Guam

Guam (ⁱ/ˈɡwɑːm/ or /ˈɡwɒm/; Chamorro: Guåhån; formally the Territory of Guam) is an unincorporated and organized territory of the United States. Located in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, Guam is one of five American territories with an established civilian government. The capital city is Hagåtña, and the most populous city is Dededo. In 2015, 161,785 people were residing on Guam. Guamanians are American citizens by birth. Guam has an area of 544 km² (210 sq mi) and a density of 297/km² (770/sq mi). It is the largest and southernmost of the Mariana Islands, and the largest island in Micronesia. Among its municipalities, Mongmong-Toto-Maite has the highest density at 1,425/km² (3,691/sq mi) and Inarajan has its lowest density at 46/km² (119/sq mi). The highest point is Mount Lamlam at 406 meters (1,332 ft) above sea-level.

The Chamorros, Guam's indigenous people, settled the island approximately 4,000 years ago. Portuguese-explorer Ferdinand Magellan discovered the island on March 6, 1521. Guam was colonized in 1668 with settlers, like Diego Luis de San Vitores, a Catholic missionary. Between the 1500s and the 1700s, Guam was an important stopover for the Spanish Manila Galleons. During the Spanish–American War, the United States captured Guam on June 21, 1898. Under the Treaty of Paris, Spain ceded Guam to the United States on December 10, 1898. Guam is amongst the seventeen Non-Self-Governing Territories of the United Nations.

Miss World

The Miss World pageant is the oldest surviving major international beauty pageant. It was created in the United Kingdom by Eric Morley in 1951. Since his death in 2000, Morley's widow, Julia Morley, has co-chaired the pageant. Alongside with its rival, the Miss Universe and Miss Earth contests, Miss World pageant is one of the three most publicised beauty contests in the world.

The current Miss World is Mireia Lalaguna of Spain who was crowned on 19 December 2015 in Sanya, China PR.

20th century

In 1951, Eric Morley organised a bikini contest as part of the Festival of Britain celebrations which he called the Festival Bikini Contest. The event was popular with the press, and was dubbed "Miss World" by the media. The swimsuit competition was intended as a promotion for the bikini which had only recently been introduced onto the market, and which was still widely regarded as immodest. When the 1951 Miss World pageant winner, Kerstin "Kiki" Hakansson from Sweden, was crowned in a bikini, it added to the controversy.

Beauty with a Purpose

Beauty with a Purpose program is registered charity and a non-profit organisation associated with Miss World. It raises money and participates in humanitarian projects across the world.

History

Beauty with a Purpose was created by Julia Morley in 1972. Hundreds of millions of pounds have been raised and donated to local and international organisations in aid of disadvantaged children the world over.

Variety, the Children’s Charity, for example, has been closely associated with Beauty with a Purpose for many years. When Simon Cowell was honoured with the 2010 Humanitarian Award at the Variety World Conference in Hollywood, he remarked that it was Julia Morley who should be collecting the award in his place, for her work as a humanitarian through Beauty with a Purpose.

Other causes to have benefitted from Beauty with a Purpose include the funding for Cleft Palate Teams in South America, Sri Lanka and Russia, three fundraising tours to support abandoned and neglected children in Vietnam, long term support for both Operation Hunger and the Nelson Mandela Foundation in Africa, and teaming up with Jackie Chan and the Chinese Red Cross in bringing financial aid to those most seriously affected by the Asian tsunami.

Beauty

Beauty is a characteristic of a person, animal, place, object, or idea that provides a perceptual experience of pleasure or satisfaction. Beauty is studied as part of aesthetics, sociology, social psychology, and culture. An "ideal beauty" is an entity which is admired, or possesses features widely attributed to beauty in a particular culture, for perfection.

The experience of "beauty" often involves an interpretation of some entity as being in balance and harmony with nature, which may lead to feelings of attraction and emotional well-being. Because this can be a subjective experience, it is often said that "beauty is in the eye of the beholder."

There is evidence that perceptions of beauty are evolutionarily determined, that things, aspects of people and landscapes considered beautiful are typically found in situations likely to give enhanced survival of the perceiving human's genes.

Etymology

The classical Greek noun that best translates to the English "beauty" or "beautiful" was κάλλος, kallos, and the adjective was καλός, kalos. However, kalos may and is also translated as ″good″ or ″of fine quality″ and thus has a broader meaning than only beautiful. Similarly, kallos was used differently from the English word beauty in that it first and foremost applied to humans and bears an erotic connotation.

Miss Earth Guam

Miss Earth Guam is a national beauty pageant held annually in search of the most beautiful and environmental-friendly woman in the United States territory of Guam. It is one of the official preliminaries to the international Miss Earth beauty pageant. The pageant focuses mainly on promoting environmental causes and winners are chosen equally on their physical attributes as well as their understanding and knowledge of the issues affecting the Earth. Along with Miss Universe and Miss World contests, Miss Earth is one of the three largest beauty pageants in the world in terms of the number of national-level competitions to participate in the world finals. The reigning titleholders dedicate their year to promote environmental projects and to address issues concerning the environment.

History

In the last quarter of 2007, Frank B. Santos acquired the national franchise for Miss Earth Guam from Carousel Productions, the organization that runs the Miss Earth and Miss Philippines Earth beauty contests.