Miss Iceland was crowned as Miss World today, chosen from over 100 countries, and using the world's largest text vote system on either SMS or IVR. Six Miss Worlds were chosen, representing different regions, and Miss Iceland,Unnur Birna Vilhjálmsdóttir, was crowned the overall winner from among them.

* Miss World Africa: Tanzania, Nancy Sumari.
* Miss World Americas: Mexico, Dafne Molina Lorna.
* Miss World Asia Pacific: Korea, Oh Eun-young.
* Miss World Caribbean: Puerto Rico, Ingrid Marie Rivera Santos.
* Miss World Northern Europe: Iceland, Unnur Birna (Miss World 2005).
* Miss World Southern Europe: Italy, Sofia Bruscoli.

The jury consisted of a unique panel of nine former Miss Worlds chaired by Miss World Chairman Julia Morley, which chose Iceland as overall winner of the contest.

The show was hosted in Sanya, China, and had a TV audience of over 2 billion in 200 countries. Sanya is called the Hawaii of China, and has been home to the Miss World event since 2003.

The current positioning of this event, no stranger to controversy, is "Beauty With A Purpose". The 2002 event saw Miss Nigeria use her celebrity to draw attention to a woman sentenced to die in her home country. Most winners and contestants have proven themselves to be well-informed, socially conscious citizens, thereby vitiating the perceptions of some who would rather do away with such events.

Article Author: Aaman Lamba

Aaman Lamba is a Blogcritics editor, as well as the Publisher of Desicritics.org, a Blogcritics network site covering media, politics, culture, sports and more with a global South Asian focus

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