Miss Grand

External video
Han Lay pleads for help for her country on Miss Grand International 2020 stage, on 27 March 2021, YouTube video
Han Lay gave an interview to the BBC about the ongoing democracy protests in Myanmar, YouTube video

The Miss Grand International was founded in 2013 by Nawat Itsaragrisil, a Thai television host and producer who had previously served as producer of the beauty pageant Miss Thailand World for BEC-Tero (owner of the television network Channel 3) for seven years until 2012.[7] After ending his role with BEC-Tero, Nawat signed a business partnership with Channel 7 and subsequently established his national pageant, Miss Grand Thailand in mid-2013, as well as registered a privately held firm, Miss Grand International Co., Ltd. on 6 November 2013, to responsible for managing his pageants includes the said national contest and the newly-established international platform, Miss Grand International, which was later launched in the same year on 19 November.[1][7] In addition, the company also operates wholesale and retail businesses in the field of cosmetic products and the food processing industry in Thailand and Cambodia.[1]

Being established in Thailand amid the 2013–2014 country's political crisis caused the organizer to apply the 'No mob, Stop the Wars' as its first event campaign,[8] and was later rephrased to 'Stop the Wars and violence' in the following year.[6][9][10] The pageant has primarily been focusing on humanitarian issues with the reigning titleholders dedicating their year to work as the organization's spokesperson as well as involved in the charity events related to the said campaigns.[5][11] For instance, corresponding with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to raise funds available for humanitarian aid,[12] visiting and donated necessities to the internally displaced people in the refugee camps,[13][14][15] being the guest speaker at the related events and act as the ambassador of the NGOs (e.g., Catholic Medical Mission Board, Model United Nations),[16][17] or taking part in any projects of the local charitable organization in the visited countries.[16][18][19] Moreover, the winner of the contest, together with all runners-up, often serve as the campaigners of the Tourism Authority of Thailand, to promote the tourism industry of the pageant-based country.[20][21]

The contest features contestants selected by licensees in each country.[22] The first three competitions were held in Thailand under the sponsorship of the country's government and televised worldwide via Channel 7,[9] while subsequent events have also taken place overseas,[23] and was broadcast via the local television channels together with the social media platforms including its official YouTube channel and Facebook page.[24] In 2019, the pageant was being held in Venezuela amid the country's political crisis; several candidates withdrew from the competition due to the security concerns and visa regulation problems such as South Korea, Cambodia, and Laos.[25][26][27][28] Later in 2020, the pageant was also scheduled to be held in Venezuela on October 25 but due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the event was postponed to 2021 and the venue was moved to Bangkok, Thailand.[29] As well as the succeeding edition, Miss Grand International 2021, which was later announced to be held in Thailand with the preliminary events in Phuket, however, some ancillary activities was cancelled due to the opposing political views between the organizer and the pro-military government local community; which caused the application for property use was revoked.[30][31][32] The local government also declined to facilitate the event arrangement in the province.[30][31][32][33] Since the Thai coup d'état in mid-2014, the organization personnel have always been showing their political aspects against the country's military government caused them to receive criticisms from the ultraconservative and far-right political citizens, generally called Salim in Thai, on various social media platforms,[34][35][36] and have also been submitted legal action after expressing the opinions against a government measurement over the police and military violent crackdown in anti-government protests and the handling of the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2021.[36][37][38] Many pageant contestants also took action against the Thailand military government for the aforementioned incidents, such as Helen Maher of Scotland and Samantha Bernardo of the Philippines.[39][40]

At the grand final of the 2020 edition in Bangkok, Thailand, in addition to crowning the winner, the representative of Myanmar, Han Lay, also took the stage to make a declaration against alleged atrocities committed by the Myanmar's military in her home country and requested international awareness of the ongoing democratic struggle following the military coup on February 1, 2021.[41][42][43][44] She additionally requested the United Nations to take action against the Myanmar regime and pleaded for urgent international aid for the ongoing bloodshed.[41][42][43][44] After her speech, she had been receiving life-threatening criticisms on her social media accounts; however, the vast majority of comments had been supporting her action.[43] Furthermore, the Myanmar military government allegedly issued an arrest warrant against her under a law against all material intended to cause a member of the armed forces to mutiny or disregard their duty,[45][46] caused her to apply for refugee status and a work permit in Thailand with the support of Burmese labor in Thailand.[47][45][46] The pageant organizer also supported the necessary expenses and had hired her as the company personnel until she immigrated to Canada for political asylum in late 2021.[47][45][46][48] Another political impact also occurred in the following edition when the representative of Vietnam, Nguyễn Thúc Thùy Tiên, who was later elected Miss Grand International 2021, declared a sentence in Thai during the semifinalists' speech round that means ' Make the world a better place for everyone' while raising the three-finger salute, a protest symbol inspired by the Hunger Games and has been adopted by many pro-democracy protest movements in Southeast Asia countries which includes Thailand.[49][50] The aforementioned action has greatly displeased supporters of the Thai military government, caused them to gather to present letters of protest to the Vietnamese embassy in Bangkok, accused that her action is interfering in Thai internal affairs since the Constitutional Court of Thailand has been determined that using the three-finger salute in Thailand is intended to overthrow the Thai regime,[51][52] however, Vietnam's foreign affairs has no official diplomatic responsiveness for such an issue despite the Thai government political groups claimed that Vietnam's Ministry of Culture has made a statement to take action and remind her to refrain from making public speeches on issues that may affect bilateral between Thailand and Vietnam.[53][54]

