Srichchha Pradhan was crowned Miss Nepal World 2023 in the grand finale of the pageant on Saturday, beating out 23 other contestants. Raina Majgaiya and Prasiddhy Shah won the titles of Miss Nepal Earth and Miss Nepal International, respectively, at the 27th edition of the pageant, held at the Godavari Sunrise Convention Centre, Lalitpur.

Besides the main titles, The Hidden Treasure (THT), which has been organising Miss Nepal since 1994, gave out 12 other titles this year.

Aishworya Shrestha bagged two titles—The Kathmandu Post Miss Intellectual and Dabur Honey Miss Fitness Queen. Grishma Adhikari won Berger Miss Glamor, Pragya Bajracharya won Brij Cement Miss Confident, Suhani Khadka Chhetri won JMusic Miss Multimedia, Unnati Gurung won Yeti Airlines Woman with Wings, Pritika Khadka won Creative D Studio Miss Photogenic, and Aayushma Baral won the highly coveted, THT Beauty with a Purpose title.

All three main title holders also won other titles. Pradhan was named Farmasi Face of the Year and Miss DHI, while Majgaiya won Cetaphil Miss Healthy Skin. Shah was declared Miss Popular Choice which directly earned her a spot in the Top 11.

Pradhan, 25, holds a bachelor’s degree in Environmental Studies from Bennington College in Vermont, US. In the final round of the competition, she gave a short speech on ‘Women Entrepreneurship’. Pradhan, who is the founder of Deego Pranali, called female entrepreneurship “the secret to a flourishing economy” for Nepal.

Majgaiya, a pilot from Dang, delivered a poignant speech on ‘Beauty and Positivity’ for the final. She talked about how being beautiful and positive comes from an individual’s mindset. 25-year-old Shah—who is the daughter of the first ever Miss Nepal, Ruby Rana Shah—spoke on ‘Tourism Development Possibilities’ in the last round. She emphasised the need to promote places in Tarai as tourist destinations to further Nepal’s tourism.

Adhikari and Shrestha also made it to the Top 5, and they spoke on the topics ‘Global Warming and Climate Change’ and ‘Feminism and Gender Equality’, respectively, during the final round. The finalists were flaunting custom Manish Rai gowns and jewellery from RB Diamonds.

Miss Nepal World 2020 Namrata Shrestha, the Editor-in-Chief of Kantipur Television Dilbhushan Pathak, actress Aanchal Sharma, and cricketer Gyanendra Malla were on the judges’ panel for the event. The president of Hidden Treasure, Diwakar Rajakarnikar, announced the names of the final winners while Miss Nepal Earth 2010 Sahana Bajracharya was the main host of the evening.

Miss Nepal World 2022 Priyanka Rani Joshi, who is participating in the Miss World 2023 pageant happening later this year in UAE, revealed that her video for the ‘Beauty with Purpose’ segment of the competition will focus on a community build-up project.

Popular singer Abhaya Subba and a dance troop from Nritya Aagan performed during the show.

The entire show was broadcast live on Kantipur Television.