10 Pageants You've Never Heard Of
Traditional views of beauty and beauty pageants are changing. Beauty competitions are sprouting up all over that celebrate diversity and embrace the many ways that culture and commerce can shape popular opinion.
The big, established pageants have spawned niche-specific contests that promote products, publicize events and focus attention on important causes. Some are just for fun, but others are clearly a rebuttal of the accepted stereotypes of beauty and desirability. If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, then pageant sponsors everywhere should be feeling the love -- sort of.
The 10 pageants that follow are just a sampling of what's out there. They're an interesting mix of wacky, thought-provoking and sometimes sobering exhibitions designed to choose the best among equals.
10. Miss Plastic Surgery
Officially dubbed the Miss Plastic Hungary contest, this competition held in Budapest, Hungary, celebrates unnatural beauty in all its splendor. From face lifts to breast implants, improving on nature is the order of the day. Contestants have to be at least 18 years old and show proof of surgical enhancement. The combination of basic beauty and surgical enrichment is supposed to create harmony and a big improvement, if you will, on nature's design. Both rhinoplasty (nose jobs) and breast augmentation procedures are well represented among the competitors.
NEXT: 9. Miss Drumstick
9. Miss Drumsticks
In Yellville, Ark., if you have great legs and don't mind hiding your face behind a picture of a big turkey, you can show off your assets in the Miss Drumsticks pageant, part of the annual Turkey Trot Festival. Thinking of signing up? This competition may sound like small potatoes, but past winners have won trips to New York and Los Angeles, and even had their well-turned ankles, not to mention the rest of their legs, showcased on national television.
The Turkey Trot Festival has been helping locals celebrate autumn for more than 50 years, and if you don't want to vie for the Miss Drumsticks crown, you can still hang around and enjoy the turkey calling contest and National Wild Turkey Federation auction. It's a little piece of Americana nestled in the Ozark Mountains, so paint your toenails and join in the fun.
NEXT: 8. Miss Jumbo Queen
8. Miss Jumbo Queen
There's nothing wrong with a big appetite, and this competition supports that idea with a bevy of bodacious beauties showing off their ample curves. Held in Thailand and sponsored by the Samphran Elephant Ground and Zoo, this tongue-in-cheek event has helped support elephant conservation measures since 1997. A ton of comely heavyweights have stepped up to show their pachyderm love since the pageants inception.
In order to compete, you have to be personable, although not necessarily jolly, and weigh in at more than 176 pounds (80 kilograms). Height and marital status aren't important, but contestants have to be between the ages of 18 and 35.
NEXT: 7. Miss Pregnant
7. Miss Pregnant
Just because you're expecting doesn't mean you have to hide your silhouette in a dress that looks more like a tent than a garment. Baby bumps are making a big statement on the Hollywood red carpet and on the pageant runway, too.
Where pageants were once limited to young, dewy-eyed, virginal beauties, nowadays a bun in the oven isn't a deal breaker. If you think the Miss Pregnant contest takes a pass on the swimsuit competition, you're wrong. Baby bumps on proud display in skimpy bikinis present a new way to appreciate the female silhouette.
NEXT: 6. Miss Russian Army
6. Miss Russian Army
Hmm, with a crown on her head and a gun in her hand, the Miss Russian Army contest may be the secret dream of beauty and power conscious women everywhere.
Broadcast live, this pageant shows the fresh, female face of the Russian military. The Beauties in Shoulder Straps pageant uses female soldiers to add some cachet to this career choice. It brings a long needed facelift to the military draft and its increasingly reluctant pool of young men and women.
How do the ladies compete? Well, among other things, they run while carrying automatic weapons and perform competitive drills. It only goes to show that a pretty girl, a rifle and a uniform add drama to any endeavor.
NEXT: 5. Miss Gilroy Garlic Festival
One of many pageants put on every year to advertise a product, fair or festival, the Miss Gilroy Garlic Festival Pageant promotes the seasoning of choice for great cooks and discriminating foodies everywhere. Garlic is the real star of the show, and after the Gilroy, Calif., competition, you can wander down the fair's Gourmet Alley and sample some unusual garlic-based recipes. Garlic ice cream anyone?
If the Gilroy garlic competition doesn't do it for you, you can probably find a local pageant venerating your fruit, vegetable, farm animal, nut or legume of choice, along with information on how to buy, cook and store it. These contests are usually good natured, and the winner might even be able to parlay her victory into a career in show business. If she manages to pull it off, she won't be the first.
NEXT: 4. Miss Landmine
Beauty isn't always about perfection. Sometimes beauty is an attitude, idea or approach to life. The Miss Landmine contest increases public awareness for the devastating destructive potential of landmines. Whether in Cambodia, Angola or somewhere else in the world, the Miss Landmine Organization is giving women who have been disabled by these weapons the opportunity to teach us that courage in the face of great personal loss has a beauty all its own.
Although the Cambodian competition was banned by the government in 2009, it was still conducted outside of the country using photographs. This pageant adds special significance to the word survivor and does it with style.
NEXT: 3. Miss No Make-Up Beauty
Where some pageants focus on enhancing the human form through plastic surgery, tattooing or the artistic application of sophisticated greasepaint, no-makeup beauty pageants place the emphasis on natural beauty without the additional adornment and fuss.
Designed to give young girls, teens and young women a greater appreciation for their uniqueness, it's a style of competition that promotes the idea that you don't have to "guild the lily" in order to be a beauty. Regional no-makeup competitions may be sponsored by local organizations or even schools.
NEXT: 2. Ms, Senior Sweetheart
This pageant for women 58 and older applauds the notion that you're never too mature to be beautiful. Even though there's no bathing suit walk, participants still appear in a traditional evening gown competition and are required to participate in interviews with the judges.
Talent is a big part of the proceedings with an 11-day rehearsal period in which each contestant learns two production numbers. If you're a granny with a fast two-step and a hankering to wear a tiara, this one may be for you.
NEXT: 1. Ms. Tattoo
Putting an individual stamp on your appearance never looked so permanent. The Miss Tattoo pageant is dedicated to the idea that the human body is a canvas that can be transformed into a living work of art. "Showing your true colors," takes on a new meaning when these decorated contestants strut their stuff. If you think you have the ink to make it into the competition, you have to be heavily tattooed and at least 18 years of age. Contestants are judged in daily wear, evening wear and swimsuits, of course.