Selection of contestants

The inaugural edition of the Miss Grand Nepal, which was held at Hyatt Regency Kathmandu in 2016.[55] The winner of the contest, Zeenus Lama, later participated in the Miss Grand International 2017 contest in Vietnam.

The contestants of each edition of the pageant were selected by the franchise holder in respective countries or territories, through either national contest, internal casting, or a hand-pick. Being a newly established international pageant caused utmost of the taken-part candidates has been selected as the national representative without acquiring the title in the national contest. Nonetheless, in pageant popular countries, especially in Far East and the Americas,[26] the annual national contests is usually being held to crown its winner to compete in the Miss Grand International pageant,[56] for example; Miss Grand Cambodia, Miss Grand Malaysia, Miss Grand Nepal, and Miss Grand Paraguay,[57][58][59][60] some of them were the runner-up or obtained the supplementary title at the other national contest, e.g. the delegates from Femina Miss India, Binibining Pilipinas, Miss Mexico, etc.[61][62][63]

Despite not being considered an economically popular event in Europe and Africa but many countries have conducted the national pageant for many consecutive years, for instance, Miss Grand Albania,[64] Miss Grand Kosovo,[65] Miss Grand Spain,[66][67] Miss Grand France,[68] Miss Grand Italy,[69] and Miss Grand South Africa. In Spain, Italy, and many countries in Asia, each administrative division (i.e. province, state, region) holds a preliminary competition to choose their delegate for the national pageant.[66][69][70][71] Moreover, in some provinces of Spain, Malaysia, and Thailand, local pageants are also held to determine delegates for the province competition, in which winners hold the title "Miss Grand (Province)" for the year of their reign.[66][72][71]

Although the title of Miss Grand pageant was global registered copyright by the organization mentioned above, some national or local pageants unrelated to the Miss Grand International have been observed, including, the Azerbaijan model search contest named Miss and Mister Grand Azerbaijan which was organized by Elxan Pashayev since 2018,[73][74] Miss Zimbabwe Grand, headed by Farai Zembeni since 2019, the pageant finalists participate in various continental contests in Africa,[75][76] as well as the local pageant in the Bahamas, Miss Grand Bahama, established in 1970, which the name Grand Bahama refer to the third largest island in the northernmost region of the country.[77]

Notable contestants

Meenakshi Chaudhary (right), Miss Grand India 2018, attended the 2018 Times Now NRI of the Year Award at Hyatt Regency Mumbai.

• Htar Htet Htet of Myanmar (2013): Htar Htet Htet was appointed Miss Grand Myanmar 2013 by the Miss Golden Land Myanmar organization, to represent the country at the inaugural edition of Miss Grand International pageant, in which she has obtained the Miss Popular Vote and was placed at Top 20 finalists.[78][79] After finished her pageantry journey, she started her acting career in 2014 with the lead actress in the Burmese film Diary of a villain.[80][81] Later in 2021, due to the Myanmar coup d'état on 1 February, she fled from Yangoon in late April to start the military training with Karen National Defence Organisation (KNDO) as well as the United Defense Force (UDF) which was made up of protesters against the coup,[82][83] and later joined the ethnic rebels in Myanmar's border regions to take up arms against the country's military leaders.[79][82][84]
• Vartika Singh of India (2015): Singh has been crowned Miss Grand India 2015 at the Femina Miss India 2015 contest and later finished as the second runner-up in the Miss Grand International 2015 pageant.[61][85][86] As a Public health professional, she aims to create and spread awareness about Public health-related issues in the country caused her to contribute as a technical adviser to a health-based government project in association with the World Bank in 2016 as well as established a non-profit organization called 'Pure Humans' in 2018.[86][87] She has also been working with the Smile Train Organization in India as a Goodwill Ambassador, to provide aid and treatment to children born with cleft lip and cleft palate.[88][89] Currently, Singh has been working with the Government of Uttar Pradesh to create awareness and educate the communities about Tuberculosis in the said state.[90]
• Meenakshi Chaudhary of India (2018): Chaudhary represented Haryana at the Femina Miss India 2018 and was elected as the first-runner-up, then was later appointed Miss Grand India 2018 to compete at Miss Grand International 2018 pageant, in which she obtained the first-runner-up.[91] After finished her pageant journey, she made her debut in the Indian entertainment industries in 2019 with the web series titled Out of Love, an official adapted version of the BBC drama series Doctor Foster,[92] and also signed as the lead actress in several Bollywood films such as Ichata Vahanamulu Niluparadu and Khiladi in 2021,[93][94] as well as HIT: The Second Case and Kolai which was planned to be on-air in 2022.[95]

