Miss Grand Thailand

Miss Grand Thailand

Established	7 May 2013; 11 years ago (2013-05-07)
Founder	Nawat Itsaragrisil
Type	Beauty pageant
Headquarters	Bangkok
Location	Thailand
Official language	Thai
President	Nawat Itsaragrisil
Manager	Engfa Waraha
Deputy Manager	Waranchana Radomlek
Parent organization	MGI PCL
Website	www.missgrandthailand.com

Miss Grand Thailand (Thai: มิสแกรนด์ไทยแลนด์) is an annual Thai beauty pageant that began in 2013 to select a representative for Miss Grand International. The pageant has been owned by Nawat Itsaragrisil since its inception and was originally broadcast on Channel 7 from 2013 – 2019. In 2020 it moved to One 31, then only on the social media livestream since 2022.

In the first three editions of the contest, the national entrants were selected by the organization directly.^[1][2][3] In 2016, the license was distributed to the provincial organizers, and since then the pageant has contestants chosen by the seventy-seven provincial licensees through their regional competitions.^[4] Since 2017, all seventy-seven provincial representatives must be determined by provincial contests; the national organizer has not allowed the provincial licensees to appoint their representatives to compete on the national stage, unless with the organization's consent.^[5]

The reigning Miss Grand Thailand is Malin Chara-anan of Phuket who was crowned on 6 April 2024 at the MGI Hall, Bravo BKK Mall in Bangkok. She will represent the country at Miss Grand International 2024, in Thailand on 25 October 2024.

Miss Grand Thailand was founded in 2013 by Nawat Itsaragrisil, a television host and producer who produced Miss Thailand World for BEC-Tero for seven years until 2012.^[6] Afterwards, Nawat established his own pageant, launching Miss Grand Thailand in 2013 in partnership with Channel 7.^[6] Its inaugural edition was global broadcast on Let's Veit VTC9 of Vietnam, Arirang TV of South Korea, the FashionTV,^[1] as well as Channel 7 of Thailand,^[6] then only Channel 7 for subsequent editions.^{[2][7][8][9][10]} The pageant has also been streamed via its YouTube channel and Facebook.^[11] The winner is the country's representative to Miss Grand International, also launched in 2013.^[12]

In 2016, Miss Grand Thailand began franchising provincial competitions to organizers, who would produce seventy-seven provincial titleholders to compete at the national pageant.^[4][13] The national costume competition, was also introduced at this time, where each province would create a unique costume for their candidate to compete in, at the main event.^{[4][14][15][16]} The winner is regularly chosen to be worn by the country's representative at international pageants.^[4][15] In 2020, the pageant ended its partnership with Channel 7 due to internal conflicts with one of the acting board executives and switched to One 31.^[17][18] Under Channel 7, the pageant had the most popular viewership on Thai TV, compared to its rival, Miss Universe Thailand.^[19][20][21]

The COVID-19 pandemic cancelled the pageant in 2020 and 2021^[17][22][23] In mid-2021; the provincial pageants could not be held to elect the representatives for the national contest either,^[24] and it was decided to designate the first runner-up of the 2020 edition to represent the country Miss Grand International 2021 competition instead.^[25]

The regional competitions for Miss Grand Thailand: (Top) The press-conference of Miss Grand Suphanburi 2019, held at Robinson Lifestyle Suphanburi on 15 January 2019. (Bottom) Miss Grand Bangkok 2022, held at ESC Park Hotel, Pathumthani on 6 February 2022.

For the first three editions, the national qualifiers were directly selected by the organization through the audition rounds.^[1][2] In 2016 the pageant began franchising the provincial competitions to individual organizers, who hold a preliminary competition to choose their delegate for Miss Grand Thailand.^[26] Local pageants are also held in provinces such as Nan and Khon Kaen) to find delegates for the provincial competitions.^[27][28] The provincial winners are titled "Miss Grand (Province)", and are not permitted to participate in any beauty pageants without the organization's consent.^[29][30]

In some cases, the licensee has more than one province such as Pattanasak Yong-Rit, who has Pattani, Yala, and Narathiwat^{[31] [32]}

Amanda Obdam of Phuket, is a Thai – Canadian model who won Miss Grand Phuket 2016. She then represented her province at the Miss Grand Thailand 2016; and reached the top ten.^[33][34] Obdam was elected by the organization to compete at Miss Tourism Metropolitan International 2016 in Cambodia, where she won the title.^[35][34] In 2020, she won Miss Universe Thailand 2020 then represented the country at Miss Universe 2020 in the United States, and reached the top ten.^[34] She served as a mental health ambassador for the Thailand Department of Mental Health, until 2021, she was removed for criticising the government. Who had allegedly engaged in police brutality during the 2020–2021 Thai protests against their pro-military government.^[36][37] Obdam then served as ambassador of the non-governmental organization, the Mirror Foundation,Thailand. This focuses on assisting patients with Psychiatric problems who do not have a place to live.^[38][39]

The following is a list of Miss Grand Thailand pageant edition and information, from its inception in 2013.

