The journey to the crowning of the 44th Miss Nigeria is in top gear as the 37 semi-finalists have been unveiled and the organizers have given the general public a chance to contribute to the process of choosing the 18 finalists who will make it into the Miss Nigeria Bootcamp.
From thousands of applications received, the panel of judges was tasked with finding 37 ladies who are uniquely beautiful, passionate about Nigeria and the girl-child, and whose values align with that of the iconic Miss Nigeria Organization. The semi-final auditions were held at the gorgeous Island Breeze Restaurant and Lounge inside Landmark Beach, Lagos.
The contestants were screened by an esteemed panel of judges comprising Bolanle Olukanni (TV personality/talk show host), Paul Ukonu (celebrity photographer), Onyeka Michael Ugwu (former beauty queen/medical aesthetician), and Ezinne Akudo (creative director, Miss Nigeria).
The audition videos of each of the Top 37 contestants have been uploaded on the Miss Nigeria official Instagram handle. According to the creative director of Miss Nigeria Ezinne Akudo who was the 38th Miss Nigeria herself, “the popular votes will account for 20% of the total scores that will get the contestants to qualify for the final round.”
\Wednesday morning, the organizers introduced a new twist into the competition by unveiling 3 wild card contestants selected from a pool of nominations from the public on social media. “The 37 Semi-finalists and 3 wild cards will need to get as many people as possible to repost, like, and comment on their videos on social media. The video with the most engagement gets the higher rank, and boosts their chances of making it to the bootcamp and grand finale,” Akudo revealed.
Miss Nigeria, formed in 1957 with the motto, “Empowering Women Beyond Beauty’’, is an annual beauty pageant competition that showcases the positive attributes of Nigerian women. The winner portrays exemplary qualities and serves as a role model for young women in the country.
To see the Top 37 contestants and vote, follow @missnigeriaorg on Instagram. Voting closes on Thursday the 18th of November at 11.59 pm.
