As Miss Egypt 2006 walks away with the crown, Dena Rashed wonders what is to be expected of her Advertisements and promotion, application forms, filtration procedures, training and rehearsals... All in anticipation of the big night. Of which, mind you, only one comes out with the trophy. The rest are left in tears, in shock or resignation. But what's next? Well, society magazine covers, deciding by winners from previous years. Many -- actress Dalia El-Beheiri, for one obvious example, who was Miss Egypt in 1990 -- went on to work in the media. For her part Amina Shelbaya, Miss Egypt 1998, has since become a model and makeup expert, and presides over a number of successful TV shows on makeup. "It is true that, after winning Miss Egypt in 2004, many movie roles were offered to me. Life has been much easier since," according to Heba El-Sissi, who was already a model when she entered the competition. "As a holder of the title I've also managed to participate in charity events as a public figure. Yet," El-Sissi goes on, "the competition has had a huge impact on my personality." She used to be more tense, she says; since then she has been calmer and generally more at ease. This was openly conceded by Miriam George, Miss Egypt 2005, speaking to this year's competition audience: "I was a very shy person before joining the competition, but since then I have changed a lot. I have gained more confidence, travelled, represented Egypt, participated in charity works and became famous. This title," she added, "is a huge responsibility." Here as elsewhere change tends to be restricted to the personal lives of the winners, with the competition having next no influence on society as a whole. Be that as it may, however, Andre Abu Shaar, contest planner at the Face to Face agency, which organises the competition, conceded that there is room for improvement: "This year we're trying to produce a more positive image of Miss Egypt. We want her to be a helper, a true role model. A small academy has been established to teach applicants etiquette: how to give speeches and how to face the press." Abu Shaar spent a month and a half training the girls prior to the competition -- something he does every year. "Some of the most important lectures we give them are about the charity causes which have become one of Miss Egypt's social commitments. And this year," he added, "we have a goal to work towards." The tendency is not new. Last year, indeed, Miss Egypt participated in charity work. According to Mohamed El-Okda, president and founder of Cleopatra Rotaract Club, George took part in clean-ups, Orphans' Day and Children's Day; she campaigned for the 57357 Hospital project for children with cancer. "It is true that Miss Egypt's role has been very limited in the past, but this year, in collaboration with the organising agency, we have obtained a kind of licence to utilise Miss Egypt in the cause of charity. She will be campaigning for the prevention of blindness, wiping illiteracy and for homeless children; and all of this will be very well organised this year. Those who want to oppose the competition are free to do so; but they should know we are using it for a good cause." El-Okda admitted that George was not selecting charity projects in which to participate until the end of her term as Miss Egypt. But, however slow-in- the-coming, development along those lines is set to occur. Omar Yassin, a pageant audience member, was all for this line of thinking: as she assumes more of a public role, so too should Miss Egypt set an example of social commitment. Yet others feel the competition would be worth while regardless of such involvement: it maintains Egyptian presence on the international scene. "There is no self-delusion involved," according to Sherif Maher, another audience member. "Image is all that counts, and I think the main goal of such events is to achieve respectable international representation." If Miss Universe were to end up being an Egyptian, after all, he added, this would make a sizable impact." Abu Shaar took this further: such representation not only promotes tourism; it is an honour. "The art of beauty originated in Egypt," he said. For his part Lebanese singer Iwan, who performed for the second time in a row on this occasion, commended the competition for allowing Egypt to participate in the Miss Universe contests in Los Angeles, USA; in this and other ways, the competition gives Egypt a positive image internationally. This year Ministry of Tourism support lionised the competition. According to Abu Shaar, "we really wish different bodies could give us more support and thus boost our credibility on the domestic front. Though we have improved already: we are more visible; we progress slowly but surely." Yet obstacles persist, preventing many of those who have the brains as well as the looks from having the impact they could. Conservative commentators, notably the Muslim Brothers in the People's Assembly, have always been critical of the competition. So far the contests have never been aired on national television, though more recently satellite channels have done the honours instead. It may be years, in fact, before the sense of taboo associated with beauty pageants dissolves. Though some 900 girls applied for the competition this year, surely a greater number of equally or better qualified candidates refrained, whether under conservative pressures or in protest of the superficiality of the concept. Hani El-Beheiri, who designed the evening gowns for the pre-finals, implies that, with 21 finalists, the competition was far from tough: "since the competition promotes our image abroad, we should be encouraging more contestants. Certainly there are sophisticated girls in Egypt with much more beautiful bodies and faces than the ones who applied." Image can, after all, reflect inner beauty; or can't it? What is puzzling, though written into the very concept of a beauty pageant, is that all the audience gets to see is girls parading: swim suits and evening gowns for the finals and pre-finals, held on Tuesday and Saturday, respectively. On both occasions, only names -- not education, not accomplishment and certainly not views or feelings -- were announced. Not until the five finalists were picked was there any talking done; only two managed to answer the judges' questions with any degree of sense. Reem Helal, first runner-up, said the most important right garnered by Egyptian women in the last decade was the right for a child born to an Egyptian mother and a foreign father to Egyptian nationality. Nesreen Imam, fourth runner-up, chose to erase the 9/ 11 attacks from history; repercussions were too great... For her part Miss Egypt 2006, Fawzya Mohamed, a 22-year-old student at the Faculty of Tourism, had too hard a time with the questions: the environment-vs- technological development, for example. Even after it was explained for the second time, Mohamed hesitated, giggled and only managed to come up with one sentence -- to the effect of separating industry from housing and using natural resources. Bright indeed, or bright enough to win. Actress Ragaa El-Geddawi, one of the judges, though proud of the competition, thought the contestants could have given better answers. Considering all that Miss Egypt is meant to represent, it is up to Mohamed to boost the credibility of the competition during the rest of 2006.
