Miss Hong Kong Pageant

Miss Hong Kong Pageant:

The Miss Hong Kong Pageant (traditional Chinese: 香港小姐競選), or MSHK (港姐) for short, is a beauty pageant organized by the leading Hong Kong television station, Television Broadcasts (TVB).

[caption id="attachment_1189" align="aligncenter" width="600" caption="Toby Chan was crowned Miss Hong Kong 2010 at the Pageant Contest"][/caption]

All participants must have a valid Hong Kong identity card or must be born in Hong Kong (with a valid birth certificate). While there has been other Miss Hong Kong pageants in prior years producing notable titleholders such as Judy Dann (1951), Virginia June Lee (1953), Michele Mok (1958), Laura da Costa (1967) and Mabel Hawkett (1970), the current annual TVB pageant began in 1973. Apart from the top prize winner, first runner-up and second runner-up prizes, the pageant also has other consolation prizes that vary slightly from year to year. Many Miss Hong Kong contestants have gone on to have movie careers as it is quite typical for the top contestants to garner television contracts from TVB.

The pageant is televised into two events. First, a preliminary event is held where 12 semi-finalists are selected from a group of candidates, the number of which is usually around 20-25 (with 30 being the maximum). Then a final event is held where the 12 semi-finalists are reduced to a final 5. The second and first runner-ups and the winner are then announced. Often several contestants dropped out of the pageant before the televised preliminary, thus there would be a candidate with #30 assigned to her, but only 25 or so contestants.

References: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miss_Hong_Kong_Pageant