The pageant fever is on! December is here and the reigning queens of 2014 are soon to bid good-bye! While 2014 was the year of front-runners, 2015 is much more mysterious, fun-filled and exhilarated, for 2015 pageants are open game to all the contestants. Be it Miss Universe, Miss World, Miss Supranational or Miss Earth, we cannot predict a crystal clear winner from the equally stunning ladies giving a neck to neck wrestle! Meanwhile, as the reign is about to end, we here present an ode to our four remarkable beauty queens who made us fall in love with them in each and every gaze!
Miss Earth 2014 was the 14th edition of the pageant and was held on 29 November 2014 at the UP Theater in Diliman, Quezon City, Philippines. With 85 contestants competing for the pageant, Jamie Herrell emerged tumultuous after pouring in a lot of hard work and fervor, becoming the second Filipino to have claimed the title. With two gold medals and one silver medal, Jamie was leading the medal table leader board on second position! Not only did she manage to grab the most iconic subtitle of “Darling of Press”, but she was also the winner of Cocktail Wear Competition. Apart from this, she emerged gracefully in her National Costume Wardrobe bagging the silver medal in the Asia Pacific group.
Already an accomplished TV Host and dancer, she won three titles in 2013, counting Sinulog Festival Queen 2013, Miss MegaCebu 2013, and Reyna ng Aliwan 2013, followed by her greatest feat of winning Miss Earth 2014.
When the organization asked what is her advocacy is towards Mother Earth, she beamingly answered, "I have many environmental activities but I will promote the Miss Philippines Earth "Think Twice Campaign" because it is a project that reigning queens of Miss Philippines Earth 2014 and I really worked hard on and it is something I would like to share to the other delegates. The think twice is a communications campaign that teaches people to think twice in finding alternatives in our everyday lives to protect and help Mother Nature." Herrell was honored both by the lower and upper chambers of the Philippine congress by approving a resolution commending the Filipina beauty queen. Humble, down to earth and full of life, Jamie is a true beauty queen by her heart.
Thereafter, Miss Supranational 2014 commenced with all glory, ecstasy and stimulation. Asha Bhat after defeating 80 other contestants all over the world became first Indian woman to win the title. With all poise and splendor, Asha was crowned at Krynica-Zdrój, Poland on December 5, 2014. Asha was born in a small town Bhadravati, Karnataka to Subramanya and Shyamala Bhat, but this did not let her waver from seeing a grand dream. Her parents are doctors and have been serving the people of the town through their clinical laboratory and consequently, Asha’s hospitable and cordial outlook does not come as a surprise.
Asha was awarded as NCC-Cadet ambassador of India at SAARC in 2009. And do not get astounded when you hear, Asha scored 96% in her 10th boards. Yes, a perfect and true exemplar of “Beauty with Brains!” Asha loves to paint, and is well versed in singing besides being a skilled Bharatnatyam dancer. An all rounder, Asha began her dream of being a beauty queen by joining Miss Diva 2014, whereby she was eliminated initially and was called later by the judge, Lara Dutta, Miss Universe 2000 as the wild card entry! Who would have thought ever that her comeback will be so lucky and fortunate for India!
At Miss Diva 2014, Asha won three sub-awards including Miss Congeniality, Miss Fascinating and Miss Beautiful Smile, which truly is justified in her magnificent aura. With just ten days to prepare for Miss Supranational pageant post her crowning as Miss Diva, Asha left no stone unturned in her quest. December 5' 2015 prevailed and brought laurels to India, for Asha was the first Indian woman to have won the coveted crown!
After winning Miss Supranational 2014, Asha received a very sumptuous and warm welcome at her hometown Karnataka, India followed by her success party at Mumbai. She became a known face in Indian fashion industry and pageant world. She inaugurated the famous fashion brand Mebaz at Hyderabad. She was honored by the BRAIN center as their official ambassador, the organization which offers help to the children with learning disabilities. She was also awarded with the title, "Akshaya Prathiba", meaning infinitely talented. She also helped the Terry Fox Foundation to raise awareness and funds for cancer research and was conferred with the honorary title of "The Brand ambassador for the Platinum world group". She joined the "Smile Torch" movement with Indian dental association in creating awareness regarding dental health. Currently she is supporting the NGO Go Green Stay Clean, she has been working with this NGO since her Miss Diva days.
