Miss Earth

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Miss Earth logo.

Miss Earth is an annual international female beauty pageant promoting environmental awareness. Established in 2001, the Miss Earth pageant is recognized as the third largest beauty contest in the world (following Miss Universe and Miss World contests). The reigning titleholders dedicate their year to promote the event to address issues concerning the environment.

History

Carousel Productions Inc. organized and launched the first Miss Earth beauty pageant in 2001. It was intended to actively promote the preservation of the environment.^[1] Those who participate in the pageant are involved with environmental causes. The pageant winner is expected to become involved with international environmental projects. These projects are promoted during the pageant's broadcast. The delegates also take part in tree planting ceremonies, environmental and cultural immersion programs, sponsor visits and tours. The Miss Earth pageant has grown, with an increasing number of countries participating. The number of national Miss Earth pageants has grown on every continent as well.^[2][3] In 2006, the host country Chile failed to meet the requirements of the host committee, but the pageant was moved to The Philippines.^[4] The Miss Earth winner is the spokesperson for the Miss Earth Foundation, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and other environmental groups.

Pageant System

Since the Miss Earth pageant has an environmental cause, it is primarily looking for young women who will stand for the protection and preservation of the planet. These women are pageant winners or chosen by national Miss Earth directors from different nations.^[5] On national level competitions, the Miss Earth's cause is carried out to assure that each of the participating candidates are not just physically beautiful, but environmentally knowledgeable. As soon as the national winners are chosen, they will be subject to evaluation by the pageant organizer. During the pre-finals weeks, the candidates are evaluated on each activity and event they have. Preliminary swimsuit and evening gown competitions also take place, and a panel interview where the candidates speak of their environmental platform and personal thoughts. As soon as the preliminary activities are completed, the judges and the executive staff will select sixteen candidates who will comprise the group of semi-finalists. During the live finals, the sixteen (16) semi-finalists will be announced. All previous scores will be disregarded and thereafter compete in the swimsuit round. The top eight (8) scorers in swimsuit will move on the next level of competition. The final eight (8) portion will have interview and evening gown competition components. The scores from these two (2) events will be averaged and the four (4) highest scorers will continue with the last competition - the final interview. In the final interview, all four finalists will answer one environmental question, the candidates will be assessed based on the judges over-all impression on the candidate to determine the final ranking. If in case the Miss Earth winner can no longer fulfill her duties and obligations as titleholder, the 1st runner-up will assume. .^[6]

Awards and titles

The winner of the pageant is bestowed the title Miss Earth; her runner ups are also given titles named after the other natural elements: Miss Fire (equivalent to third runner-up), Miss Water (second runner-up), and Miss Air (first runner-up). Miss Earth is the only one of the "Big Four" pageants which have individual titles for the runners-up.^[7] Since it began the pageant has been held in October or November, in Manila, Philippines and televised nationwide via ABS-CBN with international telecasts in more than 80 countries via STAR TV, and The Filipino Channel.^[8][9]

Miss Earth Crown

The Miss Earth crown is designed and created by Arnel Papa. The crown's frame is made up of sterling silver while clear Swarovski and pearls compose the embellishments. Red and blue Swarovski pearls are additional ornaments. Leaves and flowers are the concept of the crown's design.

Delegates

• Miss Earth gained worldwide press in 2003 after Vida Samadzai, an Afghan woman now residing in the United States, competed in a red bikini. Samadzai was the first Afghan woman to compete in an international beauty pageant in almost three decades, but the fact that she wore a bikini caused an uproar in her native country.^[10][11][12] She later became Ms. America 2005-06.^[13]
• Miss Earth also made headlines in 2005 when a Pakistani beauty queen, Naomi Zaman, a Miss Pakistan World winner participated for the first time. She is the first delegate from Pakistan to compete in any major international pageants. Beauty pageants are frowned-upon in Pakistan which caused an uproar in her native country.^{[14][15][16][17][18][19]}
• Likewise, Miss Earth Tibet 2006, Tsering Chungtak, the first Tibetan who represented Tibet in any major international beauty pageants made headlines. Aside from her environmental cause, she raised international attentions regarding the Tibetan struggle for freedom. She also advocated for the boundaries of acceptable social etiquette towards modernity, in a traditionally conservative Tibetan culture, where most grown women wear ankle-length dresses. Nevertheless, her participation in the pageant received an approval from the Dalai Lama^{[20][21][22][23]} She made more headlines in December 2007, when she withdrew her participation in the Miss Tourism contest, a minor international beauty pageant held in Malaysia, after organizers reacted to pressure from Beijing and asked her to add "China" to her "Miss Tibet" title by wearing a sash labeled “Miss Tibet-China.^{[24][25][26][27][28][29]}
• In 2007, Carousel Productions licensed the Miss Cuba organization to select the first Cuban representative to Miss Earth. Ariana Barouk won and became the first Miss Cuba in several decades and competed at the Miss Earth Pageant in which she drew mixed reactions and global publicity.^[30]

Location

The pageant has been held in the Philippines every year since 2001^[31]. Miss Earth 2006 was scheduled to be held in Santiago, Chile on November 15, but organizational problems forced the pageant to move back to the Philippines.^[32] The 7th Miss Earth Pageant was held at the University of the Philippines Theater in Manila on November 11, 2007. Prior to the finals night, the candidates were toured to various destinations in the Philippines and Vietnam. Twenty-two year-old Jessica Nicole Trisko of Canada beat 87 other candidates.

