If judges of the Miss Heilala Beauty Pageant listened to everybody’s opinion it would take a lifetime to decide the winner, one of the judges said last night.
‘Eleni Levin-Tevi, one of the judges at this year’s event, was responding to criticism of this year’s judging.
“Everyone was supporting a particular girl,” Levin-Tevi said.
“This already makes their judgement biased. If we are to listen and take in everyone else’s view on which of the 15 contestants was to win, do you think we’ll run the Miss Heilala and complete it in one week?
“It’ll take a lifetime because the probability that all 15 groups of supporters would agree to one winner is zero percent.
“That is why we have judges with the credibility to do right by the criteria provided and make the best choice for an ambassador to represent Tonga at the regional level.
“People should be mature enough to take the result as true reflection of the judging criteria.”
This year’s Miss Heilala was Kalolaine Funganitao, Miss Aparaxus Tonga New Zealand, who was crowned in Nuku’alofa on Saturday night.
She said the five judges worked independently and their decisions were passed to the auditors’ desk.
The results were signed off after the auditors checked that procedures had been completed properly. Only the auditors and the chair knew the result before it was passed to the MC.
Tevi said this year had been a tough competition and the final scores were very close.
“Miss Heilala is not about one person’s own gain of glory and perks, it’s a national responsibility to represent Tonga in many arenas to advocate our issues yet still uphold poise, elegance and beauty,” Levin-Tevi said.
The judging criteria for the Miss Heilala Pagent is aligned to those of the Miss Pacific competition to ensure the contestants were used to the regional procedure and the criteria on which they would be judged.
Tonga is hosting this year’s Miss Pacific competition.
Levin-Tevi said Tonga needed to welcome competitors from neighbouring island countries with a good spirit while supporting the kingdom’s own contestant.
She said Tonga must present itself as a respectful, mature host and not repeat what she described as the poor sportsmanship shown this week.
“We must not expose the people of the Pacific to childish, petty and negative public exchanges,” she said.
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