The pageant was held in Thailand under sponsorship from Thailand's government in the first three editions, from 2013 to 2015, either in October or November.[9][97] In 2016, the pageant was held for the first time outside Thailand, It was held at Westgate Las Vegas, Las Vegas, USA, on 25 October 2016.[24] Since 2015, the organizer has been set its grand final to be held on October 25 each year. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2020 and 2021 editions of the pageant was delayed, the 2020 edition was first scheduled to be held on October 25, 2020, but was postponed to March 27, 2021, and the venue was also moved to Bangkok, Thailand,[29] similar to the 2021 edition which was held on December 2021, two months behind the traditional schedule.[98]

The following is a list of Miss Grand International pageant edition and information, from its inception in 2013.

The pre-pageant activities of Miss Grand International usually are consisted of three main events namely the swimsuit competition, a national costume parade, and the preliminary contest. The swimsuit competition is organized at a separate venue to determine the winner of the Best in Swimsuit award while the national costume and the preliminary round of each edition are usually held at the same venue with the grand final round.[104][105] All aforementioned events is beamed live stream via the pageant Facebook page and YouTube channel.[105] In the preliminary round, all contestants will compete in swimwear and evening gowns in front of a panel of preliminary judges.[105] Each round of the preliminary competition and the Swimsuit competition will determine the winner of Best Evening Gown and Best in Swimsuit awards which will be announced later on the final stage of the contest as well as the winner of other special awards including Best National Costume and Miss Popular vote. Moreover, the scores from all ancillary events, preliminary competition, together with a closed-door interview portion and the swimsuit competition, also determine the Top 20 during the grand final telecast of the pageant.[106]

List of the main special award winners in the Miss Grand International pageant

Edition	Best in Swimsuit	Best National Costume	Best Evening Gown	Miss Popular Vote	Best Social Media	Ref.
2013	Latvia	China	Dominican Republic	Myanmar	Japan	[4]
2014	Thailand	Vietnam	Indonesia	Cambodia	India	[99]
2015	Costa Rica	Philippines	Japan	Sri Lanka	Jamaica	[107]
2016	Bahamas	Indonesia	England	South Korea	Paraguay	[11]
2017	Costa Rica	Indonesia	China	Indonesia	Indonesia	[101]
2018	Cuba	Peru	Thailand	Vietnam	Award no longer exists since 2018.	[108]
2019	Panama	Ecuador	Peru	Vietnam		[109]
2020	Brazil	Guatemala  Japan  Thailand	Mexico	Malaysia		[110]
2021	Puerto Rico	Angola  Malaysia  Peru	Thailand	Cambodia		[111]

The grand final of the pageant is usually broadcast worldwide via free television channel and the social media platforms of the contest. As the tradition of the pageant, twenty semifinalists were chosen from the initial pool of all delegates through an observation during all ancillary activities, a closed-door interview, swimsuit round as well as a preliminary competition, which featured contestants competing in swimsuits and evening gowns.[106] However, the "Country of the year" was first introduced in 2020 edition, which was selected by the audience on social networks.[5][112] The challenge winner automatically entered the twenty finalists regardless of all previous scores.[112] The top 20 were then competed in a swimsuit competition, with 10 of them advancing to the Top 10 finalists, nevertheless, the miss popular vote winner has been promoted to take one spot of the Top 10 finalists since the 2015 edition, the winner is determined through mobile voting application,[106][5] who then all 10 semifinalists compete in an evening gown and give their speeches on ‘Stop the War and Violence theme’.[113][114]

After the speech round and evening gown competitions, the judges then select the top five to compete in the question-and-answer portion,[113] where all entrants will be asked the same question about the ongoing global situation; such as the management of COVID-19 pandemic crisis,[115] the 2016 United States presidential election,[11][100] and the ongoing socioeconomic and political crisis in Venezuela.[116] The judges will select the winner based on their answer and all previous accumulate score, then the host will sequentially announce the fourth, third and second runners-up.[110][117] The last 2 candidates of the top 5 finalists will stand in the center of the stage then one of them will be named Miss Grand International.[5][110][118][119][117]

The summary of the pageant selection process is shown below.