Titleholders

Miss Earth 2006

Alexandra Braun Waldeck, Miss Earth 2005

Year	Miss Earth	Country	Finals Night Venue	Host Country
2001	Catharina Svensson	Denmark	Quezon City	Philippines
2002	Džejla Glavović (Dethroned)	Bosnia and Herzegovina	Manila	Philippines
	Winfred Adah Omwakwe	Kenya
2003	Dania Patricia Prince Méndez	Honduras	Quezon City	Philippines
2004	Priscilla Meirelles de Almeida	Brazil	Quezon City	Philippines
2005	Alexandra Braun Waldeck	Venezuela	Quezon City	Philippines
2006	Hil Yesenia Hernández	Chile	Manila	Philippines
2007	Jessica Trisko	Canada	Quezon City	Vietnam - Philippines

Tally

Anyone who follows the Olympic Games or other sporting events will be familiar with the concept of the Medal Table, which ranks countries based on their first (gold), second (silver) and third (bronze) place finishes. Here is a similar table of the top rankings for the Miss Earth pageant, based on all results from the first event to the most recent event.

Rank	Country	Miss Earth	Miss Air	Miss Water	Miss Fire
1	Brazil	1	2	0	0
2	Venezuela	1	0	1	1
3	Canada, Chile,  Denmark, Honduras, Kenya	1	0	0	0
4	India	0	2	0	0
5	Dominican Republic, Martinique	0	1	0	0
6	Poland  Serbia	0	0	1	1
7	Tahiti  Philippines  Kazakhstan Costa Rica	0	0	1	0
8	Argentina, Greece,  Paraguay, Spain	0	0	0	1

Winning years for each country

Map of Miss Earth-winning countries as of 2006: those highlighted in red.

Country	Title(s)	Winning year(s)
Brazil	1	2004
Bosnia and Herzegovina	1	2002*
Canada	1	2007
Chile	1	2006
Denmark	1	2001
Honduras	1	2003
Kenya	1	2002
Venezuela	1	2005

Best performances by continental regions

As of 2007

* In 2002, Bosnia & Herzegovina's Džejla Glavović won the Miss Earth crown in the Philippines. However, she was dethroned a few months later by the Miss Earth Organization for not fulfilling the duties stipulated in her contract. First runner-up, Kenya's Winnie Adah Omwakwe continued the responsibilities as Miss Earth 2002.

Other Relevant Information

• Miss Earth is the only international pageant that selects the semi-finalists through a panel interview, where the candidates are not wearing any "make-up" e.g. lipstick, facial/eye make-up, powder, and etc.
• In 2007 edition two (2) countries hosted the pageant. Vietnam co-hosted some of the pageant activities; other activities up to the finals were done in its home base, the Philippines.
• In the history, only one woman has competed at all four major international pageants. She is Cynthia Kanema of Zambia who competed at Miss World 2003, Miss International 2004, Miss Universe 2005, and Miss Earth 2005. She was unplaced at all four pageants.^[33][34][35]
• Miss Cuba 2007, Ariana Barouk earned the distinction of being the first Cuban representative, in any international pageant, in 64 years, who won Miss Cuba by beauty competition and not by appointment^[36]. Ariana later competed in Miss Earth 2007 edition. Cuba last participated in Miss Universe in 1967 ^[37] and Miss World in 1975^[38], both by appointment.
• Denmark won its first major beauty title in history when Catharina Svensson won Miss Earth in 2001.^[39][40]
• Dzejla Glavović is the first woman from Bosnia & Herzegovina to win a major beauty title for her country. She is also the first Miss Earth to be dethroned, for failing to fulfill her duties.^[41]
• Kenya also claimed its first major title when Winnie Adah Omwakwe assumed the position of Miss Earth 2002.She's the first Black to have the said title and also the first Miss Earth from Africa.^[42]
• Miss Earth 2003, Dania Prince Mendez from Honduras competed in Miss Universe 1998. She was unplaced.
• Miss Afghanistan 2003 Vida Samadzai was the first candidate of Miss Earth to win the special award Beauty for a Cause. She helped in establishing a US-based women's charity that seeks to raise awareness of women's rights and education in the Afghanistan^[43]. Miss South Africa, Montjane was the second candidate to win the special award.^[44]
• When Priscilla Meirelles won the title in 2004, Brazil became the first country to have a winner in all four major international pageants. The following year, Alexandra Braun completed the grand slam for Venezuela.^[45]
• Miss Earth 2004 Priscilla Meirelles is the first Miss Earth Winner to host the Miss Earth Competition in 2006 and also in 2007.^[46]
• A delegate from the Philippines has made the semi-finals every year except in 2007.^[47][48]

Awards

• Venezuela has the most Best in Swimsuit awards: Alexandra Braun in 2005, Marianne Puglia in 2006 and Silvana Santaella in 2007.
• Korea has the most Best National Costume awards: Jin-Ah Lee in 2002 and Hie Mi Yoo in 2005.
• Bosnia & Herzegovina has the most Miss Talent awards: Džejla Glavović in 2002 and Mirela Bulbulija in 2004.
• Only one Miss Friendship has gone on place in the pageant: Amale Al Khoder (Lebanon, 2007).
• Only one Miss Earth winner was awarded Miss Talent: Džejla Glavović (Bosnia & Herzegovina, 2002).
• Only one Miss Earth winner was awarded Miss Photogenic: Priscilla Meirelles (Brazil, 2004).
• Miss Venezuela Silvana Santaella won 4 awards: Best In Evening Gown, Best in Swimsuit, Miss Psalmstre Placenta and Gandang Ricky Reyes Award.

See also

• Miss Asia Pacific International

References

External links

• Official Miss Earth web site
• Miss Earth Foundation

This box:  •  • edit  Big Four Pageants
Miss Earth • Miss International • Miss Universe • Miss World