Watch out Femina Miss India, there is competition on the horizon. The Zee Network has announced plans to foray into one as yet unexplored arena - the Teen Queen Pageant - aimed at youth, the core demographic group where the craze of beauty pageants rages the most.
Organised for the first time in India, Zee's Teen Queen pageant will be held at the Grand Hyatt Hotel, New Delhi on Sunday, 12 August, 2001.
The event plans to unfold in three stages over the next year, according to a company release. In the second stage, scheduled for October this year, an India World Teen Queen will be chosen from amongst contestants of Indian origin from 24 countries where there is a substantial NRI population. The final stage will see the World Teen Queen pageant being staged on a world canvas with representatives from the various countries participating.
"At Zee today, we are strongly focused on youth related initiatives and the India Teen Queen contest is in keeping with that focus. As a satellite television channel spanning 15 channels, and with a presence in 80 countries, we have a constant requirement for new talent. The India Teen Queen in its various avatars will help us to identify and nurture talent from across the world," says group broadcasting CEO Sandeep Goyal.
The India Teen Queen is being developed as an exclusive and unique property, says the release. Zee Network has already started receiving requests to host the forthcoming India World Teen Queen Pageant from Canada, United Kingdom and United States of America, the release adds.
Pantene is sponsoring the inaugural event. Twenty-two teens between the ages of 17 and 19 from across India are expected to participate in five separate rounds. The first round is the Body Fit round, followed by a Talent (VeeJay) round, a Trendy Hair round and an Attire round.
The final round will be an audio-visual round where the contestants will be posed questions by the panel of judges consisting of cine star Neena Gupta, designer Rocky S, actress Rinkee Khanna, musician L. Subramanium, and Maruti Udyog's Japanese Director, J. Sugimori.
