MORE women than ever are voicing their hopes for world peace with a slew of new beauty pageants springing up across Australia.
But Royal International Miss Australia Madelaine Jones won’t invoke global harmony when she flies to Florida to compete in international competition in July.
“If I said that they would think I was making a joke out of them and throw me off the stage,” the 21-year-old said.
Royal International Miss Australia is just one of a raft of pageants taking the nation by storm, alongside Miss Galaxy Australia, Continents Pageant Australia, Miss Glitz Australia and The Australian International Pageant.
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Last night the grandmother of pageants, Miss Universe Australia, had its state final in Sydney. Creative director Sophia Barbagallo said its mission was to provide a platform for “inspirational young women”.
June Dally-Watkins Education and Training managing director Jodie Bache-McLean agrees pageants provide “a fantastic platform”.
“Take Jesinta Franklin — she won Miss Universe Australia and then worked hard for the causes she supported, took some media training, and is a very successful young lady today,” she said.
But she warned entrants to do their research. “Be careful what you enter. There are some competitions where girls have to pay their own airfares which is not normal practice.”
Ms Jones paid a $300 entry fee for Royal International Miss Australia but the pageant will pay her airfare to the US. She has seen the downside too, having won the Australian Face of the Globe title.
The company went bust before she could compete in the finals in Europe.
The Quakers Hill trainee teacher is deadly serious about her pageant participation, having raised $16,000 for charities.
She wears her crown and sash to meet tourists at the Opera House and Bondi Beach. She does her charity work and holds down four jobs, including cheerleading for the Cronulla Sharks.
In the US, home of the pageants immortalised in the Sandra Bullock movie Miss Congeniality, she will compete against 50 young women from across the world.
There are round-robin interviews, a talent section (lyrical dancing for Ms Jones) and an activewear parade. “Thankfully there is no swimsuit section. I find that a bit intimidating,” she said.