The ancillary activities usually consist of three sub-events: the best in swimsuit competition, darling of the host round, and the national costume parade.^[49][50][51] These activities are arranged in the preliminary host provinces (e.g. 2013 in Pattani^[52] and 2014 in Buriram^[2]) except the national costume parade which is held at the final competition venue. The winner of each event is announced at the grand final in Bangkok.^{[53][50][54][51]} Some ancillary winners are automatically advanced to the final round at the finals night or even received a job offer from the affiliated company. For example, the winner of the Best Voice Award in 2017 was placed in the top 12, regardless of their accumulation points,^[55] the Miss Rising Star winners normally gain an offer as an actress affiliated with Ch 7 or One 31 for three years,^{[2][56][7][22]} and the winner of M Pictures Awards in 2019 also served as an actress under the management of M Pictures Co., Ltd.^[57]

Special award winners

Notes

1. ^{1 2} No swimsuit contest was held, the winners were determined by the panel of judges during the final competition under the title Miss Being Bodyline in 2013 and Miss Healthy in 2014.

2. ¹ Since 2018, the Best Evening Gown award was renamed to the Best Designer award, honored to the designers instead of the province representatives.^[70]

3. ¹ In 2019, the Miss Popular Vote award was renamed the People Choice award.

Since the establishment of the pageant, the final coronation is always held in Bangkok, Thailand's capital city. The twenty quarterfinalists will be announced on the stage after the introduction portion. During 2013 – 2018, all quarterfinalists were chosen from the initial pool of delegates through a closed-door interview, swimsuit round, and the preliminary competition, then the judges selected the ten semi-finalists as well as the five finalists based on their performances on the final stage, as usually done in other pageants.^{[1][56][8][55]} However, a newly established competition system was first introduced in 2019, the contestants were classified under four geographical regions namely; northern, northeastern, central, and southern, regardless of the government administrative regions, each group consisted of 17, 20, 22, and 18 provinces, respectively.^[71] Five contestants with the highest preliminary accumulation points from each region advance to the top 20 round.^{[11][71][54][51]} The judges then select the top two candidates from each region (eight in total), based on their swimsuit performance on the stage, to advance to the top 10 finalists while two other candidates of the top 10 are determined via mobile application voting and specially chosen by the organizer, regardless of geographical affiliation.^{[11][71][43][13]}

In the semifinalists round (top 10) of the aforementioned system, the remaining 10 candidates compete in an evening gown and deliver their speeches on assigned topics then the judges select the top five finalists, only one candidate of each group together with the other one which is preferentially selected from the initial pool of Top 10 by the president, advance to the top five round and then compete in the question-and-answer portion,^[11][71] where all entrants are asked the same question about the ongoing situations in the country to determine the winner.^[11][8][55]

All selection process above is shown in the diagram below.

Notes

1. ^{1 2 3 4} For the 2013 edition, the 5th – 2nd placements were announced as Miss Globe Thailand, Miss Intercontinental Thailand, Miss Supranational Thailand, and 1st runner-up Miss Grand Thailand, respectively.^[58]

2. ^{1 2 3 4} For the 2014 edition, the 5th – 2nd placements were announced as Miss Tourism Thailand, Miss Intercontinental Thailand, Miss Supranational Thailand, and Miss Earth Thailand, respectively.^[56]

3. ^{1 2 3 4} For the 2015 edition, the 5th – 2nd placements were announced as First runner-up Miss Grand Thailand, Miss Tourism Thailand, Miss Intercontinental Thailand, and Miss Supranational Thailand, respectively.^[8]

4. ^{1 2 3 4} For the 2016 edition, the 5th – 2nd placements were announced as Miss Top Model Thailand, Miss Tourism Thailand, Miss Intercontinental Thailand, and Miss Supranational Thailand, respectively.^[33]

Beginning in 2022, the remaining top 10 finalists were automatically crowned the 5th runners-up.

• 
  2024
  Malin Chara-anan
  (Phuket)
• 
  2023
  Thaweeporn Phingchamrat
  (Chumphon)
• 
  2022
  Engfa Waraha
  (Bangkok)
• 
  2021
  Indy Johnson
  (Pathum Thani)
• 
  2020
  Patcharaporn Chantarapadit
  (Ranong)
• 
  2019
  Arayha Suparurk
  (Nakhon Phanom)
• 
  2018
  Nam–Oey Chanaphan
  (Phuket)
• 
  2017
  Pamela Pasinetti
  (Krabi)
• 
  2016
  Supaporn Malisorn
  (Songkhla)
• 
  2015
  Rattikorn Kunsom
  (Songkhla)
• 
  2014
  Parapadsorn Vorrasirinda
  (Nakhon Ratchasima)
• 
  2013
  Yada Theppanom
  (Prachuap Khiri Khan)

