Now, let's discuss the ladies who may not have made the final cut, but got either a citation or a special award. Let's start with those who at least made a Top 7 shortlists in either National Costume, Fitness, or Evening Gown.
INDIA - Praveena Aanjna. It's been 11 years since this country last placed in this pageant, and this lady didn't quite have the charisma to impress insiders and judges. However, the final night judges loved her national costume enough that she placed 6th in National Costume.
JAPAN - Tamao Yoneyama. I find her a highly competitive contender who could conceivably had placed in the Top 15, but the judges seemed more impressed with other Asians that her country is now in the midst of a third consecutive shut-out. Placing 7th in Evening Gown is her sole consolation for her journey.
As I previously mentioned, the Continental Winners in this pageant is not based on overall performance, but on votes among the delegates themselves, which means this is actually a congeniality prize. Here are the ladies who are deemed the most congenial in their respective regions/continents.
MISS INTERNATIONAL - AFRICA: GHANA - Mercy Jane Adorkor Pappoe. Like JAMAICA, she's notable for her braided hair, but that is about as a standout factor that she possesses. So wining this prize should be a major highlight in her stay in Japan.
MISS INTERNATIONAL - AMERICAS: U S A - Kenyatta Beazer. I thought the judges on hand this year would follow last year's tendency to reward diversity, and this lady represents diversity with her dark complexion and distinctive Afro bob. But it turns out this year's panel was not quite in a "diverse", "progressive" mood, though she did impress them enough in the Fitness round to place 6th. But of course her biggest achievement in this pageant was winning the continental congeniality prize for her continent.
MISS INTERNATIONAL - ASIA & PACIFIC: MACAU - Emily Yau. She's petite and a solid contender at best, clearly overshadowed by other Asian contenders. So winning this prize should be considered a major achievement for her
Now let's talk about the special award winners. It's interesting that these are highly touted contenders, and yet, as the complete Top 20 results were disclosed, they didn't figure at all in the Top 20.
MISS PHOTOGENIC: NEW ZEALAND - Georgia Waddington. I was shocked by her exclusion from the Top 15, as I thought she was better than her predecessor, Lydia Smit, who previously made the cut. It's even more shocking that she failed to bubble under. I thought she had what it takes to make the winners' circle, but this year's panels of judges don't seem to favor blondes. Or is it possible that she had rubbed the insiders the wrong way? At least she has this special award as consolation, and I would like to also add another award to her laurels: The Ruth Ocumarez Award.
BEST IN NATIONAL COSTUME: ANGOLA - Teresa Sara. She's lighter skinned than most contenders from her continent (and the current representative from the U S A). She's a very polished contender that I'm not tat surprised she made a big standout impression in the costume round to win Best National Costume as she seems to be channeling warrior queen Nzinga in her costume. She also made the shortlist in Evening Gown, placing 3rd, so it's baffling she failed to make the Top 20 overall. Was she that weak in interview that it overshadowed those lofty placements in National Costume and Evening Gown?
MISS FITNESS: ZIMBABWE - Charlotte Muziri. It's so amusing how the pageant organizers changed the name of tis award in recent years: When they revived the swimsuit prize after a four-year absence in 2014, they called it "Miss Perfect Body". In 2019, they switched it to the more conventional and apt title "Best in Swimsuit", but this year, to account for the presence of Muslim delegates from BANGLADESH and PAKISTAN, they renamed the award as "Miss Fitness", and considering they now called the Preliminary Competition as "Preliminary Evaluation" and they called the swimsuit segment a "fitness evaluation", it gave many non-pageant observers the wrong idea--when a common person thinks of a "fitness evaluation", they would assume being subjected to physical tests like walking on treadmill or doing various exercises, but this is simply evaluating how the ladies looked in swimwear or fitness wear.
Enough of my rant about the change in name of this special award, so how about the lady who won it? Actually I thought she does deserve to win it and I thought she deserved to go all the way to the Top 15, and to be honest she's my favorite African in this year's batch, even if buzz (and popular support) was heavier towards another African. That she also made the shortlist in National Costume, placing 3rd, made me wonder why she was shut out of the Top 20. Was her interview that weak? Or was it because of her thick accent, the Japanese translators on-hand couldn't properly comprehend her English and hence failed to properly relay her thoughts to the predominantly Japanese preliminary panel.
BEST IN EVENING GOWN: INDONESIA - Farhana Nariswari. One thing is for certain--she had a lot of fans at the finals venue in Yoyogi National Gymnasium in Shibuya, Tokyo, and during the beginning of the program they were screaming out her country's name. I suppose those fans were extremely disappoined when she wasn't called into the Top 15, and she probably also took it very personally. She wasn't onstage when they announced she won this special award, and they had to announce the next special award before she showed up to receive it. Besides winning Evenign Gown, se also placed 2nd in National Costume, so it makes you wonder--was her interview that bad? Actually some pageant fan actually released footage of the interview rounds for this lady and the PHILIPPINES, and I have to say, this lady had a weak and tentative delivery, and this made me understand that a Top 15 slot is far from assured for her. Considering the delay in receiving her special award, were there also attitude issues that she was dinged and marked down by insiders?
For the first time in its history, this pageant disclosed the actual rankings of not only the Top 15, but also the five who bubbled under the Top 15. Surprises abound.
20TH PLACE: LESOTHO - Boitumelo Sehlotho. I did not include her in my "Striking Distance" list so she's a shocking high placer for me. I thought the mere fact that her country is debuting in this pageant would be achievement enough, but she seemed to have charmed the insiders and preliminary judges enough to place this high. I suppose bolstering her cause was that she placed 7th in National Costume. I personally would've preferred ANGOLA, NIGERIA, ZIMBABWE, or even UGANDA in her place, but well, I have to respect that we need to defer to other peoples' tastes.
19TH PLACE & MISS INTERNATIONAL - EUROPE: UNITED KINGDOM - Alisha Cowie. In my opinion, this Miss World 2018 Holly Carpenter Awardee was way better than her Top 15-finishing predecessor. Evanjelin Elchmanar, who also won Best in Swimsuit that year. I'm at least glad that at least she got the honor of winning the Continental award for her continent, and that she actually bubbled under the Top 15. For me, that's a big improvement from her Miss World stint.
18TH PLACE: MOLDOVA - Djulieta Cabalb. She's a gorgeous brunette ingenue who I know could make a standout impression, and it seems indeed she did. While my attention was towards the likes of EL SALVADOR and ESTONIA, the insiders and preliminary panel were more into this lady, and I don't mind that was what happened.
17TH PLACE: MYANMAR - Ei Ei Myint Aung Thein. This is also another surprise to me as I only regard her as a "Striking Distance" choice. But it seems the insiders and the preliminary panel like her sort of features and charm, and even if she's not in the Top Seven, she stood out in her National Costume as she actually trotted out a big elephant prop. That costume probably helped her secure this kind of finish.
16TH PLACE: CAMBODIA - Alyna Somnang. She's a veteran of Miss Universe 2019, and she did improve from that stint. However, I wasn't expecting her to knock on Top 15's door, as I would presume the likes of INDONESIA, NEW ZEALAND, or ZIMBABWE would be in this position instead.
COMING UP: THE TOP 15
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