A report on:
Secondary Research on Worldwide Beauty Pageants on the Basis of Categories and Parameters
Submitted to:Submitted by:
Retd. Lt. Rita GangwaniKasture Arpit Shilchand
Topics Covered
- What is Beauty pageant
- History of Beauty Pageants
- Types of Beauty pageants for male, female and kids,natural and glitz pageants
- Age and gender specific types of pageants and essential requirements
- Top most pageants in India
- Details of all these pageantsRequirements
- Entry forms
- Introduction
Abeauty pageantis a competition that has traditionally focused on the physicalbeautyof its contestants, although such contests have evolved to also incorporatepersonality, intelligence, talent, and answers to judges' questions as judged criteria. The phrase almost invariably refers only tocontestsfor women and girls; similar events for men or boys are called by other names and are more likely to bebodybuildingcontests.
Winners of beauty contests are often calledbeauty queens.Children's beauty pageantsmainly focus on beauty, gowns, sportswear modelling, talent, and personal interviews. Adult and teen pageants focus on makeup, hair and gowns, swimsuit modelling, and personal interviews. Possible awards include titles, tiaras or crowns, sashes, savings bonds, and cash prizes[1]
- History
2.1.National contests
The first modern beauty pageant was held during the Eglinton Tournament of 1859 held byArchibald Montgomerie, 13th Earl of Eglinton, a re-enactment of a medieval joust that was held in Scotland. The pageant was won byGeorgiana Seymour, Duchess of Somerset, the wife ofEdward Seymour, 12th Duke of Somersetand sister ofCaroline Norton, and she was proclaimed as the 'Queen of Beauty'.
EntrepreneurPhineas Taylor Barnumstaged the first modern American pageant in 1854, but his beauty contest was closed down by public protest.He previously held dog, baby, and bird beauty contests.He substituteddaguerreotypesfor judging, a practice quickly adopted by newspapers. Newspapers held photo beauty contests for many decades.
It was in the 1880s that beauty pageants became more popular. In 1888 the title of 'beauty queen' was awarded to an 18 year old Creole contestant at a pageant inSpa, Belgium. All participants had to supply a photograph and a short description of themselves to be eligible for entry and a final selection of 21 were judged by a formal panel.
TheMiss AmericaPageant was established in 1921 and hosted the winners of local newspaper beauty contests in the "Inter-City Beauty" Contest; a turnout of over one hundred thousand people was achieved and sixteen-year-old Margaret Gorman of Washington, D.C. won both the popularity and beauty contest and was awarded $100.Similar national pageants were also established in Britain, Germany and other countries in the 1920s
2.2.International contests
In May 1920 promoter C.E. Barfield of Galveston organized a new event known as "Splash Day" on the island. The event featured a "Bathing Girl Revue" competition as the centerpiece of its attractions.
The event was the kick-off of the summer tourist season in the city and was carried forward annually. The event quickly became known outside of Texas and, beginning in 1926, the world's first international contest was added, known as the "International Pageant of Pulchritude." This contest is said to have served as a model for modern pageants. It featured contestants from England,Russia,Turkey, and many other nations and the title awarded at the time was known as "Miss Universe."The event was discontinued in the United States in 1932 because of the Depression (the international competition was revived briefly in Belgium).
The first extant international competition to be established was theMiss Worldpageant, created in the United Kingdom byEric Morleyin1951,and is still one of the most publicised beauty contests in the world.
The competition started as the FestivalBikini Contest, in honour of the recently introduced swimwearof the time, but was called "Miss World" by the media. It was originally planned as a one-off event. Upon learning about the upcomingMiss Universepageant, Morley decided to make the pageant an annual event. Opposition to the wearing ofbikinisled to their replacement with more modest swimwear after the first contest.
In 1959, theBBCstarted broadcasting the competition. The pageant's popularity grew with the advent of television.
TheBig Four international beauty pageantsareMiss World(founded in 1951),Miss Universe(begun in 1952),MissInternational(1960) andMissEarth(2001). They are the most coveted beauty titles when it comes to international pageant competitions and are considered to be as such since they are the four largest and most famous female beauty pageants across the globe. Because of their prominence which already became an institution in beauty pageant industry, many fans always anticipate these beauty pageants each year.
- Women’s Beauty pageants
All beauty pageants vary in judging criteria, but for the most part, all pageants judge contestants on four attributes: speaking skills, physical fitness, appearance and talent. Contestants are judged individually, not comparatively.
