Our Reigning Queens:
19-Year Old Girl Wins Miss Universe Italy
MAY 31 - RICCIONE.
A girl who hails from the Romagna region will represent Italy to the Miss Universe finals. The winner is Claudia Ferraris, 19 years old, 175cm high with green eyes and brown hair. From Riccione she will fly to Vietnam for the July finals.
The beautiful Italian actress Claudia Gerini graced the finals night while the candidates wore Galliano dresses and Sportmax swimsuits for the final. The pageant was held in Palazzo dei Congressi in the Adriatic town of Riccione
Special thanks to Sabiondo, Missosology.Org's "ambassador-at-large"
Charlotte Labee Crowned Miss Netherlands Universe
MAY 31 - The Netherlands is making a comeback at the Miss Universe pageant after 2 years of absence. To represent the Netherlands is Charlotte Labee who stands at 180 cm. Jelena Petrova finished as first runner-up while the second runner-up is Milou Verhoeks.
Special thanks to Sabiondo, Missosology.Org's "ambassador-at-large"
New Norwegian Pageant Crowned a New Queen
MAY 31 - In what it seems a new round of Froken Norge (where all the finalists of Forken Norge are the contestants), the new pageant, Miss Norway Universe was held with a sole intention to chose Norway's Miss Universe representative.
Mariann Birkedal (left in photo), a 21 year old Stavanger native won the contest. Mariann stands 173 cm and is an economics administration student in BI Oslo.
Special thanks to Sabiondo, Missosology.Org's "ambassador-at-large"
Nguyen Thuy Trang Will Play Host To Miss Universe 2008 Delegates
MAY 31 - HOI AN. The Miss Vietnam Universe 2008 crown went to Nguyen Thuy Trang. The first runner-up is Vo Hoang Yen while the 2nd runner-up Duong Truong Thien Ly. The new queen, also known as Thuy Lam, won earlier the Miss Talent & the Best Interview awards. She also emerged as a public favorite after garnering the largest public votes. Nguyen is 170cm beauty queen and will represent Vietnam -and play host to the delegates as well - in Miss Universe 2008.
Special thanks to hymhyb, Missosology.Org's "ambassador" to Vietnam for giving live updates.
Iceland Crowns Its Miss World and Miss Universe Delegates
Although Iceland was rocked by a 6.1 ritcher earthquake (where a few were slightly injured and no report of casualties), the show went on for the Miss Iceland contest where Ingibjörg Ragnheiður Egilsdóttir was hailed as the first runner-up (left) and will represent Iceland at Miss Universe 2008 contest.
Alexandra Helga Ívardóttir, Miss Iceland 2008, will go to Kiev later for Miss World 2008 contest (center) while Sonja Björk Jónsdóttir is the second runner-up.
Special thanks to Nia, Missosology.Org's "ambassador" to Iceland
Utar student crowned Miss Malaysia Universe
MAY 30 - KUALA LUMPUR
Levy Li Su Lin a student of Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman was crowned Miss Malaysia Universe 2008, beating 13 other contenders. Levy represented the state of Terengganu and is also a part-time model. She clinched five of the 16 subsidiary titles at the beauty pageant held at The Gardens Hotel, Mid Valley where she also became a crowd favorite. Her interpretation of the pageant's theme “Real women behind the beauty” won her rapturous applause.
Jean Thor Jean Nee, 23, from Federal Territory, and Valerie Chan Hsueh Yi, 23, from Sarawak, won the first and second runner-up titles, respectively.
Tanzania Crowns Its New Miss Universe Delegate
MAY 30 - DAR ES SALAAM
Inspired by its good showing last year, Tanzania is roaring to go at Miss Universe 2008. This time around it will be represented by Amanda Ole Sulu (center flanked by runner-ups Jamila Nyanga and Eva Babuely). Amanda was crowned in a finals that saw the attendance of Micaela Reis, Miss Angola Universe 2007 and Flaviana Matata, Miss Tanzania Universe 2007. Reis and Matata are both semi-finalists at Miss Universe 2007.
Here's a report from Maria of Miss Tanzania Universe:
Amanda hails from Arusha town which is at the foot of Mount Meru and near Mount Kilimanjaro. She has a certificate in Computer Engineering. She is 20 years old. Amanda was the crowd favorite at the finals and when the results were announced, the crowd chanted her name before it was officially announced. Amanda was not only confident on stage but she also proved to be very articulate and provided a very original answer to the question: "Apart from fighting HIV/AIDS, helping orphans and promoting Tanzania, if you are chosen Miss Universe Tanzania, what would you do to contribute to the society?" Amanda responded that she would work hard for women's rights. As a Maasai girl, she had faced often obstacles in doing what she wants including courting disapproval and criticism from her Maasai clan for participating in beauty pageants and modelling.
Star Hellas Selects Three Beauties for International Contests
MAY 26 - ATHENS
Star Hellas - the Greek franchise holder for Miss Universe, Miss World and Miss International hailed three stunning women as its new queens in a televised pageant.
Dionisia Koukiou, 22 and stands 178 cm, prevailed as Miss Greece Universe (right). Public favorite Ria Antoniou, 20 and stands 178 cm, will go to Miss International while Angeliki Kalaitzi, age 23 with a height of 171 cm, will compete at Miss World
Special thanks to forum ambassador jopaco of Greece who povided live updates.
