Miss Grand International 2015 was the third edition of the Miss Grand International pageant, held on 25 October 2015 at the Indoor Stadium Huamark in Bangkok, Thailand. Candidates from seventy-seven countries and territories competed for the title, of whom a 20-year-old Dominican American from Rhode Island representing Dominican Republic, Anea García, was announced as the winner and received a cash prize of 40,000 USD as a reward. Meanwhile, the candidates from Miss Grand Australia, Miss Grand India, the Miss Grand Philippines, and Miss Grand Thailand were named the runners-up. However, due to the inability to fulfill the agreement, the original winner from the Dominican Republic was later replaced by the first runner-up, Claire Elizabeth Parker of Australia, in early 2016.
The pageant's grand final round was broadcast via the Channel 7 and the pageant official website, with a Thai television personality, Matthew Deane and Miss Grand International 2014 Lees García, as the event's MCs.
Initially, ninety-one contestants confirmed their participation, but only eighty-five candidates literally entered the tournament. However, some of the entering candidates later withdrew during the pageant camp, such as the representatives of Kurdistan and Russia.
Background Date and venue In the press conference of the national pageant Miss Grand Thailand 2015 held at the Central World Ratchaprasong on 23 March 2015, in addition to releasing the national pageant details, the pageant president Nawat Itsaragrisil also stated that the third edition of Miss Grand International was scheduled for 25 October 2015, at the Indoor Stadium Huamark, Bangkok, Thailand. The international pageant schedule was later revealed at the press release held after the arriving of the contestants on 7 October 2015, at Eden 1 Park, Central World Ratchaprasong.
As in its previous two editions, the pageant consisted of four main events organized in three different cities from October 8–25, including the swimsuit competition held on 11 October at the Kacha Resort, Ko Chang, Trat province; the national costume contest held on 17 October at the King Rama II Memorial Park, Samut Songkhram Province; and the preliminary and final rounds in Bangkok at the Indoor Stadium Huamark on 23 and 25 October.
Selection of participants Of all seventy-seven participating delegates, only ten were elected through the Miss Grand national pageants, including the representatives of Albania, Cambodia, England, Japan, Namibia, Nigeria, Scotland, South Africa, Thailand, and Wales, while another candidate who was also elected through the Miss Grand national contest, Dardanie Thaqi of Kosovo, did not enter the international pageant for undisclosed reasons. Three countries send their main other national pageant winners to participate, including Shadi Osmani from Miss Iran, Sarah Mercieca from Miss Malta, and Aracely Azar from Rostro de México.
The remaining candidates were either appointed without participating in national pageants or being runners-up in the other 2015 national pageants, such as Vartika Singh of India who was named Miss Grand India after finishing as the second runner-up in Femina Miss India 2015.
Results Placements PlacementContestant Miss Grand International 2015 – Anea García 1st runner-up – Claire Elizabeth Parker 2nd runner-up – Vartika Singh 3rd runner-up – Parul Shah 4th runner-up – Rattikorn Kunsom Top 10 – Paula Gomes – Mariela Aparicio – Ayaka Tanaka – Andrea de Cozar – Ornella Gunesekere § Top 20 – Meriam Kaxuxwena – Taťána Makarenko – Eline Lamboley – Aracely Azar – Shauny Bult – Katarzyna Krzeszowska – Isamar de Jesús – Anastasiia Lenna – Lauren Petersen – Reina Rojas § – Voted into the Top 10 by viewers and awarded as Miss Popular Vote
Special awards AwardsContestantBest National Costume Philippines – Parul ShahBest Evening Gown Japan – Ayaka TanakaBest in Swimsuit Costa Rica – Mariela AparicioBest in Social Media India – Vartika SinghMiss Popular Vote Sri Lanka – Ornella Gunesekere
Pageant Format In the pageant grand final round held on 7 October, after an introduction section, twenty contestants, who were selected through the preliminary round held on 5 October as well as all pre-pageant scorings, qualified for the top 20, in which each of the qualified candidates competed in the swimsuit. The score from this round, together with all previous accumulation scores, determined the top 10 finalists who then competed against each other in the evening gown and speech session. Based on accumulation scores, the final five were selected to continue in the question and answer portion, where the winner and runners-up were determined.
Contestants 77 contestants competed for the title. Country/TerritoryDelegateAgeHometown Albania 17Tirana Angola 22Luanda Australia 23Sydney Belarus 19Minsk Belgium 18Limburg Bolivia 24Sucre Brazil 23Campo Grande Bulgaria 23Sofia Cambodia 23Phnom Penh Canada 23Toronto China 23Henan Colombia 24Chocó Costa Rica 27 San José Cuba 23Havana Czech Republic 25Prague Denmark 17Herning Dominican Republic 20Cranston Egypt 20Cairo England 22 Wallasey Estonia 24Tallinn Ethiopia 21Addis Ababa France 18Paris Ghana 21Accra Guatemala 26San Pedro Sacatepéquez Guyana 25Georgetown Haiti 24Port-au-Prince Honduras 18Colón Hong Kong 26Victoria Hungary 20Pest India 23Lucknow Indonesia 21Malang Iran 26Tabriz Israel 27Beit Dagan Italy 23Oristano Japan 25Saitama Kenya 22Nairobi Macau 23Macau Macedonia 34Skopje Malaysia 23Kelantan Malta 24Balzan Mexico 25Campeche Moldova 19Chișinău Mongolia 21Ulaanbaatar Myanmar 21Yangon Namibia 23Okakarara Nepal 27Kathmandu Netherlands 23Boxtel Nigeria 22Lagos Norway 23Oslo Panama 24Chiriquí Peru 20Ucayali Philippines 26San Nicolas Poland 25Krynica-Zdrój Portugal 23Lisbon Puerto Rico 18Bayamón Romania 22Bucharest Scotland 23Glasgow Singapore 25Singapore Slovakia 21Lučenec South Africa 22Johannesburg South Korea 25Seoul South Sudan 22Juba Spain 21Málaga Sri Lanka 23Kirulapana Suriname 18Paramaribo Sweden 22Uppsala Taiwan 25Taipei Thailand 22Hat Yai Tonga 22Nukualofa Tunisia 22Téboursouk Uganda 26Kawaala Ukraine 24Kyiv United States 24Missouri United States Virgin Islands 21Charlotte Amalie Venezuela 22Caracas Vietnam 22Bạc Liêu Wales 26Barry
References
External links Miss Grand International official website