3 October 2014

Contestants of the Miss Himalaya Pageant 2014, from left: Dawa Dema, 22, from Thimpu, Jyoti Dogra, 22, from Bhagsu Nag, Shikha Sharma, 20, from Dharamshala, Priyanka Dogra, 24, from Bilaspur, and Kuenzang Choden, 23, from Thimphu.

I am happy to present five beautiful Himalayan girls for the Miss Himalaya Pageant 2014. The five contestants are:

Dawa Dema, 22, from Thimpu, Jyoti Dogra, 22, from Bhagsu Nag, Kuenzang Choden, 23, from Thimphu, Priyanka Dogra, 24, from Bilaspur, and Shikha Sharma, 20, from Dharamshala.

They are all enthusiastic and ambitious in life, and want to become role models in society.

The contestants arrived in McLeod Ganj yesterday. They had an official photo shoot in the afternoon. After the press conference today, they will have rehearsal, and then some excursions around McLeod Ganj.

The competition rounds will begin on 4th evening at 6pm at TIPA, and will include the Talk and Talent Rounds. The Finale Night on the 5th will be held at TIPA Grounds, and is expected to begin at 6:30pm. There will be three rounds, including Introduction, Traditional Costume, and Interview Rounds, followed by crowning of the winner and the presentation of cheques.

We expected more contestants in this second edition. Apparently we didn’t do enough advertisement. We did our best – such as making an announcement at a concert, and distributing publicity materials during Kalachakra in Ladakh in July. We spread the word on social networking sites. We will start working on the next pageant right after this one so that there would be at least ten contestants from Ladakh to Arunachal.

[raw]

To our joy and encouragement, Pema Khandu la from Tawang sponsored the first prize of rupees one lakh for the winner. He is the Tourism and Water Resource minister of Arunachal Pradesh, but the prize money is coming from his personal side.

The second prize of rupees 50,000 is sponsored by an organisation from Japan called Rainbow Children, and the third prize is sponsored by the United Nations for a Free Tibet (UNFFT).

We still need some more funds to cover the logistics. And therefore any sponsors, contributors are welcome, and could contact us through our website.

I welcome you all to come and make the Pageant exciting and memorable show.

Lobsang Wangyal
Director