Yara Naoum is Miss Egypt Universe 2008
MAY 25 - CAIRO
Since the Miss Egypt 2008 beauty pageant is scheduled to take place by the end of this year to celebrate the its 10th anniversary, Miss Egypt Organization (Face To Face) had to choose a representative to Miss Universe 2008. A special pageant was held with 12 contestants - all of which are runner-ups in the last three editions of the pageant - competing for the title.
Yara Naoum, last year's 2nd runner-up, eventually prevailed. She stands 176 cm is a senior student at the Higher Institue of Cinema in Cairo. She already starred in a major film production last year and she is a part-time model.
Special thanks to forum ambassador Sabiondo of Venezuela.
Miss Thailand Universe 2008 Crowned
MAY 24-BANGKOK
Kavintra Phothijak, a 22 year old student from Bangkok University is crowned by Miss Thailand Universe 2007 and Miss Universe semi-finalist Farung Yuthithum. The first runner-up place went to 21-year old beauty Piyaporn Deejing and she will compete at Miss Earth 2008 in Manila. The pageant concluded after more than 2 hours of live telecast aired on Thailand's Channel 7.
Thailand had been a semi-finalist at Miss Universe in 2006 and 2007 and Kavintra hopes to sustain the momentum this July at Miss Universe 2008 in Vietnam
Special thanks to Wisavej Wattanasuk for photos and info.
Three Hungarian "Queens" Chosen
MAY 22-BUDAPEST
Jazmin Dammak (left) was chosen as Miss Hungary Universe 2008 in a joint beauty contest entitled "The Queen" in a glamorous pageant held in the Hungarian capital of Budapest. On the same contest Miss Hungary World Szilvia Freire (center) and Miss Hungary Earth Krisztina Polgar (right) were also chosen.
Jazmin will participate in July's Miss Universe contest in Vietnam. Szilvia will go to Miss World to be held in Kiev, Ukraine while Krisztina will participate at Miss Earth to be held in Manila.
Miss Panama Reality Show Contest's Results Leaked
MAY 22-PANAMA
For all national pageants struggling with low viewerships and hesitant sponsors, Miss Panama Universe is a good example how to change it all. To encourage the interest of the general public the pageant was renamed 'Realmente Bella 2008'. Contestants are eliminated every week and although the supposed public announcement of winners is scheduled on May 26, the list of winners eventually leaked into the public.
The winner is Carolina Dementiev a 19 year old model with a law degree. She was born in the former Soviet Union and likes to do a lot of outdoor activities. She will go to Vietnam to represent Panama at Miss Universe 2008 contest.
Life Goes on For Miss Singapore Universe Contest
MAY 19-SINGAPORE Despite all the bad news, Miss Singapore Universe went on and concluded with a foreign exchange broker Shenise Wong as the new winner. After a 5 hour pageant at Marriott Hotel, all the fanfare seems to belie all that news of poor sponsorship and sagging viewership. The pageant was not aired on television but it was reported that the expensive tables that night were all taken.
Shenise had already participated in Miss Asia Pacific 1999, Miss International 2002 and Miss World 2005.
Complaints from Australia and Losing Interest in Singapore
For Miss Universe fans everywhere this could be a very frustrating news. In Australia, despite claims of better
participation and a higher level of competition, this year’s Miss Australia Universe was without complaints.
Writing for Herald Sun, Fiona Byrne was not happy on what’s going on during the competition.
“And congratulations to the national finalists who competed for the title,” she wrote, “But few congratulations can be passed on to the people behind the event. It was tacky, poorly organized and felt cheap.” She claimed that few people bother to dress up and there were lots of people roaming around while the pageant is going on. She further wrote that the event security was inflexible and anything but helpful and that the organization of the post-pageant press conference was a mess.
Meanwhile in Singapore, due to sagging viewership and low sponsorship, the Miss Singapore Universe contest will not be aired on TV anymore. Mediacorp has been handling the event for seven years. Sixteen finalists will vie for the crown on May 20. TV ratings had declined by as much as 32% as compared during its heyday, reported The Nation newspaper. Despite of this, Daryl Pang, one of the organizers, vowed to go on with the show as long as it “does not look cheap and everybody enjoys the night.”
Singaporeans had enjoyed hosting Miss Universe in 1987 where Marion Nicole Teo (above right) landed as one of the top ten semi-finalists.
From the Herald Sun and The Nation
Miss Slovenia Universe 2008
MAY 17-LJUBLJANA Miss Slovenia Universe recently concluded in a pageant held in the capital city of Ljubljana. Besting 31 other candidates is Anamarija Avbelj, a stunning blonde from the town of Lukovice.
Anamarija is a 20 year old economics student and hopes to follow and even surpass the last year's performance of Miss Slovenia Universe 2007 and Miss Universe semifinalist Tjasa Kokalj.
Miss Australia Universe 2008
MAY 14- MELBOURNE In what was described as a the best Miss Universe Australia pageant in years, Laura Donduvic bested 28 other finalists and earned a ticket to the Miss Universe 2008 pageant. The pageant lasted for two hours and National Director Miss Universe Australia Deborah Miller said the standard of competition was one of the highest ever. Both the quality of production and better participation were attributed to the Jennifer Hawkins whose victory in 2004 propelled the popularity of the pageant Down Under.
Laura is a 21 year old psychology student from Sydney. She attributed her victory to her family and boyfriend. She also praised Jennifer Hawkins for her legacy and in an interview gave an interesting view on how to save the environment. She said that avoiding hairspray could help protect the environment citing the ill-effects of CFCs.
The pageant was held in Toorak, Victoria. Photo Credits: Nicole Gramston
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