Lankan beauty queen: Maria Alkansas wins first online pageant

Maria Alkansas was crowned as the maiden virtual beauty queen of Sri Lanka in a revolutionary online contest which concluded on Thursday.

Seri Miss Sri Lanka Online successfully concluded its grand finale crowning Maria Alkansas as the winner of the much coveted Seri Miss Sri Lanka Online 2012 title.

Maria Alkansas walked away with a cash prize of Rs1 million (approximately Dh28,000) and an air ticket to France courtesy SriLankan airline.

Angela Richards was adjudged first runner-up while Karandza Fernando took the second runner-up spot.

In addition to the main titles, additional mini pageants were also worked out and included Miss Popularity, voted for by the public and won by Udari Kaushalya and Miss Photogenic won by Bidur Salem.

Titles for best hair and best skin were won by Karandza Fernando and Angela Richards respectively.

Bollywood stars Vivek Oberoi and Sameera Reddy were among the panel of judges.

"Hello Sri Lanka. Hi, this is Sameera Reddy from India. I'm happy to be part of the judging panel of this revolutionary Seri online beauty pageant. All the very best to the contestants of Seri Miss Sri Lanka online 2012," she said in a voice message streamed during the grand finale.

"Ayubowan Sri Lanka. This is Vivek Oberoi here from Mumbai, India. I'm very happy to be a part of the judging panel of this revolutionary online beauty pageant," said Oberoi sending a message online.

The event was streamed live to a global audience that logged in to witness the glitz and glamour of a virtual pageant that matches and surpasses similar contests on a global scale.

Having arrived at landmark accomplishments early on, the pageant earned a mass breakout of attention when its Facebook fan page was recognised to be the fastest growing Facebook page in the country during the course of the competition.

The competition also created a viral effect when local celebrities and established institutions sharing in the interest and enthusiasm on their personal blogs, fan pages and websites.

Seri Miss Sri Lanka Online in addition to having revolutionised the way beauty pageants are gone about in Sri Lanka.

The much awaited finale of the pageant was streamed live from the Park Street Mews, Colombo where a panel of celebrated judges inclusive of local and international personalities passed their verdict of the contestants online.

The panel of judges also included Australia’s Got Talent winner 2012 Andrew de Silva, celebrated actress and former Miss Sri Lanka for Miss World Yureni Noshika, Brand Directress for Seri Naturals Shayana Raat, COO of Seri Naturals Malik Perera, Director and Founder of Colombo Fashion Week Ajay Singh, Celebrity hairstylist and founder of Chagall Gerald Solomons, Celebrity hairstylist and founder of Capello Salons Romesh Atapattu.

The finale commenced with the beauties walking in to the sound of Azlan Sheriff’s brand new track ‘Heaven’ which was unveiled to the Sri Lankan public for the first time.

Seri Miss Sri Lanka Online throughout the course of the competition maintained a truly international standard of proceedings, bringing onboard a host of partnering brands who each added value through proficiency in their area of expertise.

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