The board of the Pageant News Bureau, as it has done since the mid-1990s, has chosen the five most important stories of the outgoing year.
1. It was the year of East Asia in the two oldest international pageants. Riyo Mori of Japan was crowned Miss Universe and Zhang Zilin of China was crowned Miss World. Ms. Mori was the first Miss Universe from East Asia in years, and Ms. Zilin was the first Miss World from East Asia ever. A long ignored part of the pageant world may be coming into its own.
2. The ugly face of nationalism broke into the open during the Miss Universe Pageant, when members of the live audience in Mexico City audibly booed Miss USA, Rachel Smith. This raucous behavior, seen on international TV, angered many U.S. pageant fans, particularly since Ms. Smith had recovered gracefully after a hard fall during competition and had attempted to greet fans in Spanish. Some in the United States denounced Mexicans in crude terms. The incident occurred during intense U.S. debate about (largely Mexican) illegal immigrants. But the fact that residents of two traditionally friendly neighbor nations were quarreling belied the longtime claim that international pageants bring people together.
3. As a finalist at Miss Teen USA, Lauren Caitlin Upton of South Carolina was asked about Americans who could not find their country on the map, and the young woman replied with what a PNB commentator called "history's longest gaffe." The video was reproduced all over the Internet, as was the text:
"I personally believe that U.S. Americans are unable to do so because, uh, some people out there in our nation don't have maps, and, uh, I believe that our education like such as in South Africa and, uh, the Iraq everywhere like, such as and I believe that they should, our education over here in the U.S. should help the U.S., er, should help South Africa and should help the Iraq and the Asian countries, so we will be able to build up our future for our children."
It was a lapse that could have happened to any teenager put on the spot in front of tens of millions of people. After initial ridicule by many anonymous commentators, a sympathetic backlash occurred. Ms. Upton became a kind of media darling, appearing in various media and proving to be surprisingly articulate.
4. The Miss California USA Pageant pulled the title of Christina Silva, saying she had been wrongly crowned because of an accounting error. The title was given to Raquel Beezley, who officials said was the rightful winner. The incident was understandably traumatic for Ms. Silva, who had done nothing wrong. And although such errors have occasionally marred other pageants, this was the most prominent such case in recent memory.
5. Two unrelated incidents brought to light the grim side of pageant competition. Amy Polumbo, Miss New Jersey in the Miss America system, went public with claims that a possible rival was trying to blackmail her with embarrassing photographs. No one was ever charged in the case, and Ms. Polumbo eventually released the pictures, which were somewhat tasteless but not highly offensive, and she kept her crown. But some fans accused her of using the incident to get publicity. In another case, slightly more serious, the Miss Puerto Rico Universe Pageant said winner Ingrid Marie Rivera had suffered physical sabotage from a gown tainted with pepper spray. Some detractors claimed Ms. Rivera was grandstanding, and police initially expressed, then declared the pepper spray real. The lore of backstabbing beauty queens apparently had been confirmed.
