Miss Universe Ethiopia 2013 to be held in September

Miss Universe Ethiopia 2013 is set to take place on September 20 at the Raddison Blu Hotel in Addis Ababa.
The organizer of the pageant, Kreative Communication and Events, stated at a press conference held on August 8 at the hotel that registration has officially started.

Henok Yifru, Managing Director of Kreative, said that auditions will take place on the 17th and 18th of August at the Panoramic Hotel. He also said that the final event, which is due to be aired on Africa Magic on DSTV, will take place in September in the presence of members of the diplomatic corps, dignitaries, officials and members of the media, among other people. From 150 to 200 contestants are expected to register and 15 will make it to the final. However, Henok said that Kreative has the capacity to register as many as 500 contestants.

Previously, disagreements between organizers, sponsors, and/or contestants have caused problems in the modeling and pageant industry. . “We heard that professional judges were not used during the events prior to the 2012 pageant. Contestants had also been promised quite a lot of things which didn’t happen in the end,” said Henok.

“In fact, we also had to overcome several challenges during the 2012 Miss Universe pageant, which has helped us to make improvements accordingly, to make this year’s pageant a success,” he said.

Kreative managed to bring in three judges from Wilhelmina, Ford and Fusion companies to carry out the auditions as well as the final event.

“We didn’t want to make promises that we couldn’t keep,” he said. Though it wasn’t perfect, last year’s pageant served as a foundation for Kreative to build upon in order to make this year’s contest more successful than the previous one.

According to officials at Kreative Communications and Events, Miss Universe Ethiopia will be provided with the opportunity to travel, with fully-paid transportation and accommodation, the chance to meet people from all corners of the world, the ability to take on cause-related projects and the responsibility to promote Ethiopia. 

If she wins the international final as well, she would be provided with funds, a year-long contract promoting Miss Universe, world travel, a rent-free luxury apartment for a year in New York City, a stipend covering a two-year course at the New York Film Academy, and free access to famous fashion houses, beauty parlors and so on.
Miss Universe Ethiopia 2013 will be working closely with nongovernmental organizations to create awareness on the illegal emigration of Ethiopians.