Derana,Veet Miss Sri Lanka 2013:

Five top international titles on offer

Sunday Observer: Print Media Partner:

by Anuradha Kodagoda

Derana, Veet Miss Sri Lanka 2013 organisers are planning to hold the biggest beauty pageant in Sri Lanka with five prestigious titles to be awarded in one show. Derana program director Sharmila Darmarasa talked to the Sunday Observer, the official print media sponsor of this prestigious show about this year's plan and lineup.

Question: Tell us briefly about the five titles of this year's Derana, Veet Miss Sri Lanka?

Answer: The five titles are namely Miss Earth, Miss Intercontinental, Miss Tourism World, Top Model of the World and Miss Globe International. Therefore unlike the previous years, this time five lucky winners will get the opportunity to represent Sri Lanka in five top international beauty pageants. This kind of event is taking place in Sri Lanka for the first time and we are proud to introduce that in Derana.

Q: How was the response from the contestants compared to the previous years?

A: We received quite a lot of applications from all over the country and we shortlisted 250 contestants at the initial stage. Through the usual selection process now we have shortlisted the 14 finalists who will compete for five international titles and July 31 is the grand finale. I should say there has been progress in each year when comparing the standard and the calibre of the participants. This time we see quite a good quality in the participants and we hope this will gradually improve.

Q: In which way are you going to differentiate the show compared with the previous years?

A: There are many differences that can be witnessed at the grand finale. This time we are bringing down the famous fashion choreographer Sunil Menon from Chennai, India and he's the official choreographer of the grand finale of Derana Veet Miss Sri Lanka. We have invited Miss Earth 2012 Tereza Fajksová from Czech Republic to crown Miss Sri Lanka for Miss Earth 2013.

The reason why we wanted to invite her is that Miss Earth title is solely dedicated to protect the environment and creating environmental awareness issues which we think is important in today's world.

Therefore, we have taken an extra step this time by organising a few environmental campaigns with Miss Earth 2012 Thereza Fajksová with the collaboration of Western Provincial Council Environmental Affairs Minister Udaya Gammanpila. He is helping us to get all the environmental expertise support.

Q: In many beauty pageants, there's a huge winning potential for contestants who have had foreign exposure. Does that mean the contestants who only have a solid Sri Lankan base stand less chance of winning such events?

A: Yes, I agree with your point. It is an obvious fact that a contestant who has had foreign exposure can fare better than those who have not. It is simply because we are crowning the Sri Lankan winner to go and represent the country in an international event.

For such a person the level of confidence, experience and knowledge to impress an international jury can be higher than a person who has never had such experience in life. However, it doesn't mean it happens all the time but there can be a fair chance when selecting the best out of a bunch of talents.

Q: Though there are five prestigious titles, Miss Sri Lanka for Miss World title which you had been organising for the past years is not done by you. Why?

A: The idea of shifting to awarding five titles is the reason. We wanted to get our own franchises. Even though for the past seven years we did the Miss Sri Lanka for Miss World title, we were not the franchise holder. Therefore, we thought it is time to go in on our own and we are the sole franchise holder for the five titles that we are holding this year onwards.