MISS SUPRANATIONAL IN FOCUS

by Raphael Porciuncula

The franchise for the Miss Supranational Philippines has been in the news since last April. It has been a buzz in the grapevines that the Binibining Pilipinas Charities Inc. got the franchise for Miss Supranational and the winner for the Philippines will be crowned as one of the title holders on April 15, 2012, all eyes and interest are focused with the Pageant. But alas, no such thing happened. And it seems the news was archived and it died a natural death.

Miss Supranational is a relatively new pageant and is on its 4^th year of existence. Three previous winners were crowned. It was only last year that the Philippines sent a representative courtesy of a Cebu-based organization in the person of Lourenz Grace Remetillo. The Philippine representative was not successful though amidst the euphoria of pageant fans in the performances of other Philippine representatives in other pageants. The idea of a beauty pageant organization in the Philippines sending a representative to this new pageant excites a lot of fans and thus putting our focus in this article.

Oksana Moira of Ukraine, the First Miss Supranational 2009

Very few pageant fans know the meaning of supra. Supra means above. So when taken in to the word Supranational, it means literally above national. So when we take it into context, it means international. If Miss Universe is of American Origin, Miss World is to the British, Miss International is to the Japanese, Miss Tourism is to the Chinese, Miss Earth is to the Philippines, Queen of the World is to the Germans, then Poland has its own pageant version, the Miss Supranational.

Karina Pinilla Corro of Panama, Miss Supranational 2010

The Miss Supranational is an annual international beauty pageant that is run by the World Beauty Association and was founded in 2009 in Plock, Poland. During the inception year, 36 candidates participated in the contest. The following year saw 66 countries participating and last year 70 delegates competed and Monica Lewchuzk of the host country won. The organization has a slogan of “Unite our World with Beauty.” Previous winners were Oksana Moria of Ukraine (2009) and Karina Pinilla Corro of Panama (2010).

Monika Lewchuzk of Poland- Miss Supranational 2011

This year, an organization, Beyond Filipinas Inc. (http://beyond-beauty.org/) holds the franchise of Miss Supranational Philippines. And based on their website on September they will be staging a beauty pageant that will not only search for the winner of Miss Supranational but also Miss Globe, Miss Globe International, Miss Global International and Miss Intercontinental. Thus, five titles will be awarded in a night conceptualized through a fashion-inspired theme extravaganza. The pageant will be televised by GMA7. It would worth watching how this organization will create and titillate the interest of the pageant fans who are more biased in their interest towards the selection of the Philippine representative to the Miss Universe beauty pageant. Will they be able to sustain an interest?