Miss World is one pageant that has evolved a lot over the years. It came up with the leader-board concept few years ago and again dropped it in 2016. Rumormill says that the step was taken after complaints from many national directors. The leader-board is gone, but the complaints are not! The experts in pageantry predict that Miss World will eventually go back to the old ways (the traditional pageant system which most other pageants follow). One step in that direction would be the elimination of the semifinal entries for fast-track winners, which begun in 2000s. Should Miss World scrap off the semifinal entries for fast-track winners and just give them special awards?

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Miss World has sought to change it’s image in the recent years. They want to be identified as a beauty festival rather than a pageant. They are encouraging the girls to be competitive in ‘all round’ ways, rather than just fashion, modelling and speech. They want to encourage talent, sports, humanitarian activities, social media presence among other things. Basically they are looking for ‘wholesome beauties’ and not just ‘glamor queens’. In a way this is good because this way the pageant generates interest among the fans even before the finals. Also, weaker contestants get a chance to shine. For example, it is really doubtful if Miss Cook Islands Natalie Short would have made Top 20 in Miss World 2016 had she not won the Sports event. Thus, semifinal entries for fast-track events concept has it’s pros.

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If the semifinal entries for fast-track winners are scrapped off and the winners of the pre-final competitions are just given special awards,

• The more deserving girls will get a chance to get into Top 20.
• There is no doubt that Misses Venezuela, Mexico and Russia were perhaps more deserving than say Miss Cook Islands Natalie Short.
• Perhaps we will be saved from the long videos of fast-track events and there can be more time for actual competition.
•  There can be more clarity in selection process of winner.
• In Miss World 2016, the winner Miss Puerto Rico Stephanie Del Valle did not place in any fast-track and yet won the crown. This causes confusion among fans, especially because Miss World didn’t give much clarity about it’s format and processes for selection of Miss World 2016.

Thus, it can be a good idea to do away with semifinal entries of fast-track events and give special awards to winners of the pre-final competitions. The pageant can focus on having proper rounds in finals so that the winner receives grater acceptance and the declining glory of the pageant is restored.

Images: Miss World