Nepali beauty contest organiser the Hidden Treasure (THT) on Monday officially announced the opening of applications for the 28th Miss Nepal Pageant. The application forms are available online on the official social media pages and the website of the Miss Nepal pageant until May 14.

A press meet inaugurating the beginning of Miss Nepal 2022 started with Namrata Shrestha, Miss Nepal 2020, sharing her experience as a former winner of the beauty pageant and her participation as a representative of Nepal in international platforms.

“The learnings I got as Miss Nepal for the past 11 months have taught me more than what I learned in the past 23 years of my life,” said Shrestha.

Diwakar Rajkarnikar, the chairman of THT, gave a welcome speech clarifying their inability to conduct the event last year due to the circumstances created by Covid-19 restrictions. He also shared details of the schedule of this year’s event.

“The criteria, this year, has been slightly changed considering the modifications adopted internationally. The jury has decided to reduce the minimum height requirement for participants to 5 feet 3 inch from the earlier 5 feet 4 inch, the age limit has been increased by a year to 27,” said Rajkarnikar.

Women who are between 18 and 27 years until December 2022 are eligible to apply. The crowning event has been scheduled for June 18 at Godawari Convention Hall with a seating capacity of 3000. The titles however have been reduced to 3: Miss Nepal World, Miss Nepal Earth, and Miss Nepal International, but the intention is to make the event bigger and better, according to the organisers.

To make the platform accessible to everyone from different regions, auditions will be held in all the seven provinces: Pokhara, Birgunj, Dharan, Dhangadhi, Nepalgunj, Surkhet, and Kathmandu.

Rajkarnikar also dismissed the allegations made by some quarters that the pageant is inaccessible to a majority of the country’s population. “There is no application fee. The month-long workshops and the designer dresses made in collaboration with designers are all taken care of by THT. So, please feel free to take part,” said Rajkarnikar.