Interview
Beauty contestants need to communicate well and do a lot of public speaking as a title holder. The interview portion of a beauty pageant consists of a question-and-answer period with the judges, usually held in-private and not in front of an audience. During this one-on-one session, judges talk to each female contestant about her goals, talents and ambitions. Some of the questions may also be about current events. Judges are not only grading contestants on their self-confidence, but also their poise, charm and speaking skills. Some pageants may also feature on-stage interviews, when contestants answer one question about a general topic. For this portion of the competition, judges evaluate each contestant on her comfort with speaking in front of a large audience, her response time, and overall answer.
Fitness
The fitness portion of the competition usually involves a swimsuit. This segment focuses on the face, figure, and confidence of each contestant. If there is no swimsuit portion, contestants may have to show their fitness performing some sort of dance or high energy routine. According to the Miss Texas USA competition, physical measurements, such as bust, waist and hip size, are never considered.
Evening Wear
During the evening gown portion of the competition, contestants can show judges their sense of style. Every contestant picks her own dresses to wear for this part of the competition. When selecting a dress, consider wearing a dress that flatters your figure. In most cases, contestants have free range on the length, color and style of the dress. Pick a dress that you feel confident wearing. Judges typically score a contestant's overall appearance, sense of style and self-confidence while wearing the evening gown.
Talent
Some beauty pageants still judge contestants on their talent. During this segment of the competition, contestants are expected to showcase artistic ability, whether it's playing a musical instrument, performing a choreographed dance, or singing. Other options include dramatic reading, performing magic, or poetry. Judges base their scores on overall impression, technical skill, stage presence, quality of the performance and entertainment value.[2]
3.1.Major International Pageants
The following are the world'sfour largestandmost famousfemale international beauty pageants that have proven their importance and advocacies to the society through the years:-
- Miss Universe
- Miss World
- Miss Earth
- Miss International
The Big Four is a group of the four largest and most famous female international beauty pageants. These are: Miss World (founded in 1951), Miss Universe (1952), Miss International (1960), Miss Earth (2001) only. These pageants have been recognized and acknowledged around the globe by different government agencies and institutions for their unparalleled contributions and clear advocacies to the society.
- Miss World
TheMiss Worldpageant is the oldest surviving major internationalbeauty pageant. It was created in the United Kingdom byEric Morleyin1951.Since his death in2000, Morley's wife,Julia Morley, co-chairs the pageant.
The winner spends a year travelling to represent the Miss World Organisation and its various causes. The current Miss World isMegan Youngof thePhilippineswho was crowned on September 28, 2013 inBali,Indonesia. Traditionally, Miss World lives inLondonduring her reign.
In the year preceding the global finals, each delegate must win her national title or a specially designated Miss World national preliminary. Miss World's national preliminaries are conducted by their licence-holders, who hold the franchise to use the "Miss World" name in their country. The annual final is typically a month long event, with several preliminary galas, dinners, balls and activities, culminating in a globally telecast final show in which the field is narrowed to between 15–20 delegates.
Since 2003 Miss World pageant also features Fast Track events during the preliminary round. The winners of Fast Track events are automatically qualified to enter the final round.
Since 2011 winners of the challenge events are no longer automatically qualified to the final round. Instead, winners and finalists of these events will be awarded bonus points to their preliminary scores. Delegates with the highest points (bonus of challenge events included) are qualified to the final round.[3]
Challenge (Fast Track) events which have been used since 2003 are:
- Beach Fashion (Formerly known as Beach Beauty)(2003–present)
- Miss Talent(2003–present)
- Miss Sports(2003–2004, 2006–present)
- Beauty with a Purpose(2005–present)
- Top Model(2004, 2007–present)
- Multimedia Award (2012–present)
- People's Choice (2003, 2008, 2013)
- Personality (2003)
- Contestant's Choice (2004)
The elimination system in Miss World pageant is done in 3 rounds - thePreliminary, theSemifinal, and theFinal- each with its own scoring format. In addition, there are also 5 special mini competitions known asFast Tracks which will give bonus points for the contestants during the Preliminary.
The Preliminary
In this round, each contestant will have a personal with the judges. The judges will score them in 3 categories - the first being beauty, grace and charm - the second being intelligence, poise and personality - and the third being figure and deportment. Each judge would score them from 6 to 10 points in each category and, unlike in Miss Universe which uses decimal numbers, the scores are given in whole numbers. Therefore the minimum score that a contestant could earn from a judge is 18 points (if she was scored 6 in all 3 categories) and the maximum score is 30 points (if she was scored 10 in all 3 categories).The scores from all the judges would then be tabulated into a single Preliminary score.
The Fast Tracks
Prior to 2011 edition, winner of each Fast Track event will automatically qualify for the Semifinal. But in 2011, the winner is no longer guaranteed a spot in Semifinal. Instead, the winner and all other contestants shortlisted as finalists for a particular Fast Track would earn bonus points towards their Preliminary score. For each Fast Track, the points would be distributed as the following - 20 points for the winner, 18 points for second, 17 for third, 16 for fourth, 15 for fifth, 14 for sixth, 13 for seventh, 12 for eighth, 11 for ninth, 10 for tenth, and 5 points for the rest of the finalists. This point distribution is applied for 4 out of 5 Fast Track events, which areSports,Talent,Beach Beauty, andTop Model.