Usually, the Miss Grand Thailand finalists are granted the right to participate in various international contests affiliated with the organization. During 2013–2016, their placements had been being announced under the international pageant titles they acquired the right to participate.^{[58][56][8][33]} Nonetheless, after a dispute over franchise fees with the World Beauty Association S.A. of Miss Supranational pageant in 2017, the organization terminated its partnership with such an association, and the national placements have instead been announced as 1st–4th runners-up since then.^[41][55] Back in the inaugural edition, the placement was sequentially announced as Miss Globe Thailand, Miss Intercontinental Thailand, Miss Supranational Thailand, first runner-up, and the winner of Miss Grand Thailand.^[58] However, the position for Miss Globe Thailand and the 1st runner-up was respectively replaced by Miss Tourism Thailand and Miss Earth Thailand after the organization purchased the franchises in 2014.^[56][59] Later in 2015, the organizer lost the Miss Earth franchise, the vacant position was announced as the 1st runner-up instead,^[7][8][60] and the Miss Supranational Thailand title was later promoted to take over this position in 2016.^[33][61][62]

In 2014, Organize IQ Ltd., the organizer of the Miss Earth Thailand competition, filed a copyright infringement lawsuit against the Miss Grand Thailand Ltd. founder for violating the rights for such the contest. The plaintiff claimed the license to select a Thai representative for the Miss Earth from 2013 to 2017.^[75][76] Furthermore, ere the lawsuit action, the Organizer IQ Ltd. requested the defendant to show the evidence approving the license purchasing; however, the aforementioned legitimate demand was refused caused the plaintiff to take legal action against the Miss Grand Thailand Ltd.^[75][76] Originally, the Organizer IQ Co., Ltd. planned to arrange a press conference of the Miss Earth Thailand 2014 pageant on 5 August, and the coronation night was scheduled on 28 September, to elect the candidate for Miss Earth 2014 but unfortunately lost the franchise to Miss Grand Thailand Ltd. who elected Sasi Sintawee, the first runner-up Miss Grand Thailand 2014 [th], to participate in the said international pageant.^[77]

The resignation of the finalists was observed in 2014, 2015, and 2017 editions; Ananya Mongkolthai [th], who has been crowned Miss Supranational Thailand in the 2014 edition, was forced to resign the title due to undisclosed health problems that caused the organization to select Parapadsorn Vorrasirinda, Miss Grand Thailand 2014, to instead compete in Miss Supranational 2014 [pl]; in which she finished as the first runner-up.^[78][79][80] However, the reasons for such incidents in 2015 and 2017 were unrevealed.

Oftentimes, the Miss Grand Thailand Ltd. representatives qualified to the finalists round in the international pageants, for instance, three consecutive years as the runner-up at Miss United Continents pageant and obtained four runner-up titles in its sister contest – Miss Grand International,^[81][82] but rarely won the main title. The following are the highlights performance of Miss Grand Thailand titleholders in international pageants since its inception in 2013.

• Two  —  Miss Tourism International winners: Suphatra Kliangprom (2022)^[83] and Tia Li Taveepanichpan (2023)^[84]
• One  —  Miss Intercontinental winner: Pataraporn Wang (2014)^[3][85][80]
• One  —  Miss Tourism Metropolitan International winner: Amanda Obdam (2016)^[35]
• One  —  Face of Beauty International winner: Peerachada Khunrak (2019)^[86][87]
• One  —  Miss Aura International winner: Ketwalee Plobdee (2023)^[88]
• One  —  Miss Southeast Asia Tourism Ambassador winner: Yada Theppanom (2015)^[89]

Color keys

Notes

Color keys

Since the pageant franchise was distributed to the local organizer in 2016, several incidents of provincial champion dethronement and license cessation have been observed, especially in the first few years of an allotment.^[152] It arose from the meticulous regulations of Miss Grand Thailand Ltd., the provincial title holders are not permitted to participate in any beauty pageants throughout the year of reign unless with the organization's consent.^[29][30] In case of regulatory violations, the title would be revoked.^{[152][29][30]} Moreover, if the investigation found the director's involvement in such an offense or failure to comply with the contract-specified terms and conditions, the provincial licenses might additionally be terminated.^{[30][153][154]}

In 2017, the representative of Satun Province, one of the favorite contenders, was de-titled after participating in another local pageant during her reign, she contended that such a decision was approved by the provincial director; as a result, the license was also ceased.^{[152][29][30]} However, the provincial pageant was later held again under the direction of a new franchise holder to select a new representative for the national contest.^[155] The candidate from Surin province was dethroned due to the aforementioned circumstances as well.^[152][156] In addition, the organization's investigation found a corrupted issue in the regional pageant of Samut Sakhon Province. Therefore, the competition result was not authenticated and the license was transferred to another organizer, who held the substituted contest to elect the replacement later in Bangkok.^{[152][157][154]} Following the national contest completion, the Phatthalung titleholder has subsequently been removed from the provincial title in late November as a result of taking part in the Miss International 2017 pageant in Japan without informing the organization.^[153] As well, the candidates from Ang Thong, Amnat Charoen, Nong Khai, Phang Nga, and Mae Hong Son were also relieved from the title after taking part in other local pageants during their reign.^[158]

In the 2018 season, two provincial title holders were dismissed and received a permanent prohibition to engage in any exhibition related to Miss Grand Thailand Ltd. when the representatives of Yasothon and Lampang province participated in other contests without completing the year of reign.^[159] There have been no more dethronements by the central organizer since then.