Left - Shereen Kaur (2nd runner up); Center - Soo Wincci (Miss World Malaysia 2008); Right - Cindy Chen (1st Runner up). Picture Courtesy of DDB PR Sdn. Bhd

 

18th Aug 2008, Kuala Lumpur – Law graduate, Soo Wincci, was crowned the new Miss World Malaysia. She walked away with RM 10,000 cash, one year Celebrity Fitness membership with two personal training sessions and two pilates sessions, a floral bouquet, Schwarzenbach gift voucher worth RM 800 and most importantly, the opportunity to represent Malaysia at the Miss World Finals in Ukraine on October 4.

The new Miss World Malaysia will also be an advocate for START Foundation, a charity organisation that provides less fortunate children with the opportunity to find, express and stretch themselves through the arts. She will focus on creating awareness of START Foundation and what it represents.

Soo, 23, also won the Miss Talented subsidiary title.

Other winners include, 24 year old, Cindy Chen from Johor (first runner up & Miss Malaysian Today Readers Choice subsidiary title), Shereen Kaur, 20 (second runner up & Miss Schwarzenbach Body Beautiful subsidiary title), and 24 year old Natalie Chuah (Miss Celebrity Fitness Congeniality).

The gala event was co-hosted by former Miss Malaysia / Universe, Elaine Daly and celebrity host, Alvin Anthons. Others who contributed to making the night memorable were singers, Faizal Tahir, Syed Azmir, Dia Fadila, and Della.

Soo Wincci waving to the audience.
Picture Courtesy of DDB PR Sdn. Bhd
 

The finalists, which included an auditor, lawyer, pharmaceutical student, and models, participated in activities such as fitness training, catwalk workshop, and visits to children and old folks charity homes prior to the Grand Finale.

They also had to learn endless dance routines and attend numerous wardrobe-fitting sessions and hours of photography shoots.

With a never before seen concept revolving around ‘killing-off’ undeserving hopefuls online and via SMS, this year’s staging of the long established Miss World Malaysia has forever changed the way beauty pageants are perceived and run.

Themed ‘Kill Beauty, Save the Children’, the public were invited to select who should be this year’s Miss World Malaysia. Instead of voting for whom they think should win, they were instead asked to eliminate their least favourite via the pageant’s official website: www.missworldmalaysia.com.my, or through SMS.

The pageant’s official website attracted almost one million votes from an estimated fifty thousand unique visitors within a time span of just one and a half months.

From an initial list of 31 hopefuls, 11 were eliminated leaving 20 finalists to vie for the title at tonight’s gala dinner. The results were decided by a combination of votes – 70% by professional judges, and 30% by the public. The contestant with the least public vote and highest judges’ score was named the new Miss World Malaysia 2008. The results were tabulated by Horwarth, the Official Independent Auditor of Miss World Malaysia 2008.