The Miss Fiji Pageant was launched at the Civic Centre in Suva last night.

Seventeen contestants will be vying for the 2019 Miss Fiji crown and they are the winners of the township and city festivals held in 2018 and 2019.

This year’s Miss Fiji pageant will be held from 11th – 15th November at the Civic Centre.

The winner of the Miss Fiji Pageant will go onto represent the country at this year’s Miss Pacific Islands Pageant that will be held on the 25th of next month in Papua New Guinea.

Fiji has won the Miss Pacific Islands title three times in 2009, 2011 and 2016.

Speaking at the launch, Miss Fiji Pageant Committee Chair Div Damodar says the launch marks the commencement of Fiji’s national annual pageant with the focus on Empowering Women.

“We’ve kept our judging criteria very independent, we took time and it took us about 2 months to find these judges and we went through, we understood them, where they were coming from, what was their experience over the years and we took professional consultancy on board to understand to do the judging criteria.”

He says the pageant provides the platform that will enable contestants to reach various goals and aspirations for personal and professional development.

It will also inspire other young girls and women to participate, make decisions and take action on their lives, society, and communities.