Graphics by Krizza Enriquez [@kxxenriquez]
Sitting at the heart of Europe, the Czech Republic has a special place in the world of pageantry. It is the pivot point between Western Europe’s declining interest in beauty pageants and the rather stable situation in the East. It punches above its weight despite being a relatively small nation. Czech Republic boasts two Miss World titleholders and a Miss Earth winner. Czech Republic is currently ranked 40th at the Big5 Ranking outranking larger countries such as Indonesia, Turkey and China.
Krystyna Pyszková’s victory at the 71st edition Miss World – the second victory for the country at the pageant – cemented Czech Republic’s status as an emerging superpower. Meanwhile, the 2nd runner-up finish of Justýna Zedníková at Miss Supranational 2024 and the Top 8 finish of Alina Dementjeva at Miss International 2024 are clear indications that Czech Republic is making inroads despite being crownless in those pageants.
Interestingly, the runner-up for Performer of the Year 2024 is Nigeria. This is a rather surprising outcome because Nigeria didn’t win any crown last year. However, it appears that it is the only country to make it to the semis of all Big5 Pageants. This is a good indicator that Nigeria has a lot of potential and has a promising future.
The results of the Performer of the Year is quite telling how the dynamics of pageantry has changed. Czech Republic is the first country outside of the Top 20 of the Big5 Ranking to be awarded this accolade since Turkey took the award in 2002. Meanwhile, the runner-up position was dominated by the Top 10 countries since 2017. This tells us that more and more countries are catching up and that the superpowers no longer hold the same sway as it used to.