As the tradition of this pageant, the crown of the title holders, which is widely known as the Golden Crown, has been set to be changed every 3 years, all versions of the golden crowns are usually being made of gold and brass to prevent the collapse, and was adorned the exterior by diamond, and emerald.[23] Its first version was designed by a Thai jewellery design company, God Diamond, headed by Chawalit Chommuang,[120] and was used for the first three editions of the pageant.[23] Nonetheless, after the copyright conflict between the pageant organizer and the said company in 2015, the organizer decided to change its crown in 2016 with an unrevealed designer's company to prevent the aforementioned copyright problem as well as planned to create its third version for the 2019 – 2021 edition of the pageant; therefore this second version was meant to be used only for 2016 – 2018.[23]

The latest version of the golden crown, which was used since 2019, was made by a Venezuelan jewellery designer, George Wittels, who signed as the official jewel sponsor of the Miss Grand International Organization during 2019 – 2024.[102][121] He additionally designed the crown for all four runners-up of the pageant since the 2019 edition, the first time that the organization provided the crown for the substitute positions.[121] Moreover, Wittels also served as the crown designer of many national and international beauty pageants, such as Miss Venezuela,[122][123] Miss Bahamas Teenager,[124] Miss Tacloban,[123] and Miss Supranational.[125]

Since 2014, the organizer has also been offering USD$ 40,000 cash to each year winner for spending a year work as the organization's spokesperson in its campaign,[58][107][110][126] the prize was increased from USD$ 30,000 in 2013.[4][126] Furthermore, all four runners-up of each edition, has also been receiving some cash prize, the ABS-CBN reported that Samantha Bernardo of the Philippines got USD$ 6,000 cash after she had obtained the first runner-up title at the Miss Grand International 2020 pageant in Bangkok, Thailand,[127] as well as Vartika Singh of India, who received USD$ 4,000 for her second runner-up at the 2015 edition.[85] Besides the finalists, the winner of each special award also received the prize; approximately USD$ 3,000 according to the 2013 and 2014 contests.[126][128]

After relinquishing the crown to the successor, the immediate predecessor is provided with a replica tiara as the honorable gratuity; the replica is usually produced by the same designer as its master.

Year	Miss Grand International	Runners-Up				Ref.
		First	Second	Third	Fourth
2021	Vietnam – Nguyễn Thúc Thùy Tiên	Ecuador – Andrea Aguilera	Brazil – Lorena Rodrigues	Puerto Rico – Vivianne Diaz-Arroyo	South Africa – Jeane Van Dam	[103][111]
2020	United States – Abena Appiah	Philippines – Samantha Bernardo	Guatemala – Ivana Batchelor	Indonesia – Aurra Kharisma	Brazil – Lala Guedes	[129][130]
2019	Venezuela – Valentina Figuera	Mexico – Maria Malo	Thailand – Arayha Suparurk	Panama – Carmen Drayton	Brazil – Marjorie Marcelle	[131][26]
2018	Paraguay – Clara Sosa	India – Meenakshi Chaudhary	Indonesia – Nadia Purwoko	Puerto Rico – Nicole Colon	Japan – Haruka Oda	[91][132]
2017	Peru – Maria Jose Lora	Venezuela – Tulia Aleman	Philippines – Elizabeth Clenci	Puerto Rico – Brenda Jimenez	Czech Republic – Nikola Uhlirova	[101]
2016	Indonesia – Ariska Putri Pertiwi	Philippines – Nicole Ignacio Cordoves	Thailand – Supaporn Malisorn	Puerto Rico – Madison Anderson	United States – Michelle Leon	[24]
2015	Dominican Republic – Anea Garcia[a]  Australia – Claire Elizabeth Parker[b]	—	India – Vartika Singh	Philippines – Parul Shah	Thailand – Rattikarn Kunsom	[11][107]
2014	Cuba – Lees Garcia	Ethiopia – Hiwot Mamo	Canada – Kathryn Kohut	Australia – Renera Thompson	Colombia – Monica Castano	[99]
2013	Puerto Rico – Janelee Chaparro	Dominican Republic – Chantelan Martinez	Slovak Republic – Denisa Paseciakova	Philippines – Annalie Forbes	Australia – Kelly Louise Maguire	[3][4]

Notes

a. ¹ Dethroned

b. ¹ Originally crowned first runner-up. Took over the title after the original winner was dethroned.

