Pageant News Bureau - Defending pageants

A European journalist commented recently to a PNB staffer that "beauty contests are dying." Women are tired of these events, she said, and there's no place for the pageant culture to go.

Hah! We are professional journalists who cover pageants, and most of our critical commentary is aimed at people in the pageant business. But sometimes our journalistic colleagues are equally obtuse. Pageants may have their faults, but they are far from dead, and in some places they are thriving.

And they have plenty of places to go, because the contest culture is imminently adaptable. They will ride out the social changes ahead of us and still be around a century from now.

How adaptable are they? We'd like to present two examples.

The first is rather exotic. When contestants for the Miss Germany title were flying from Germany to Egypt in January 2007, passengers on Condor airlines had a chance to choose "Miss Condor 2007" from among the group. They chose Ferda Tunc, Miss Hamburg.

Miss Condor 2007, Ferda Tunc, with flight crew

Our other example is Amanda Beil, 19, of Cleveland, Ohio. She is the reigning Miss Merry Christmas for Ohio. She wants to be an emergency physician, which is a noble ambition. And her title is as wholesome as any we could imagine.

One girl was crowned in midair, between two continents and two cultures. One girl has a title that theoretically only applies once a year, but she wears it proudly all the time.

There are millions more like them, all precious and unique. Pageants are about people, and people are a remarkable species. We can't wait for the next 100 years.

PNB for the defense