Just one day to the finals and we’ve been hard at work pulling late nights rehearsing for show day and it is a big thing for the 10 of us. Our heart rates are starting to increase, palms are starting to get sweaty and adrenalin is pumping. Now, if you’re not well versed in pageant speak, you’ll wonder what the difference is between the multitude of pageants happening these days and why the fuss behind the glitz and glamour.

The common misconception people have about beauty pageants is that it merely is a platform where a bunch of random girls parade in bikinis and show off pearly white teeth. Miss Singapore Universe, Miss Earth Singapore, Miss World, Miss International – what do these titles really mean? After all these years of sending girls overseas and having people bemoan the standard of our girls on local shores, have we missed the main point of having a Miss anymore? Having come with some previous pageant experience, let me shed some light on why I’d subject myself to such scrutiny yet again.

First things first, if you’re a pageant fanatic, you’ll know that there are 4 major pageants. There may be other pageants you’ve heard of, but the longer running and most widely publicized pageants that every beauty queen aims to represent their country are: Miss Universe, Miss World, Miss International and Miss Earth. Think of these competitions, in no particular rank order, as the South East Asian Games, Commonwealth Games and the Olympics for beauty. Each pageant is run and owned by a different company.

For instance, the Miss World pageant is run by the Miss World Organization based in the United Kingdom with Julia Morley as President, while the Miss Universe franchise, based in New York, is owned by real estate tycoon Donald Trump. Carousel Productions of the Philippines are the brains behind Miss Earth and its efforts behind environmental awareness.

Each year, every country selects their delegates for these pageants. In most countries, it is common for girls go through individual local pageants competing amongst local contestants before one girl is eventually announced as the winner. The winners of the respective titles then go through rigorous preparations for the international show down against international competitors. But I know the question that hangs over our heads is this: “Why is it that sometimes the most beautiful girl hardly ever wears the crown?” If competing internationally during my reign as Miss Earth and placing Top 16 among some very beautiful girls has opened my eyes to what makes a beauty queen, it is the fact that beauty queens are selected not based purely on looks alone. Think about it, if that were the case, there would be no need for a physical competition or that parading in swimsuits or gown. Contest organisers and judges would pick their winners just by looking at pictures.

During the contest, there is something else that judges pay attention to other than looks. That special quality is poise and presence. These two are something honed through the years. It is not a quality that comes at the snap of your fingers. Beauty queens are not born; they are made. The way a woman speaks, carries herself and presents herself to individuals or the public is discovered through experience and lots of training. Sure, you may say that you can fake it till you make it with beauty pageant tips and secrets. But, just like a diamond is produced from carbon under intense pressure, the same goes for true beauty queens.

Beauty queens are subjected to intense scrutiny by judges, the media and the public on a daily basis during the heated one month they compete overseas and during their entire 1 year reign. In actual fact, even after the crown is handed over and the spotlight dims, their names and legacies go down in history. The public will remember these ambassadors for either their misdeeds or glorious achievements. Aside from mostly being in the spotlight, being in an international pageant and on a tight schedule also means having choreographers yell at you and criticize you for messing up the 3rd out of 7 choreographies, having organisers demand you wake up at 3am for your next shoot on top of worrying if your face is shiny or if your shoes match your outfit for the day. Anything and everything can seem to be beyond your control and impossible to manage. So how do you keep your cool under such circumstances?

It takes a certain type of woman then to withstand such intensity if really you think about it. Some girls train for it like a sport and in truth, beauty pageants, especially Miss Universe, are like the Olympic sport of beauty. But really, beauty pageants are not about picking out the prettiest girls from the crowd and parading them on stage or splashing their pictures all over the various forms of media. Yes, that’s all the public sees and most people choose to be an arm chair critic but the public doesnt see what goes into making a beauty queen. Beauty pageants are about developing resilient girls who can weather whatever is thrown at them and for that this girls this year have a strong team of sponsors and supporters pushing us to great heights.

Thus, what I’m really trying to say is beauty pageants are about character development. If you can take the heat and intensity of training for the months you’re in a pageant, you’ll probably be set to handle the ups and downs of life. It takes time and effort to make a beauty queen but you dont have to be a beauty queen to be beautiful. Everyone is beautiful on the inside. In a pageant, we happen to have a team of experts who take great pains to invest time and effort to transform us girls because sometimes in life, you need all the help you can get.

At the heart of it all, though, there needs to be a girl who is open and willing to adopt these teachings then adapt these expert opinions to better herself for a greater purpose. And thus, my purpose in this final pageant foray is to learn as much as I can and share my knowledge with whoever is willing on this Singapore Beauty Blog because beauty is only a state of mind.