Country/Territory by number of wins List of countries by number of Miss Grand International wins Number of win (s) Country/Territory Years 1  Vietnam 2021  United States 2020  Venezuela 2019  Paraguay 2018  Peru 2017  Indonesia 2016  Australia 2015[b]  Dominican Republic 2015[a]  Cuba 2014  Puerto Rico 2013 Notes a. 1 Dethroned b. 1 Originally crowned first runner-up. Took over the title after the original winner was dethroned, And after four years She was dethroned

Countries and territories that won the Miss Grand International title   1 title   1 dethroned title   1 assumed title   2 titles

Since the establishment of the contest, there was one case of resignation from her title when 2015 Miss Grand International winner Anea Garcia from Rhode Island, a Dominican American model, who later placed third in the Miss USA 2015 pageant then represented Dominican Republic in the Miss Grand International.[133] She stepped down from her reign and was replaced by first runner-up Claire Elizabeth Parker from Australia in which the contest cited "with immediate effect, Miss Anea Garcia will step down from her position as Miss Grand International 2015 due to unable to fulfill and follow the contractual agreement with Miss Grand International Organization."[134][135][136][137] The organization further stated, "her studies were in the way, making it very hard for us to schedule her activities."[133] Garcia was interviewed by The Providence Journal and stated that she resigned since "her safety was in jeopardy when she was sexually assaulted in South Sudan while representing the organization and [they] showed no concern about the incident" after she informed the organizers.[138][139] The Miss Grand International later claimed that Garcia was "dethroned" for being "demanding and disrespectful" and for taking an "inappropriate photo while wearing the crown with a revealing slit in her dress in the upper leg-crotch area," as opposed to the organization's initial press release that she "stepped down."[138]

Parker, who succeeded Anea Garcia as Miss Grand International 2015 after her resignation, was later stripped off from her title in February 2019, almost four years after her reign ended and the organization released a statement that she's no longer be addressed to as Miss Grand International 2015 when she decided to take part in a major national pageant title, Miss Universe Australia 2019 a preliminary of one of the Big Four international beauty pageants, Miss Universe.[140][137]

In 2016, Miss Grand International drew criticism after fat shaming Miss Iceland, Arna Ýr Jónsdóttir that "she's too fat and needed to lose weight" prior to the finals of Miss Grand International 2016 held in Las Vegas on October 25, 2016.[141] Jónsdóttir a former member of the Icelandic national athletics team was given a spot in the top 10 of the competition, but she declined. She stated, "I decided to stand by myself and women in general, I'm not going to have anyone telling me that I am too fat to look good on stage."[142] She eventually dropped from the pageant few days prior to the coronation.[143] The pageant organizers then withheld her passport after she withdrew from the contest but she eventually retrieved her passport back from the organizers and said, "they [organizers] tried extortion, they threatened me by saying, you can get your passport back if you pay 3,000 dollars."[144]

The pageant stirred another controversy when the organizers allowed Emily Delgado, who represented the United States in the Miss Grand International 2019 to parade in a Native American-inspired costume with headdress and walked on the stage with stereotypical gestures in which she drew ire in the social media for cultural appropriation.[145] The mockery of the Native values was initially confirmed and denounced by Ashley Callingbull of Alberta’s Enoch Cree Nation, Canada's first Indigenous woman to win the Mrs. Universe title in 2015.[146]

Miss Grand Thailand was founded in 2013 by Nawat Itsaragrisil, a television host and producer who had previously served as producer of the beauty pageant Miss Thailand World for BEC-Tero (owner of the television network Channel 3) for seven years until 2012.[151] After ending his role with BEC-Tero, Nawat subsequently established his own pageant, launching Miss Grand Thailand in 2013 in partnership with Channel 7.[151] Its inaugural edition was global broadcast on Let’s Veit VTC9 of Vietnam, Arirang TV of South Korea, the FashionTV,[147] as well was Channel 7 of Thailand,[151] then merely on Channel 7 for the subsequent editions.[148][152][153][154][155] Moreover, the pageant was additionally beamed live to a virtual audience via its official YouTube channel and Facebook webpage for all editions.[156] The winner of Miss Grand Thailand is the country's representative to the international competition Miss Grand International, which was also launched in 2013.[157]

In 2016, Miss Grand Thailand began franchising the provincial competitions to individual organizers, who would name seventy-seven provincial titleholders to compete in the national pageant,[150][158] and one of the most popular sub-events, the national costume competition, was also introduced for the first time in such the edition; which each of Thailand's seventy-seven provinces has created a unique attire for their candidate to compete in the event,[150][159][160][161] the finalist costumes has regularly been chosen to be worn by the country's representatives in the further international pageants.[150][160] Later in 2020, the pageant ended its partnership with Channel 7 due to the internal conflicts with one of the acting board executives and switched to broadcasting on One 31 instead.[162][163] Under Channel 7, the pageant was the most popular in Thailand in terms of television viewership, with ratings ranging from 1.479 to 1.886 during 2017 to 2019. It received ratings of 1.886 compared to its rival pageant Miss Universe Thailand's 1.581 in 2017, the last year the latter was broadcast on Channel 3.[164] The figure dropped to 0.750 in 2020, after it switched to One 31.[165] while Miss Universe Thailand achieved ratings of 0.765 that year, under its new broadcaster PPTV.[166]