The only deviation for this distribution isBeauty with a Purpose, which carries higher points. For this particular event, the points would be distributed as the following - 30 points for the winner, 28 points for second, 27 for third, 26 for fourth, 25 for fifth, 24 for sixth, 23 for seventh, 22 for eighth, 21 for ninth, 20 for tenth, 10 points for the rest of the finalists, and 5 points for any contestants who did not make it as Beauty with a Purpose finalist but had a project / presentation submitted for the Fast Track.
The Semifinal
Once the Preliminary and all Fast Tracks scores revealed, a selected number of contestants with the highest combined scores will advance to the Semifinal. Unlike Miss Universe, the scores that a contestant has accumulated in the previous round would not be reset to zero. It would be carried over to the Final. For this round, the judges would rank the semifinalists from the best to the last and their rank would be translated into points as the following - 50 points for first place, 40 points for second, 30 points for third, 20 points for fourth, 15 points for fifth, 10 points for sixth and seventh, 5 points for eighth to tenth, and 2 points for eleventh to fifteenth. Out of all rounds in Miss World elimination system, the judging criteria in this round are the vaguest one. No one (aside Miss World Organization themselves of course) actually know what is the base used by the judges to rank these semifinalists from first to fifteenth. But the most speculated criterion is the overall visual stage impression of these contestants during the Grand Final.
The Final
After the Semifinal scores revealed, another elimination would occur and leave us with even a smaller group of contenders. At this point, the judging is down to the final question where each contestant would have one final chance to convince the people that matter the most - the judges - that she is the one. Just like the Semifinal, once again the judges would rank the finalists from the best to the last and their rank would be translated into points as the following - 50 points for first place, 40 points for second, 30 points for third, 20 points for fourth, 15 points for fifth, 10 points for sixth and 5 points for seventh. From there, all the scores will be combined and the one with the highest score would be crowned as the new Miss World.
- Miss Universe
Miss Universeis an annual internationalbeauty contestthat is run by theMiss Universe Organization.The contest was founded in 1952 byCaliforniaclothing company Pacific Mills. The pageant became part ofKayser-Rothand thenGulf+WesternIndustries, before being acquired byDonald Trumpin 1996.
The current Miss Universe isGabriela IslerofVenezuelawho was crowned on November 9, 2013 inMoscow,Russia. Traditionally Miss Universe lives inNew York Cityduring her reign.
Competition formats
During the early years of the pageant, the delegates who made the first cut were announced after the preliminary competition. From 1965 to the present day, the semifinalists were not announced until the night of the main event. The semifinalists once again competed in evening gown and swimsuit and five finalists were announced. An interview portion was introduced in 1960 to decide the runners-up and the winner.
From 1959 to 1964 there were slight format changes. From 1959 through 1963 there was no cut to reach the five finalists. The runners-up and winner were called from the assembled 15 semifinalists.
In 1965 the pageant returned to the original format of a cut to five finalists, and remained so until 1989.
In 1969 a final question was posed to the last five contestants. The final question was an on-and-off feature of the pageant.
In 1990 it had taken root, and with every pageant since the final contestants have had to answer a final question.
In 1990 the pageant implemented major changes in the competition itself. Instead of five finalists, the field was reduced from ten semifinalists to six. Each contestant then randomly selected a judge and answered the question posed by the judge. After that, the field was narrowed down further to a final three. In 1998, the number of finalists was reduced to five, although there still was a cut to a final three. This continued until 2001, when the final five format was reinstated.
In the year 2000, the interview portion of the semifinal was dropped, and the contestants competed only in swimsuits and evening gowns, as in the early years of the pageant.[4]
In 2003, the number of semifinalists was increased to fifteen, with cuts made to ten, and then to five contestants. The final question varied, each coming from the final delegates themselves and the current Miss Universe.
In 2006, twenty semifinalists were selected for the swimsuit competition, ten of whom went on to the evening gown competition. The five who passed that stage competed in an interview round, after which the runners-up and winner were announced. The 2007 contest followed a similar format, with fifteen contestants competing in the swimsuit stage.
In 2011, for the first time, one of the sixteen semifinalists was selected exclusively by TV viewers via online voting.
Contestant selection
Local organizations that wish to select the Miss Universe contestant for their countries must submit bids to the Miss Universe Organization for that right.
Usually a country's candidate selection involves pageants in major cities, with the winners competing in a national pageant, but this does not always occur.