megan Young [108] | Philippines | Miss World 2013 |
2014 [83] | Isidora Borovčanin | Bosnia and Herzegovina | |
2015 [109] | Mireia Lalaguna | Spain | Miss World 2015 |
2016 | Jing Kong | China | Top 11 |
2017 | Ugochi Ihezue | Nigeria | Top 15 |
2018 | Maëva Coucke | France | Top 12 |
2019 | Nyekachi Douglas | Nigeria | Top 5 |
2021 | Olivia Yacé | Cote d'Ivoire | 2nd Runner-up |
2023 | Axelle René | Martinique | Top 40 |
Miss World Sports or Sportswoman is a title and award given to the winner of a sports event at Miss World. It is a fast-track or preliminary event, giving the winner automatic entry into the semifinals. In 2005, there was no Miss Sports winner because it was held as a continental team competition. Starting in 2006, the individual competition returned.
Year | Winner | Represented | Placement at Miss World |
---|---|---|---|
2003 | Nazanin Afshin-Jam | Canada | 1st Runner Up |
2004 | Amy Guy | Wales | Top 15 |
2005 | Asia-Pacific | Asia | Team Challenge |
2006 | Malgosia Majewska | Canada | Top 17 |
2007 | Abigail McCarry | United States | Top 15 |
2008 | Alexandra Ívarsdóttir [107] + | Iceland [107] + | Top 15 |
2009 | Erusa Sasaki | Japan | Top 16 |
2010 [82] + | Lori Moore [110] + | Northern Ireland [94] + | Top 25 |
2011 | Marianly Tejeda | Dominican Republic | |
2012 | Sanna Jinnedal | Sweden | Top 30 |
2013 | Jacqueline Steenbeek [111] + | Netherlands [111] + | Top 20 |
2014 [83] + | Krista Haapalainen [112] + | Finland [112] + | Top 25 |
2015 | Steffi Van Wyk [113] [114] + | Namibia [113] [114] + | |
2016 | Natalia Short | Cook Islands | Top 20 |
2017 | Aletxa Mueses | Dominican Republic | Top 40 |
2018 | Marisa Butler | United States | Top 30 |
2019 | Rikkiya Brathwaite | British Virgin Islands | Top 40 |
2021 | Karolina Vidales | Mexico | Top 6 |
2023 | Lucija Begić [115] | Croatia | Top 40 |
Miss World Multimedia or Social Media Award is a title and award given to the winner of a Multimedia Challenge. It is a fast-track or preliminary event, giving the winner automatic entry into the semifinals. The score is based on the contestant's likes on Mobstar and Facebook.
Year | Winner | Represented | Placement at Miss World |
---|---|---|---|
2012 | Vanya Mishra | India | Top 7 |
2013 | Navneet Dhillon | India | Top 20 |
2014 | Elizabeth Safrit | United States | 2nd Runner-up |
2015 | Hillarie Parungao | Philippines | Top 11 |
2016 | Catriona Gray | Philippines | Top 5 |
2017 | Enkhjin Tseveendash | Mongolia | Top 15 |
2018 | Shrinkhala Khatiwada | Nepal | Top 12 |
2019 | Anushka Shrestha | Nepal | Top 12 |
2021 | Olivia Yacé | Ivory Coast | 2nd Runner-up |
2023 | Huỳnh Nguyễn Mai Phương | Vietnam | Top 40 |
Miss World Beach Beauty was a swimsuit or fast-track competition. [107] The Beach Beauty event started in 2003, when the Miss World Organization first held fast-track events to automatically give a semifinal spot to some of the delegates. This event allowed the Miss World delegates (over 100) to have a chance to be in the semifinals. The winner made the semifinals automatically. The Beach Beauty event showcased different swimsuits designed by Miss World 1975, Wilnelia Merced. In 2013,The Beach Beauty event replaced swimsuit with Balinese sarong. While in 2015, the organisation eliminated the swimsuit competition from the pageant. [116]
Year | Winner | Represented | Placement at Miss World |
---|---|---|---|
2003 | Rosanna Davison [86] | Ireland [86] | Miss World 2003 [117] |
2004 | Nancy Randall [118] | United States | 2nd Runner-up |
2005 | Yulia Ivanova [119] | Russia [119] | Top 15 |
2006 | Federica Guzmán [120] | Venezuela [120] | Top 17 |
2007 | Ada De La Cruz [121] | Dominican Republic [121] | Top 16 |
2008 | Anagabriela Espinoza [107] | Mexico | Top 15 |
2009 | Kaiane Aldorino [122] | Gibraltar [122] | Miss World 2009 [123] |
2010 [82] | Yara Lasanta | Puerto Rico [94] | Top 25 |
2011 | Alize Lily Mounter [124] | England | Top 7 |
2012 | Sophie Moulds [125] | Wales | 1st Runner-up |
2013 | Sancler Frantz [126] [127] | Brazil [126] [127] | Top 6 |
2014 [83] | Olivia Asplund [112] | Sweden | Top 25 |
The following is a list Miss World hosts and invited artists through the years.
A beauty pageant is a competition in which the contestants are judged and ranked based on various physical and mental attributes. Per its name, beauty pageants traditionally focus on judging the contestants' physical attractiveness, sometimes solely so, but most modern beauty pageants have since expanded to also judge contestants based on "inner beauty"—their individual traits and characteristics, including personality, intelligence, aptitude, moral character, and charity. Though typically perceived as a female-oriented competition, male beauty pageants also exist, as do child beauty pageants for youth.