Since its inception, the pageant was firstly postponed in 2020, originally scheduled to be held on 18 June,[162] however, the event was postponed to 19 September due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[167] Furthermore, the 2021 edition, basically planned to happen on 21 August,[168] was also canceled entirely arose from the spike of COVID-19 infection in Thailand in mid-2021, the provincial pageants could not be held to elect the representatives for the national contest either.[169] Therefore, the organization decided to designate the first runner-up of the 2020 edition to represent the country in the Miss Grand International 2021 instead.[170]

The regional competitions for Miss Grand Thailand: (Top) Miss Grand Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya 2019, held at Ayutthaya City Park Shopping Center on 11 May 2019. (Bottom) Miss Grand Songkhla, held in Songkhla City on 27 June 2019.

Selection of contestants

For the first three inaugural editions of the pageant, the national qualifiers were directly selected by the organization through the audition rounds.[147][148] However, since the pageant began franchising the provincial competitions to individual organizers responsible for selecting provinces representatives in 2016 then each province holds a preliminary competition annually to choose their delegate for the Miss Grand Thailand pageant.[171] Moreover, local pageants are also held in some provinces (i.e., Nan and Khon Kaen) to determine delegates for the province competition.[172][173] The province winners hold the title "Miss Grand (Province)" for the year of their reign and are not permitted to participate in any beauty pageants throughout the year of reign unless with the organization's consent.[174][175]

In some cases, the licensee is accountable for more than one province such as Pattanasak Yong-Rit, who is responsible for the three southernmost provinces, Pattani, Yala, and Narathiwat,[176] which is the special area that has been being affected by an ongoing ethnic and religious separatist insurgency since 1948.[177] Nevertheless, the license holder could be changed year by year.[178]

Notable contestants

• Amanda Obdam of Phuket (2016): A Thai – Canadian model who won the regional pageant, Miss Grand Phuket 2016, and then represented the province at the Miss Grand Thailand 2016; in which she went on to place in the top ten finalists.[179][180] Amanda was elected by the organization to compete at Miss Tourism Metropolitan International 2016 in Cambodia, where she won the title.[181][180] In 2020, she won the Miss Universe Thailand 2020 then consequently represented the country at Miss Universe 2020 in the United States and finished at Top 10 finalists.[180] Moreover, she also served as a mental health ambassador of the Thailand Department of Mental Health, unfortunately, she was disassociated from the position after criticizing the government for allegedly engaging in police brutality at the Thai protests against their pro-military government in early 2021.[182][183] However, she was instead invited to become the ambassador of a non-governmental organization, the Mirror Foundation of Thailand, focusing on assisting patients with Psychiatric problems who do not have a living place.[184][185]

The following is a list of Miss Grand Thailand pageant edition and information, from its inception in 2013.

The pageant ancillary activities are usually consisted of three main subevents namely the best in swimsuit competition, darling of the host round, as well as the national costume parade, which is considered as one the most popular events.[190][191][192] All ancillary events is arranged in the preliminary host provinces (e.g. 2013 in Pattani[193] and 2014 in Buriram[148]) except the national costume parade which is later held at the same venue as the final competition. The winner of each event will be announced on stage of the grand final round in Bangkok.[194][191][195][192] Furthermore, some ancillary challenge winners automatically advanced to the finalists round in the final coronation night or even received a job offer from the affiliated company, for instance, the winner of the Best Voice Award in the 2017 edition was placed in the Top 12 finalists regardless of the accumulation points,[196] the Miss Rising Star winners normally gained an offer to sign the contract as an actress affiliated with Ch 7 or One 31 for three years,[148][197][152][167] and the winner of M Pictures Awards in the 2019 pageant also served as an actress under the management of M Pictures Co., Ltd.[198]

