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| Leila Lopes Of Angola Is Crowned Miss Universe |
The contest was founded in 1952 by California clothing company Pacific Mills. The pageant became part of Kayser-Roth and then Gulf and Western Industries, before being acquired by Donald Trump in 1996.
In 1998, Miss Universe changed its name from Miss Universe, Inc. to Miss Universe Organization and the headquarters moved from Los Angeles, California, to New York City that year. Donald Trump brought in a new team of professionals to the contest headed by its new CEO, Molly Miles, and president Maureen Reidy. The contest would use the slogan "Redefined for Today" for promotion of the pageants.
The current Miss Universe is Leila Lopes, from Angola. She won the title on September 12, 2011.
History
The first use of the title "Miss Universe" was as part of International Pageant of Pulchritude which began in 1926. These events, the first international contests, lasted until 1935 when the Great Depression and other events preceding World War II led to their demise. This pageant had no direct relationship with the modern event.
The winner of the later "Miss America 1951" pageant, Yolande Betbeze, refused to pose in a swimsuit from its major sponsor, Catalina swimwear. As a result, the brand's manufacturer Pacific Mills withdrew from Miss America and set up the Miss USA and Miss Universe contests. The first Miss Universe Pageant was held in Long Beach, California in 1952. It was won by Armi Kuusela from Finland, who gave up her title though not officially to get married, shortly before her year was complete. Until 1958 the Miss Universe title (like Miss America) was post-dated, so at the time Ms. Kuusela's title was Miss Universe 1953.
Competition formats
In the early years of the pageant the delegates who made the cut were announced after the preliminary competition. From 1965 to the present day the semi-finalists were not announced until the night of the main event. The semi-finalists once again competed in evening gown and swimsuit and a top 5 were announced. An interview portion was introduced in 1960 to decide the runners-up and 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 semi-finalists.
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 format changes in the competition itself. Instead of five finalists, the field was reduced from 10 semi-finalists to 6. 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 3. In 1998, the number of finalists was reduced to 5, although there still was a cut to a final 3. This continued to 2001, where the final 5 format was re-instated.
In 2000 the interview portion of the semi-finals was quietly dropped and the contestants once again, as in the early days of the pageant, competed only in swimsuit and gowns.
In 2003 the Top 15 was again selected instead of the Top 10. Cuts were made to make the Top 10, and eventually the Top 5. The final question varied, each coming from the final delegates themselves and the current Miss Universe.
In 2006 twenty semi-finalists were announced, with these delegates competing in the swimsuit competition. The number of competing delegates was then cut to ten, with those delegates competing in the evening gown competition. After that round of competition, the final five were announced, with the finalists competing in the "final question" or interview round. At the end of competition the runners-up were announced and the winner crowned by the outgoing queen.
The contest today
The Miss Universe Organization, a New York–based partnership between NBC and Donald Trump, has run the contest since June 20, 2002. The current president is Paula Shugart. The Organization sells television rights to the pageant in other countries, and also produces the Miss USA and Miss Teen USA contests with the winner of Miss USA representing the USA in Miss Universe.
Contestant selection
Each year, Miss Universe organizers receive bids from organizations who wish to select the Miss Universe contestant for a country. This allows competition between different pageants to hold a country's license, as happened for Miss Italy and Miss France for example, when the licenses for their respective traditional organizations were revoked (the usual Miss France competition returned in 2004).
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. For example, in 2000 Australia's national pageant was abolished as a relic of a bygone era, with Australian delegates instead chosen by a modeling agency. Such "castings" are generally discouraged by the Miss Universe Organization, which prefers national pageants that preserve an aura of respectability and competition. Despite being "cast", Miss Australia, Jennifer Hawkins, was chosen as Miss Universe 2004. Later that year, Australia resumed its national pageant and chose Michelle Guy as Miss Universe Australia 2005.
Some of the most successful national pageants in the last decade have been Venezuela, USA, Puerto Rico, etc. which command consistently high interest and television ratings in their respective countries. Recent arrivals in the pageant include China (2002), Albania (2002), Vietnam (2004), Georgia (2004), Ethiopia (2004), Latvia (2005), Kazakhstan (2006), Tanzania (2007), and Kosovo (2008); there have also been efforts to revive strong national pageants in South Africa, Canada, Spain, Japan; Latin America (especially Venezuela, Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, Mexico, Colombia and Brazil) among other regions. Prior powerhouses are Finland, Germany and Sweden. England is the most successful non-winning country with nine Top five positions.
The organization makes continual efforts to expand the pageant, but the participation of some countries such as Algeria has proven difficult due to cultural barriers to the swimsuit competition, while others such as Azerbaijan, Mozambique, Armenia and Nepal have balked at sending representatives due to the cost (in fact, of all the major international pageants, the franchise fee for Miss Universe is the most expensive). As of 2010, only four countries have been present at every Miss Universe since its inception in 1952: Canada, France, Germany, and the United States. Many European countries allow 17-year-old contestants to compete in their pageants, while Miss Universe's minimum age is 18, so national titleholders often have to be replaced by their runners-up. Miss Universe also prohibits transsexual applicants and age fabrication.
