Beauties battle for Miss Earth

Miss Earth ... Victoria Stewart. Picture: Alexander Alba Photography

By Saffron Howden

IT is a beauty pageant with an environmentally friendly message.

The Miss Earth Australia contest proves you can pose semi-naked on a beach and conserve the trees, too.

With environmental issues and climate change near the top of Australia's list of concerns these days, an entrepreneur decided to use busty blondes and brunettes to raise awareness of a planet in crisis.

The competition, in its fourth year in Australia, drew 36 contestants from all over the country in 2007.

A quick glance at the Miss Earth website suggests saving the environment is as much about climate change as it is about cleavage.

The winner of Australian Miss Earth, 21-year-old Canberra resident Victoria Stewart, has no qualms about posing in a bikini to enforce her views on global warming.

"There are many sources of natural pollution that face the world but I think the biggest issue is man-made pollution and environmental damage," she says on her website profile.

Ms Stewart will fly to the Philippines next month to compete in the international Miss Earth pageant.

If she wins, Australia could be graced with the international pageant next year.

Source: The Daily Telegraph

Dang Minh Thu to join Miss World 2007

Dang Minh Thu, the second runner up at the recently held Miss Vietnam Global, is chosen for the competition of Miss World 2007 which will take place for one month, from November 1 in Hainan Island, China.

Earlier, Dang Minh Thu was crowned Miss Beach Vietnam 2006. She is 1.68m tall with body measurement of 85- 63-90. Thu, born in 1988, is now the first year student of the Hanoi Open University.

Thuy Hanh, professional director of Elite Model Beauty Vietnam, the only agency authorised to select beauties to compete at international beauty pageants, said with such above two titles, Dang Minh Thu is eligible for the Miss World contest under the regulations of the State as well as the organising board. She also added that Miss Vietnam World Ngo Phuong Lan won’t join the Miss World 2007 because she can’t arrange the time, whereas the first runner up Teressa Sam won’t take part in the competition either as she can’t speak Vietnamese and she has British citizenship.

(Thanh Nien, Tuoi Tre)

Source: Nhan Dan

Richa’s mom to attend Miss World contest in China

MOTHER of Miss Tanzania 2007, Maria Cercacia, has confirmed that she will attend the Miss World beauty pageant slated for China towards the end of this year.

The Public Relations Officer of the Miss Tanzania Organising Committee, Rico Idan, told the ‘Daily News’ in Dar es Salaam yesterday that Maria is among the people who will go and attend the event in China.

However, she said that Maria would foot all her transport and accommodation bills.

Miss Tanzania 2007, Richa Adhia, expects to arrive in China on November 2, one month before her mother joins her.

Meanwhile, Idan said that according to the rules, the committee is supposed to promote the country’s tourism sector and provide employment opportunities.

He was responding to a statement by the President of Miss Tourism Event, Gideon Chipungahelo, that the Miss Tanzania Organising Committee is wrong to say that one of its responsibilities is to promote the tourism sector.

Source: Daily News

Miss Universe 2008 to take place in Vietnam

The Vietnamese government has agreed to let central Khanh Hoa province to host Miss Universe 2008 after the pageant's organizing committee invited the country to host the event, local media reported Thursday.

To be eligible for hosting Miss Universe 2008, Vietnam should have many landscapes, good infrastructure, especially luxury hotels and a 7,500-seat stage, and spend some 15 million U.S. dollars on the event, according to Young People newspaper.

Of the money, 7 million dollars will be paid as the pageant's royalty, and the remainder spent on covering manpower and infrastructure expenses, said the committee's head, Paula Mary Shugart, who visited the country recently.

Vietnam will focus on constructing the stage, upgrading the Cam Ranh airport and some hotels in Khanh Hoa, and beautifying the province's Nha Trang sea city, venue of the pageant slated for next May.

In late May in Mexico, Miss Japan, Riyo Mori, was chosen as Miss Universe 2007.

Sources: People's Daily Online and Xinhua

PM okays Khanh Hoa’s Miss Universe hosting plan

Miss Universe 2007 Riyo Mori

By Son Ha - Phuoc Ha

VietNamNet Bridge – Yesterday afternoon, September 26, Deputy PM Nguyen Sinh Hung gave Khanh Hoa Provincial People’s Committee permission to host Miss Universe 2008 in Nha Trang city.

In his decision, Deputy PM Nguyen Sinh Hung requests Khanh Hoa’s Chairman to work with related ministries and agencies to ensure success of the international beauty pageant to be held some time next summer.

Head of the Government Office Nguyen Xuan Phuc has also informed Miss Universe Organization’s Chairwoman Paula Mary Shugart of the Vietnamese government’s approval and support.

In his letter, Mr. Phuc writes, ’’The Vietnamese government thinks highly of Vietnam hosting Miss Universe 2008. This will be a great opportunity for Vietnam to promote her country and people all over the world.”

The government’s decision made yesterday was happily received by Khanh Hoa officials. “I personally had a sleepless night yesterday,” said Le Xuan Than, Vice Chairman of Khanh Hoa People’s Committee.