Special award winners

List of the main special award winners in the Miss Grand International pageant

Edition	Best in Swimsuit	Best National Costume	Best Evening Gown	Miss Popular Vote	Miss Rising Star	Miss Photogenic	Darling of the Host	Ref.
2013	Nakhon Sawan[a]	—	—	Bangkok	Prachuap Khiri Khan	Bangkok	Bangkok	[199]
2014	Nakhon Sawan[a]	—	Suphan Buri	Nakhon Ratchasima	Nakhon Sawan  Surat Thani	Nakhon Ratchasima	Suphan Buri	[197][200]
2015	Roi Et	—	Chonburi	Bueng Kan	Chiang Mai  Samut Sakhon	Songkhla	Roi Et	[153][201]
2016	Ubon Ratchathani	Bueng Kan	Phatthalung	Chonburi	Uthai Thani  Phuket	Songkhla	Songkhla	[202][203]
2017	Sisaket	Chanthaburi	Buriram	Sa Kaeo	Bangkok	Nakhon Si Thammarat	Chanthaburi	[196]
2018	Kamphaeng Phet	Nakhon Si Thammarat	Surat Thani[b]	Sa Kaeo	Sa Kaeo	Sa Kaeo	Nakhon Pathom	[204][187]
2019	Trat	Bangkok	Nan	Loei[c]	Phang Nga	Nakhon Phanom	Nan	[156][205]
2020	Suphanburi	Ratchaburi	Chonburi	Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya	Nakhon Si Thammarat	Nakhon Si Thammarat	Nakhon Si Thammarat	[167]

Notes

1. ^{1 2} No swimsuit contest separately held, the winners were determined by the panel of judges during the final competition under the title Miss Being Bodyline in 2013 and Miss Healthy in 2014.

2. ¹ Since 2018, the Best Evening Gown award was renamed to Best Designer award, honored to the designers instead of the province representatives.[206]

3. ¹ In 2019, the Miss Popular Vote award was renamed to People Choice award.

Map shows the region group system of the Miss Grand Thailand pageant:

  Northern region

  Northeastern region

  Central region

  Southern region

Since the establishment of the pageant, the final coronation is always held in Bangkok, Thailand's capital city. The twenty quarterfinalists will be announced on the stage after the introduction portion. During 2013 – 2018, all quarterfinalists were chosen from the initial pool of delegates through a closed-door interview, swimsuit round, and the preliminary competition, then the judges selected the ten semifinalists as well as the five finalists based on their performances on the final stage, as usually done in other pageants.[147][197][153][196] However, a newly-established competition system was first introduced in 2019, the contestants were classified under four geographical regions namely; northern, northeastern, central, and southern, regardless of the government administrative regions, each group consisted of 17, 20, 22, and 18 provinces, respectively.[207] Five contestants with the highest preliminary accumulation points from each region advance to the Top 20 round.[156][207][195][192] The judges then select the top 2 candidates from each region (8 in total), based on their swimsuit performance on the stage, to advance to the Top 10 finalists while two other candidates of the Top 10 are determined via mobile application voting and specially chosen by the organizer, regardless of geographical affiliation.[156][207][189][158]

In the semifinalists round (Top 10) of the aforementioned system, the remaining 10 candidates compete in an evening gown and deliver their speeches on assigned topics then the judges select the top five finalists, only one candidate of each group together with the other one which is preferentially selected from the initial pool of Top 10 by the president, advance to the top 5 round and then compete in the question-and-answer portion,[156][207] where all entrants are asked the same question about the ongoing situations in the country to determine the winner.[156][153][196]

All selection process mentioned above is shown in the diagram below.

Year	Miss Grand Thailand	Runners-Up				Ref.
		First	Second	Third	Fourth
2021	Pathum Thani – Indy Johnson	The contest has been cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic in Thailand. Runner-up from previous edition was selected to compete in Miss Grand International 2021.				[170]
2020	Ranong – Patcharaporn Chantarapadit	Pathum Thani – Indy Johnson	Nakhon Si Thammarat – Patchaploy Rueandaluang	Chiang Rai – Juthamas Mekseree	Mukdahan – Nutnicha Srithongsuk	[220]
2019	Nakhon Phanom – Arayha Suparurk	Nan – Peerachada Khunrak	Chiang Mai – Naruemon Kampan	Trat – Maneerat Daengprasert	Phang Nga – Chompoonuch Puengpon	[205]
2018	Phuket – Nam–Oey Chanaphan	Nakhon Pathom – Jiratchaya Sukinta	Sakon Nakhon – Ingchanok Prasart	Buriram – Nantapak Kraiha	Sa Kaeo – Methawee Theerateekul	[221]
2017	Krabi – Pamela Pasinetti	Kamphaeng Phet – Chatnalin Chotjirawarachat	Prachuap Khiri Khan – Sarucha Nilchan	Chanthaburi – Thaweeporn Prinkchumrud	Sisaket – Kamolrat Thanont	[196]
2016	Songkhla – Supaporn Malisorn	Ratchaburi – Chatchadaporn Kimakorn[d]	Sing Buri – Atitaya Khunnalapat[d]	Chonburi – Pinicha Kitkasempongsa[d]	Phetchaburi – Anchana Archklom[d]	[179]
2015	Songkhla – Rattikorn Kunsom	Roi Et – Tharathip Sukdharunpatr[c]	Nakhon Pathom – Boonyanee Sungpirom[c]	Chonburi – Chonthicha Imjunya[c]	Chonburi – Sakonwan Saetiao[c]	[153]
2014	Nakhon Ratchasima – Parapadsorn Vorrasirinda	Songkhla – Sasi Sintawee[b]	Bangkok – Ananya Mongkolthai[b]	Bangkok – Phataraporn Wang[b]	Nakhon Sawan – Warangkanang Wutthayangkorn[b]	[197]
2013	Prachuap Khiri Khan – Yada Theppanom	Bangkok – Kanikar Phusri[a]	Nakhon Si Thammarat – Thanyaporn Srisen[a]	Phitsanulok – Keeratika Sawangjaeng[a]	Phuket – Sopapan Viroonmas[a]	[199]