Main pageant
The main Miss Universe Pageant, as of this writing, is held over a two week period in May and July. In the 1970s through the 1990s, the pageant was a month long. This allowed time for rehearsals, appearances, and the preliminary competition, with the winner being crowned by the previous year's titleholder during the final competition.
According to the organizers, the Miss Universe contest is more than a beauty pageant: women aspiring to become Miss Universe must be intelligent, well-mannered, and cultured. Often a candidate has lost because she did not have a good answer during the question responses rounds; although this section of competition has held less importance during recent pageants than it did in the twentieth century. Delegates also participate in swimsuit and evening gown competitions.
Currently, the final placement of the finalists is determined by a ranked vote, where each judge ranks each of the final three/five candidates, with the contestant posting the lowest cumulative score (thus often, but not necessarily always, the contestant with the most number one votes) becoming the winner. If there is a tie, the higher semifinal scores become decisive.
The winner is assigned a one-year contract with the Miss Universe Organization, going overseas to spread messages about the control of diseases, peace, and public awareness of AIDS.
Final judgment
The competition for the Miss Universe title has seen many changes, although there have been several constants throughout its history. All the contestants compete in a preliminary round of judging (nowadays called the "Presentation Show") where the field is narrowed to a select number of semi-finalists. This number has fluctuated over the years. The very first Miss Universe pageant had ten semi-finalists. The next two years, the number of semi-finalists grew to 16. In 1955, the number dropped to a stable 15, which remained through 1970. In 1971, the number was reduced to 12. That number was further reduced to a mere 10 in 1984. This lasted until 2003, when the number of 15 was re-instated. In 2006, there were 20 semi-finalists, the highest number ever. In 2007, the Organization announced the Top 15 system would be back, which was also used in 2008.
In the early years, the contestants were judged in swimsuit and evening gown only. In later years, the contestants also competed in a preliminary interview round in a one-on-one meeting with each individual judge.
In 2007, 77 contestants started the competition; the top 15 moving to the swimsuit competition. From there, 10 were selected for the evening gown competition which halved the contenders to 5. These final five then answered a final question to decide the winner.
Miss Universe Crown
The Miss Universe crown used from 2002–2007 was designed by Mikimoto, the official jewellery sponsor of the Miss Universe Organization, and depicted the phoenix rising, signifying status, power and beauty. The crown has 500 diamonds of almost 30 carats (6.0 g), 120 South Sea and Akoya pearls, ranging in size from 3 to 18 mm diameter and is valued at $250,000. The Crown was designed specifically for the pageant on Mikimoto Pearl Island in Japan with the Mikimoto crown and tiara being first used for Miss Universe 2002.
Since 2009, Diamond Nexus Labs has made the Miss Universe crown. The crown is set with 1,371 gemstones, weighing a total of 416.09 carats (83.22 g). It contains 544.31 grams of 14k and 18k white gold as well as platinum. The crown features synthetic rubies to represent Miss Universe's HIV/AIDS education and awareness platform. Diamond Nexus Labs is the first ever eco-friendly Official Jeweler of Miss Universe and was selected as part of NBC Universal's "Green is Universal" initiative.
Musical score
2004 marked the first year for the Miss Universe pageant to use the Orenté musical score, the official Miss Universe soundtrack. The Orenté musical score is divided into eight sequences: the Orenté Introduction — the musical score played during the live telecast as the voice over begins the Miss Universe pageant, the Orenté Major — used for the cue after commercial and during the announcement of the newly crowned Miss Universe, the Orenté Elimination — used for the announcement of semi-finalists, the Orenté Fashion Presentation, the Orenté Interlude — used while showing the ten finalists, the Orenté Pregunta Final — used while the final five finalists answer the final question the Orenté Final Look — used for the final look of the five finalists, and the Orenté Announcement — used while announcing the positions of the final five delegates. In 2008, a new Orenté Fashion Presentation was played during the Fadil Berisha swimsuit photoshoot, the 2008 version was now the called the Orenté Curtain Call, which was used as Melanie B and Jerry Springer called out the delegates just before they made the first cut, making the Orenté musical score divided into nine sequences.
Recent titleholders
2011 Angola Leila Lopes Miss Angola São Paulo, Brazil
2010 Mexico Ximena Navarrete Nuestra Belleza México Las Vegas, Nevada U.S.
2009 Venezuela Stefania Fernandez Miss Venezuela Nassau, Bahamas
2008 Venezuela Dayana Mendoza Miss Venezuela Nha Trang, Vietnam
2007 Japan Riyo Mori Miss Universe Japan Mexico City, Mexico
2006 Puerto Rico Zuleyka Rivera Miss Puerto Rico Universe Los Angeles, California U.S.
2005 Canada Natalie Glebova Miss Universe Canada Bangkok, Thailand
2004 Australia Jennifer Hawkins Miss Universe Australia Quito, Ecuador
2003 Dominican Republic Amelia Vega Miss Dominican Republic Panama City, Panama
2002 Panama Justine Pasek Señorita Panamá Crowned by Donald Trump in NYC*
2002 Russia Oxana Fedorova (Dethroned) Miss Russia San Juan, Puerto Rico
2001 Puerto Rico Denise Quiñones Miss Puerto Rico Universe Bayamón, Puerto Rico
2000 India Lara Dutta Miss India Nicosia, Cyprus
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