The Miss World pageant this year has not been without controversies, but the issues surrounding the world’s oldest surviving beauty pageant did not stop it from going on and choosing its winner.

This year, a Filipina has bagged the right to be called “the most beautiful woman in the world.”

23-year-old Megan Young, a young actress/model from Philippines, won  the prestigious crown Miss World 2013 during the pageant’s coronation night September 28 held in Bogor, Indonesia.

The Filipina-American mestiza is the first Philippine representative to ever land the crown; French-Filipina beauty Gwendoline Ruais had a close call in 2011 when she placed second to that year’s Miss World, Ivian Sarcos from Venezuela.

World Beauty

Miss Young bested 126 beauties from various countries all over the world for the said title. She succeeded last year’s crown pageant queen, Wenxia Yu of China.

Completing the night’s line-up of winners is France’s Marine Lorphelin in second place while Carranzar Shooter from Ghana placed third. This year’s top six beauties, along with the three winners, were Elena Ibarbia of Spain, Sancler Frantz from Brazil and Gibraltar’s Jessica Baldichino who was included to in the bill as she was the People’s Choice recipient.

Miss Young had been a strong contender even at the start of the pageant when she placed in three of the Miss World’s five challenge events – she got the third place in the top model category, fourth in the multimedia set and was chosen fifth among the eleven finalists who were chosen for the beach fashion final.

However, it was still not a sure win until the end, as placing in these events did not mean the candidate got a sure spot in the final round. Miss World organizers, nevertheless, gave extra credit through additional points to the winners of the five respective categories in their preliminary scores.

Aside from the top three winners of the evening, recipients of special awards in the course of the pageant are as follows:

Beauty with a Purpose – Ishani Shrestha of Nepal
Beach Fashion – Brazil’s Sancler Frantz
Top Model – Megan Young, Miss Philippines (This Year’s Crowned Miss World)
Talent – Vania Larissa of Indonesia (She was a winner in Indonesia’s Got Talent in 2010)
Sports – Jacqueline Steenbeek, Miss Netherlands
Multimedia Award – Miss India, Navneet Dhillon

The event was hosted by Miss Scotland 2012 Jennifer Reoch and Mister World 2010 Kamal Ibrahim, and showcased various cultural numbers along with a performance from the boy band Blue.

Controversies

Miss World 2013 was continuously marred by controversies up to the coronation night.

Hard-line Muslim citizens of the host country, Indonesia, had held insistent protests against the pageant calling it a “whoring event.” Security was also tight throughout the event until the coronation night as bomb threats were issued by extremists all throughout the three-week pageant.

In fact, during the coronation of this year’s Miss World, hundreds of conservative Muslims had gathered in a mosque near Indonesia’s capital to pray as an expression of their protest and anger towards the pageant.

But all ended well, and Miss World can now breathe in relief at the successful culmination of the beauty parade.