Miss Ghana

The Miss Ghana Pageant is an annual pageant organized by different media companies at different periods to select Ghana’s representative to the annual Miss World Pageant. Currently

It is the biggest and oldest national beauty pageant of Ghana. The contest was established in 1957, the year of Ghana’s independence, with Monica Amekoafia becoming the first-ever Miss Ghana. The winner signs a one-year contract with the pageant organiser to become the spokesperson for their various charities. In addition, she chooses a specific cause to support for the year of her reign.

Titleholders

Titleholders and representation at Miss World

Ghana debuted at Miss World 1959 with Star Nyaniba Annan. However, there have been two candidates (1990 and 1991) who represented Ghana at Miss World, but were not Miss Ghana titleholders. There are also several years that Ghana did not send a representative to Miss World even though there was a titleholder.

Ghana

Coordinates: 8°N 2°W / 8°N 2°W / 8; -2

Ghana (ⁱ/ˈɡɑːnə/), officially called the Republic of Ghana, is a sovereign unitary presidential constitutional democracy, located along the Gulf of Guinea and Atlantic Ocean, in the subregion of West Africa. Spanning a land mass of 238,535 km², Ghana is bordered by the Ivory Coast in the west, Burkina Faso in the north, Togo in the east and the Gulf of Guinea and Atlantic Ocean in the south. The word Ghana means "Warrior King" in Mande.

The territory of present-day Ghana has been inhabited for millennia, with the first permanent state dating back to the 11th century. Numerous kingdoms and empires emerged over the centuries, of which the most powerful was the Kingdom of Ashanti. Beginning in the 15th century, numerous European powers contested the area for trading rights, with the British ultimately establishing control of the coast by the late 19th century. Following over a century of native resistance, Ghana's current borders were established by the 1900s as the British Gold Coast. In 1957, it became the first sub-saharan African nation to declare independence from European colonisation.

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.

California Love

"California Love" is a hip hop song by 2Pac featuring Dr. Dre and Roger Troutman. The song was released as 2Pac's comeback single after his release from prison in 1995 and was his first single as a Death Row Records artist. This is perhaps 2Pac's best-known song and his most successful, reaching number one on the Billboard Hot 100 for two weeks (as a double-A side single with "How Do U Want It") and 5 weeks at number one in New Zealand. The song was nominated for a posthumous Grammy Award as a Best Rap Solo Performance and Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group (with Dr. Dre and Roger Troutman) in 1997.

A popular remix version of the song appeared on his 1996 double album All Eyez on Me, the first double album in the history of Death Row Records.

Original version

The original version of the track was not available on any of Shakur's studio albums due to it being intended for Dr. Dre's shelved album The Chronic II: A New World Odor (Poppa's Got A Brand New Funk). But it can now be found on Shakur's compilation of Greatest Hits and on the United Kingdom version of All Eyez on Me. The original version also exists in extended form and is 6:29 in length. This particular version was never released to the public and is now only available on 12" promo vinyl records. Aside from the extended track being on limited quantities of vinyl promo records, very few uploads to YouTube exist of the original, 6:29-length extended song.

Miss Nigeria

Miss Nigeria is an annual pageant show which showcases positive attributes of Nigerian women and awards university scholarships. The winner portrays exemplary qualities and serves as a role model for young women in the country. The pageant is currently organized by Daily Times Nigeria.

The current title holder is Computer Science graduate Lessi Pamela Peter-Vigboro who represented Cross River.

History

National newspaper Daily Times are owners of the Miss Nigeria franchise which started as a photo contest in 1957. Contestants posted photographs of themselves to the Daily Times headquarters in Lagos where finalists were shortlisted; those successful were invited to compete in the live final which at the time did not include a swimsuit competition at the Lagos Island Club. UAC employee Grace Oyelude won the maiden edition of Miss Nigeria, and would later use part of her £200 prize money to travel to England where she studied Nursing. Contrary to popular belief, Julie Coker was not the first Miss Nigeria - she was Miss Western Nigeria but used the 'Miss Nigeria' title during official engagements aboard. However, she did compete in the contest the year after Oyelude's reign, losing out to secretarial student Helen Anyamaeluna. Former seamstress Nene Etule remains the only non-Nigerian to have won the contest; she was eligible as Southern Cameroon was under Nigerian constitution in 1959. The following year the contest was briefly renamed 'Miss Independence' to commemorate the country's independence from British rule, and the winner Rosemary Anieze was crowned in a ceremony which included Coker as one of the judges.