The Hidden Treasure Miss Nepal, the country’s premier beauty pageant that nominates Nepali contestants to international pageants like the Miss World, has set the ball rolling for 2017 with an orientation programme held in the Capital on Wednesday. This year’s event, the 22nd iteration of the pageant, will see 30 initial participants—from Kathmandu, Pokhara, Butwal, Chitwan and Dhulabari—compete for the crown, with 20 moving on to the final gala event in June, the organisers announced.

“Unlike other years, this time around we will have four title winners—Miss Nepal World, Miss Nepal Earth, Miss Nepal International and the newly-added Miss Nepal Asia Pacific. This year we will also have top seven finalists competing in the finals rather than just five,” said Gopal Sunder Lal Kakshapati, chairman of the organisers, The Hidden Treasure, in a conversation with the Post. 

“This year, we even had Skype auditions with Nepalis living abroad who are eager to participate in the competition. Hopefully, we’ll also have contestants flying in from places like Hong Kong and Dubai,” Kakshapati added, “We also have contestants coming from different backgrounds and professions—models, engineers, architects, entrepreneurs and others—vying for the title. It’s going to be a tough, highly-competitive crown.”

According to Kakshapati, this iteration of the pageant will see the contestants partake in a six-week training course on various subjects ranging from personality development to etiquettes. Miss Nepal 2017 is also slated to have a three-day close camp training programme in Dhulikhel.

The sub-titles of this year’s event include The Kathmandu Post Miss Intellect, Hyundai Miss Friendship, and Berger Miss Talent, Hair n Shanti Miss Best Hair, Goldstar Miss Athelete, among others.

The final gala event is slated to take place in the Capital on June 2.