In June, she visited Myanmar to attend the coronation night of Miss Golden Land Myanmar 2015. In July, she went to the USA and visited the Universal Studios Florida, The Wizarding World of Harry Potter, Microsoft Redmond Campus, the Clearwater Beach and NASA. In August, she traveled to Hajdú-Bihar, Hungary to attend the finale of Miss Hajdú-Bihar 2015 (Miss Supranational Hungary 2015). After visiting Hungary, Asha traveled to China to be a special guest at the Miss China Landscape 2015. In October, she traveled to Mauritius to attend the finale of Miss Supranational Mauritius. In early November, 2015 she attended and did program Astra - To Educate, Empower and Evolve in India. During her activities as Miss Supranational 2014, she has traveled to China, Hungary, India, Mauritius, Myanmar, Poland, Thailand and USA. Her year has been jam packed with various activities and she has proved what perseverance is all about!
Soon, December 14' 2014 knocked the door and the world hailed the new Miss World, Rolene Strauss, the second South African to win the title. Rolene Strauss was a clear front runner for the quest of Miss World crown, and much before the coronation night prevailed, Rolene’s photoshopped pictures with the Miss World crown made tumultuous waves at social media! Rolene began her victorious feat from the very beginning when she aced the very first segment of Sports and Fitness by winning Second runner up position at the same. She was also Top 5 finalist at Beach Fashion, Top 10 finalist at Beauty with a Purpose segment, Top 25 in People’s Choice Award and Top 6 finalist in Interview Round. Her win was totally merited, for she not only aced every fastrack segment but was also reportedly very cordial with the chaperons and staff present at the pageant. With that humble heart, and eloquent ideas, she was all set to initiate a grand benchmark at Miss World by raising the bars very high. Her Oxford Debate speech asserted that she was not going to settle less than a crown, and fortunately she didn’t!
With just a fortnight left for her reign as Miss World, Rolene opines: "I have such an exciting year ahead ... getting married and launching the Strauss Foundation are but a few of the things I am looking forward to. I am seeing the world through different eyes after this amazing year." Rolene has proved how substantial a Miss World needs to be! She is an epitome of grace and wisdom, and we need to wait for a long time to get as endearing Miss World as her!
2015 began and after a very long wait Miss Universe 2014 commenced! Paulina Vega Dieppa, a renowned Colombian TV Host, model and beauty queen was the front runner for the crown from very beginning! And she proved her fans right, when she walked away with the crown on 26' January 2015 in Doral, Florida, USA.
Being the second Colombian to win the Miss Universe pageant after beating 88 contestants, she brought the crown home after 56 years. Vega became the first Miss Universe to wear the pageant's new crown, designed by Diamonds International Corporation, a Czech-based jeweler officially responsible for Miss Universe jewelry. She intended to spend her year-long reign travelling the world to lecture on humanitarian issues and to promote education regards HIV/AIDS and was honored for this noble cause by her nation by getting embarked on the postcard stamp.
During her reign, Vega traveled to the Bahamas, Canada, Chile, China, Colombia, Ecuador, France, India, Indonesia, Italy, Kazakhstan and numerous trips around the USA. Paulina with her modelesque features, and beautifully sculpted body deciphered the motto of “Confidently Beautiful” in real sense! On 20' December 2015, the very celebrated beauty queen will be crowning her successor, and we will surely say her reign will be missed terribly! Full of life, vogue and magnetism, Paulina comes up as a strong woman in today’s world!
The beauty queens we had in 2014, were the paradigm of hope, zeal, modesty and buoyancy! Be it Jamie’s delightful gestures at shutterbugs or Asha’s congenial hand of sustainability! Be it Rolene’s queenly beam or Paulina’s chic gaze! We are going to miss 2014 queens’ reign in plenty! Who was your favourite queen of 2014 and who do you think will succeed them justly in the coming days? Do share with us!