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 judged on competition segments with scoring percentages: Private Interview (30%) – a 10-minute press conference-style interview with a panel of judges, On Stage Question (10%) – answering a judge's question onstage, Talent or HER Story (20%) – a performance talent or 90 second speech, Health and Fitness (20%) – demonstrated physical fitness onstage dressed in athletic wear, and Evening Gown (20%) – modeling evening-wear onstage.
Miss Earth is an annual international major beauty pageant based in the Philippines that advocates for environmental awareness, conservation and social responsibility. Along with Miss World, Miss Universe, and Miss International, it is one of the Big Four beauty pageants.
Miss World 2003 was the 53rd edition of the Miss World pageant, held at the Crown of Beauty Theatre in Sanya, China, on December 6, 2003. It was the first time that the Miss World pageant held in China.
A swimsuit competition, more commonly now called a bikini contest, is a beauty contest which is judged and ranked while contestants wear a swimsuit, typically a bikini. One of the judging criteria is the physical attractiveness of the contestants. The Big Four international beauty pageants have included examples of such a competition.
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.
Miss World 2006, the 56th edition of the Miss World pageant, was held on 30 September 2006 at the Sala Kongresowa, the main 2,897-seat auditorium of the Palace of Culture and Science in Warsaw, Poland. It was the first time ever that the pageant was held in the Continental Europe and a European city other than London, United Kingdom, having previously been held there in 2002 after the Nigeria Controversy. The pageant officially concluded after Taťána Kuchařová from the Czech Republic was crowned Miss World 2006 by outgoing titleholder Unnur Birna Vilhjálmsdóttir of Iceland.
Miss England is a national beauty pageant in England.
Miss World 2002, the 52nd edition of the Miss World pageant, was held on 7 December 2002 at the Alexandra Palace in London, United Kingdom. It was initially intended to be staged in Abuja, but due to religious riots in the nearby city of Kaduna the pageant was relocated to London.
Miss Nigeria is an annual pageant showcasing positive attributes of Nigerian women, and awarding university scholarships. The winner is expected to portray exemplary qualities whilst serving as a role model to young women in the country. The pageant is currently organised by Daily Times.
Miss World 1951 was the first Miss World pageant, held at the Lyceum Ballroom in London, United Kingdom on 29 July 1951. The contest was originally intended to be a one-off event connected with the Festival of Britain.
The modern bikini first appeared in 1946, and since then it has become a part of popular culture. It is one of the most widely worn women's swimsuits, used for swimming and in a variety of other contexts. Today, bikinis appear in competitions, films, magazines, music, literature, and video games. Despite the availability of more revealing glamour wear, bikini modeling remains popular and can still create controversy. Portrayals of the bikini in popular culture led, to a large extent, to its acceptance by Western society at large. In 1960, Brian Hyland's pop song "Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polkadot Bikini" inspired a bikini-buying spree. The white bikini worn by Ursula Andress as Honey Ryder in the 1962 James Bond film Dr. No has been cited as one of the most famous bikinis of all time. By 1963, the movie Beach Party, starring Annette Funicello and Frankie Avalon, led a wave of films that made the bikini a pop-culture symbol. Playboy first featured a bikini on its cover in 1962. The Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue debuted two years later. This increasing popularity was reinforced by its appearance in such contemporary films as How to Stuff a Wild Bikini featuring Annette Funicello and One Million Years B.C. (1966) featuring Raquel Welch. Raquel Welch's fur bikini in One Million Years B.C. became a famous moment in cinema history. Hollywood stars such as Marilyn Monroe, Jayne Mansfield, Gina Lollobrigida and Jane Russell further helped the growing popularity of bikinis. Pin up posters of Monroe and Mansfield, as well as Hayworth, Bardot and Raquel Welch distributed around the world contributed significantly to the popularity of the bikini.
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 Earth 2010 was the 10th edition of the Miss Earth pageant, held at the Vinpearl Land Amphitheater in Nha Trang, Vietnam, on December 4, 2010.
Miss World 2013 was the 63rd edition of the Miss World pageant, held at the Bali International Convention Center in Bali, South Kuta, Indonesia, on 28 September 2013.
Miss World 2014 was the 64th edition of the Miss World pageant, held at the ExCeL London in London, United Kingdom, on 14 December 2014.
Miss World 2015 was the 65th edition of the Miss World pageant, held at the Crown of Beauty Theatre in Sanya, Hainan, China, on 19 December 2015.
There are a number of Iraqi beauty pageants. Miss Iraq is one of the national beauty pageants in Iraq. Others include Miss World Iraq and Miss Earth Iraq.
Anu Namshir, is a Mongolian model and beauty pageant titleholder who represented Mongolia at the Miss International 2013, Miss Manzhouli 2014, World Bikini Model 2015, Asian Star Model 2015 Supermodel International 2015, Miss World 2015, Miss Tourism Queen International 2016 pageant. She won the Miss Mongolia 2013 title and was later crowned as World Bikini Model International 2014 and Miss Manzhouli 2014 (winner) in China, Asian Star Model 2015 Supermodel International 2015 (winner) in Korea and Miss World Mongolia 2015. And then she represented Mongolia in the Miss World 2015. On September 26, 2016, she was crowned Miss Tourism Queen International 2016 and awarded Miss Charity. And then December 1, 2016, she has participated first in Goyol 2017 which was organized by Mongolian Designers Association annually was awarded "Photo Model". She worked at Mongolia's Next Top Model show 14th number representing Z24 online ticket reservation through Z24 face.
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