According to Mr. Than, there are now many things Khanh Hoa needs to do to prepare for the event. After the contract with Miss Universe Organization is signed, a steering committee will be established to supervise the construction of a new 7,500-seat stage and upgrading of Cam Rang Airport, among other things.

As for Doctor Doan Thi Kim Hong, Head of Hoan Vu Joint Stock, the unit directly in charge of hosting Miss Universe 2008, she said having pursued the plan for the past 2 years, she was “very happy, moved” and couldn’t “help crying” when she received the news.

Ms. Hong said at the beginning of October, a delegation from Hoan Vu would fly to New York to work on a contract with Miss Universe Organization, pay US$7million for copyrights, and settle other issues.

“The organization committee will then make an official announcement about Vietnam hosting Miss Universe 2008,” added she. Regarding many people’s concern that Khanh Hoa would find it very difficult to build a big stage in the Lo River Tourism Zone within less than a year, Ms. Hong said Panama did the same thing when it hosted Miss Universe 2003.

Source: Vietnam Net Bridge

Miss International pageant features student contestant

By Kellie Geist

Media Credit: photo contributed
Ashlei's future holds hopes of becoming an FBI agent.

While the rest of us will spend the next couple weeks going to classes and work, Ashlei Sothard will be hanging out in Mahé in the Seychelles off the east coast of Africa. But she won't be lounging poolside - Sothard will be representing the U.S. in the 36th Annual Miss International Beauty Pageant.

"I was on stage at the Miss Kentuckiana Pageant when they told me I'd been selected to go," she said. "It was really exciting."

One of just 44 contestants from around the world, Sothard, a senior criminal justice major, will spend 10 days posing for photo shoots and strutting her stuff for the Oct. 13 worldwide telecast. But her pageant career is only four years in the making.

"I started competing when I was 17 with the Miss Kentucky Teen USA pageant," Sothard said. "I've been competing ever since."

Sothard has been named Miss Kentucky Teen Model 2003, Miss Kentucky Hawaiian Tropic, Miss Kenton County 2006 and Miss Virginia Hawaiian Tropic 2007. However, she's never been in a pageant that took take her away from home, work and school for three weeks.

"A few of my professors asked why I didn't just drop for the semester," Sothard said. "But I'm all set to graduate in December, so I asked if I could take my tests before I left." She said some of her classes have online quizzes and assignments, so during her downtime in Mahé, she'll be using her laptop and new wireless card to study and keep up.

"Most of my professors were pretty cool about it," she said. "It's just such a great opportunity that they didn't want to tell me I couldn't go."

Although the 21-year-old said she's thrilled to be representing her country in the pageant, she's also a little excited about her journey to Mahé.

"My layover is in France, so I'll be in Paris for a full day by myself," she said. "That in itself is like a dream come true."

One of her outfits for the pageant is a modified Reds uniform complete with a cropped jersey, knee-length baseball pants and knee socks. "Baseball is known worldwide as America's pastime, and Cincinnati had the first professional baseball team," Sothard said in a press release. "It just seemed perfect for a national costume. Besides, it will be beautiful after it's tailored, and I add lots of rhinestones and sequins."

Sothard's pageant career has also taken her to Hawaii, New York City, Canada and Mexico. "A lot of what I enjoy (about competing) is having everything together and knowing that all of my hard work is paying off," she said.

Source: The Northerner

MTV to debut Donald Trump's 'Pageant Place' reality series October 10

By Christopher Rocchio

MTV has announced Pageant Place, a new Donald Trump-produced reality series that will follow several beauty queens as they live together in a New York City apartment and represent their different crowns, will premiere Wednesday, October 10 at 10:30PM ET/PT.

Current Miss Universe Riyo Mori and Miss USA Rachel Smith as well as former Miss Teen USA Katie Blair will star in Pageant Place, which captured the beauty queens' daily lives during their respective reigns this past summer. Pageant Place's season will also eventually feature Hilary Cruz -- who was crowned Miss Teen USA 2007 last month -- moving in with Mori and Smith and adjusting to the spotlight that comes with being Blair's successor.

While the women coexisting together isn't new -- as they normally live together during their yearlong reign -- this will be the first time viewers will be invited inside to witness some royal cattiness.

In addition, The Donald -- who is co-owner of the Miss Universe Organization, which includes Miss Universe, Miss USA and Miss Teen USA -- will also make regular appearances on Pageant Place to keep the beauty queens on track and in check, similar to the way he handled the January controversy surrounding former Miss USA Tara Conner's underage drinking.

Instead of taking Conner's crown away, Trump announced she would keep her title and attend an in-patient substance abuse rehabilitation center. Conner -- now 21 years old -- will also be of part Pageant Place's cast and serve as the beauty queens' "unofficial peer advisor."

The previously announced eight-episode series is being produced via Trump Productions (which Trump launched last summer), Evolution Film & Tape, Inc. and the Miss Universe Organization.
In addition to Trump, Andy Litinsky (the former The Apprentice 2 contestant that Trump hired to run his own production company last year), Miss Universe Organization president Paula Shugart and Evolution's Douglas Ross, Greg Stewart and Kathleen French will serve as executive producers.

Source: Reality TV World