Will Nila help Bangladesh make a mark in Miss World this year?

The 'Miss World' beauty pageant has a legacy of 70 years, and keeping up with it, the 71st iteration of the worldwide phenomenon is going to be held on March 9 this year. The event will be held at the Jio World Convention Centre in Mumbai, India.

 

Kerstin Margareta "Kiki" Håkansson (1929–2011), the Swedish model became the first titleholder of this beauty pageant in history in 1951. Since then, the crown has gone to many winners in different countries across the world. Some popular names from our neighbouring country who were crowned in this pageant show are—Aishwarya Rai Bachchan (1994), Yukta Mookhey (1999), and Priyanka Chopra (1999).

Following this tradition, Bangladesh began its journey in 2017, with its first 'selected' Bangladeshi representative, Jannatul Nayeem Avril. However, the win was controversial due to the contestant and the organisers' alleged breach of the rules. Later on, Jessia Islam was sent to the international event.

In the later years, Jannatul Ferdous Oishee (2018) and Rafah Nanjeba Torsa (2019) were announced Miss World Bangladesh respectively. They also participated in the international gala, however, none of them could bring the crown home.

The latest edition of Miss World Bangladesh was announced officially today at A S Mahmud Seminar Hall, The Daily Star, where the top ten contestants amongst 200 selected participants were introduced to the media.

The ten contestants were accompanied by the organisers including Engr. Mehedi Hasan, Founder, Miss World Bangladesh, Licensee, Miss World, Sanjida Haq Arefin Luna, Director, The Platform, Rakibul Hasan, Aristocrat Events (Organiser and Talent Agency of Miss World Bangladesh 2023) and Atif Khaled, Legal Advisor, Miss World Bangladesh.

Shammi Islam Nila will be participating in the final event of Miss World, and she mentioned that she wants to eradicate begging from society, and discussed the problems that come with this act. "I want to work for educating the underprivileged masses, who under critical circumstances fall into unavoidable situations that they are bound to beg," shared Nila, who wants to create employment opportunities for these people as well.

Aklima Atika Konika and Shakira Tamanna were present at the event as the runner up and second runner up respectively. The other top contenders at the event were Mubashshira Kamal Era, Rubaiya Chowdhury, Fariha Tasnim Ridhy, Labiba Sajjad, and Neelanjona Rahman.

"This year I have taken the role of advisor, Miss World Bangladesh, aligning ourselves with the global standards, said Engr Mehedi Hasan. "We operated under their umbrella as a licensee, adhering to their terms and conditions over the past 11 years, and have successfully organised 9 editions of different events including Miss International, Miss Supernational, among other prestigious pageants of the world," shared. Adding to this, he announced that Mr World Bangladesh which was last held in 2019, will be held this year and they will be announced soon.

In the event, the organisers highlighted the fact that the contestants this year, are different from the previous years and this year, they have moved forward with the tagline, "Beauty with Purpose".

All of the top ten contestants have humane qualities, and are involved in social work. One of them works for acid-attack survivors, and one of them is working to eliminate child crime.

Shammi Islam Nila will fly to India on February 18, where she will have multiple grooming, camping and other sessions with the final participants from across the world, before standing on the global gala event of Miss World 2023.

The current Miss World is Karolina Bielawska of Poland, who was crowned on 16 March 2022 in San Juan, Puerto Rico.