South Sudanese contestant at the ongoing Miss World Pageant has been announced among the top 30 contestants who are going to compete for “Top Model” award at the Miss World Top Model Challenge event on Saturday night.

There are 5 African countries in the top 30 contestants namely Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Ethiopia, South Africa and South Sudan among other world contestants.

Last night the contestants took part in a special catwalk show at the Beauty Crown Complex to showcase their entries into the Miss World Fashion Designer Award.

The designers helped the judges select 30 contestants to progress onto the final stages of the Miss World Top Model Challenge Event. This final stage, which takes place tomorrow night (Saturday 12 December), will be a showcase of the latest designs created by 1436 Erdos, a luxury range of cashmere clothing.

Miss World Top Model Challenge

The Miss World Top Model Challenge is a modeling fast track competition at the Miss World Pageant. The competition was first held in 2004, but not in 2005-2006. It’s been held from 2007 onwards. The winner of the competition automatically makes it into the semifinals.

In 2012, Atong Demach was the winner of Miss World Top Model and made it to top 7 finalists.

Miss World Pageant Process

Miss World Pageant is conducted in several phases. Delegates have to go through a long process to reach the finals of the event. In the year before the global finals, the delegate has to win her national title or a specially designated Miss World national preliminary. These events are conducted by the organizations which have been given the franchise to use the Miss World name in their country to organize the preliminary events. These events are also a long process and the participants have to pass through several rounds to emerge winner.

Global Final
Winners of the national competitions appear in the global final which is typically a month long event. A series of dinners, balls and other activities are organized, culminating in a globally telecast final show. The number of delegates is narrowed to 15 to 20 delegates in the final. The winner is chosen by a panel of judges from these delegates.

Fast Track Competitions
Several fast track events have been introduced by the organizers in recent years. Winners of these events are automatically qualified to enter the final round. These fast track events are Beach Beauty (2003), Miss Talent (2003), Miss Sport (2003), Beauty With A Purpose (2005), Top Model (2004, 2007-2008), Personality (2003, 2008), People’s Choice (2003) and Contestant’s Choice (2004).

Continental Queens of Beauty
A major change was made in 2005 when the concept of Continental Queens of Beauty of introduced. A definite feature is followed for selecting the Continental Queens of Beauty. Each judge divides his/her top 40 contestants in 8 groups of 5 candidates in each. The top five contestants in the first group are awarded 8 points each. Contestants in the second group are awarded 7 points. The points are awarded so on, and the 5 contestants in the 8th group, are awarded 1 point. The contestant with the highest score in the region becomes Continental Queen of Beauty for the Region. If the process ends in a tiebreak, several formulas are used in succession to end the deadlock.

Organization
Annual Miss World Finals are conducted by the Miss World Limited, a privately held person. The organization was founded by Eric Morley in 1951 in the United Kingdom. Even today, the control of the organization remains in the hands of his family. Apart from organizing the beauty pageant, the organization has also raised millions of pounds for charities around the globe under the banner of its ‘Beauty with a Purpose’ program.

South Sudan joined Miss World Pageant in 2012 with Atong as the first ever South Sudanese contestant at the world oldest beauty pageant. In the same year Atong won continental fast track event for Africa.

Ajah is the fourth South Sudanese representative in Miss World. Other contestants were, Atong Demach (2012), Manuella Modong (2013) and Awien Kuanyin (2014).

By John Masura