HOLLY CULP
Arts Editor

When you think of beauty queens, it is likely that your first thought is of Miss South Carolina saying, “I personally believe that U.S. Americans are unable to do so because some people out there in our nation don’t have maps and education like such as South Africa and the Iraq, like, such as…”

Thank you, South Carolina.

But that is old news in terms of pageants. Recently, the Miss USA pageant crowned its first Arab-American beauty queen in the crowning of Rima Fakih, a Lebanese-American woman. Her win has already spawned backlash about the secret Muslim agenda in the United States.

Saskatchewan is about to see its own beauty pageant commence on May 27 to 29 at the Saskatoon Inn. At this pageant, 22 women will compete for the title of Miss Saskatchewan while seven girls will compete for the Miss Teen Saskatchewan title. The winners of this pageant will go on to compete for the Miss Canada “Galaxy” pageant in August.

The co-ordinator of the pageant, former Miss Canada winner Shannon Smadella, is excited to bring the first pageant of this calibre to Saskatoon.

“All of the girls are really excited, there hasn’t been anything like this in Saskatchewan,” said Smadella.

When it comes to pageants and the effort that goes into them, Smadella believes that they are a good way for women to feel confident.

“Years ago, I starting competing to further some of the charity work I was doing,” said Smadella. “I realized that pageantry is an amazing way to help women empower other women.”

“Inner beauty is really important to us” she added.

The pageant is broken up into five separate parts, all worth a different percentage. There is the fitness/swimsuit portion (worth 25 per cent), the eveningwear portion (25 per cent), the interview (40 per cent), and a “photogenic” category (10 per cent) with bonus questions for extra points.

With 60 per cent of the pageant going towards how a girl looks, the setup of the pageant is a cause for concern. Smadella has worked to have the bathing suit portion of the competition removed completely and has succeeded in doing so. The pageants will go ahead without the swimsuit portion next year.

As for the criticism that beauty pageants generally receive, Smadella says that most people don’t understand what goes into the competition.

“I think in any business you are going to get people who disagree. We take the criticism seriously, but it’s usually because they don’t understand the industry. The pageants and media in the United States reflected poorly on pageants when there are strong women who work hard to be good role models,” she said.

In addition to awarding nearly $25,000 in prizes, the pageant serves as an opportunity for the delegates to further their charity work.

“We’re working with YMCA Strong Kids and a organization called For the Love of the Children and we aim to raise enough money to build a school in Colombia, and after that we are working with them on their projects in Haiti,” said Smadella.

The Miss Saskatchewan pageant, along with other provincial pageants, may cause a resurgence of an American trend in a Canadian setting, hopefully working to shake the stigma that beauty pageants have created for themselves.