Notes

1. ^{1 2 3 4} For the 2013 edition, the 5th – 2nd placement was announced as Miss Globe Thailand, Miss Intercontinental Thailand, Miss Supranational Thailand, and 1st runner-up Miss Grand Thailand, respectively.[199]

2. ^{1 2 3 4} For the 2014 edition, the 5th – 2nd placement was announced as Miss Tourism Thailand, Miss Intercontinental Thailand, Miss Supranational Thailand, and Miss Earth Thailand, respectively.[197]

3. ^{1 2 3 4} For the 2015 edition, the 5th – 2nd placement was announced as First runner-up Miss Grand Thailand, Miss Tourism Thailand, Miss Intercontinental Thailand, and Miss Supranational Thailand, respectively.[153]

4. ^{1 2 3 4} For the 2016 edition, the 5th – 2nd placement was announced as Miss Top Model Thailand, Miss Tourisam Thailand, Miss Intercontinental Thailand, and Miss Supranational Thailand, respectively.[179]

Winners gallery

• 
  Miss Grand Thailand 2021
  Indy Johnson
   Pathum Thani
• 
  Miss Grand Thailand 2020
  Patcharaporn Chantarapadit
   Ranong
• 
  Miss Grand Thailand 2019
  Arayha Suparurk
   Nakhon Phanom
• 
  Miss Grand Thailand 2018
  Nam–Oey Chanaphan
   Phuket
• 
  Miss Grand Thailand 2017
  Pamela Pasinetti
   Krabi
• 
  Miss Grand Thailand 2016
  Supaporn Malisorn
   Songkhla
• 
  Miss Grand Thailand 2015
  Rattikorn Kunsom
   Songkhla
• 
  Miss Grand Thailand 2014
  Parapadsorn Vorrasirinda
   Nakhon Ratchasima
• 
  Miss Grand Thailand 2013
  Yada Theppanom
   Prachuap Khiri Khan

Since the pageant franchise was distributed to the local organizer in 2016, several incidents of provincial champion dethronement and license cessation have been observed, especially in the first few years of an allotment.[222] It arose from the meticulous regulations of Miss Grand Thailand Ltd., the provincial title holders are not permitted to participate in any beauty pageants throughout the year of reign unless with the organization's consent.[174][175] In case of regulatory violations, the title would be revoked.[222][174][175] Moreover, if the investigation found the director's involvement in such an offense or failure to comply with the contract-specified terms and conditions, the provincial licenses might additionally be terminated.[175][223][224]

In 2017, the representative of Satun Province, one of the favorite contenders, was de-titled after participating in another local pageant during her reign, she contended the such a decision was approved by the provincial director; as a result, the license was also ceased.[222][174][175] However, the provincial pageant was later held again under the direction of a new franchise holder to select a new representative for the national contest.[225] The candidate from Surin province was dethroned due to the aforementioned circumstances as well.[222][226] In addition, the organization's investigation found a corrupted issue in the regional pageant of Samut Sakhon Province. Therefore, the competition result was not authenticated and the license was transferred to another organizer, who held the substituted contest to elect the replacement later in Bangkok.[222][227][224] Following the national contest completion, the Phatthalung titleholder has subsequently been removed from the provincial title in late November as a result of taking part in the Miss International 2017 pageant in Japan without informing the organization.[223] As well, the candidates from Ang Thong, Amnat Charoen, Nong Khai, Phang Nga, and Mae Hong Son were also relieved from the title after taking part in other local pageants during their reign.[228]

In the 2018 season, merely two provincial title holders were dismissed and received a permanent prohibition to engage in any exhibition related to Miss Grand Thailand Ltd.; namely, the representative of Yasothon and Lampang province forasmuch as both participated in other contests without completing the year of reign. Since then, no incidents of dethronement was encountered.[229]