Miss Universe Malaysia 2020, the 54th edition of the

Miss Universe Malaysia Miss Universe Malaysia is an annual national beauty pageant and an organization that selects Malaysia's representative to the annual Miss Universe contest. On occasion, when the winner does not qualify (due to age or any other reason), a runner- ...

, was held on 5 September 2020 at

Kota Damansara Kota Damansara is an affluent township located in Petaling Jaya, Petaling District, Selangor, Malaysia. It is a township spread across . It is also a state seat constituency which is sandwiched between Subang and Petaling Jaya. Notable landmar ...

Petaling Jaya Petaling Jaya (), colloquially referred to as "PJ", is a city in Petaling District, in the state of Selangor, Malaysia. Originally developed as a Satellite city, satellite township for Kuala Lumpur, the capital of Malaysia, it is part of the G ...

Selangor Selangor ( ; ), also known by the Arabic language, Arabic honorific Darul Ehsan, or "Abode of Sincerity", is one of the 13 states of Malaysia. It is on the west coast of Peninsular Malaysia and is bordered by Perak to the north, Pahang to the e ...

Francisca Luhong James Francisca Luhong James (born 14 October 1995) is a Malaysian model and beauty pageant titleholder who was crowned Miss Universe Malaysia 2020. She represented her country at Miss Universe 2020, and did not reach the top 21, marking the ''50 year ...

Sarawak Sarawak ( , ) is a States and federal territories of Malaysia, state of Malaysia. It is the largest among the 13 states, with an area almost equal to that of Peninsular Malaysia. Sarawak is located in East Malaysia in northwest Borneo, and is ...

was crowned by the outgoing titleholder,

Shweta Sekhon Shweta Sekhon (born Shwetajeet Kaur Sekhon, 6 November 1997), is a Malaysian model and beauty pageant titleholder. She was crowned as Miss World Malaysia 2016 and Miss Universe Malaysia 2019. She represented Malaysia at the Miss Universe 2019 ...

Kuala Lumpur Kuala Lumpur (KL), officially the Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur, is the capital city and a Federal Territories of Malaysia, federal territory of Malaysia. It is the largest city in the country, covering an area of with a census population ...

at the end of the event. She represents Malaysia at Miss Universe 2020 pageant held in

Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywood ...

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

Background

Gala Night

The Miss Universe Malaysia was originally to be held on April 16, 2020 but on March 16, 2020, every events in Malaysia have to be cancel (or postponed) due to the disease transmission of

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...

. In early July, it was announced that the gala night will be held on September 5 in the form of "e-Gala" with no audience present physically during the event due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

and

social distancing In public health, social distancing, also called physical distancing, (NB. Regula Venske is president of the PEN Centre Germany.) is a set of non-pharmaceutical interventions or measures intended to prevent the spread of a contagious dise ...

. The e-Gala will be the first-ever virtual Miss Universe Malaysia gala and will be broadcast live on the official website of Miss Universe Malaysia. During the livestream, audiences get to vote for the Miss Body Beautiful, Best in Evening Gown and the winner of Miss Universe Malaysia.

e-Gala Night Judges

* Dato' Hans Isaac - actor, director and producer. *Datin Selwinder Kaur - Glojas by Smart International Aesthetic chief operating officer. *Dr Nicholas Lim - La Jung Aesthetic Clinic medical director and aesthetic medical practitioner. *

Deborah Priya Henry Deborah Priya Henry (born 21 July 1985), also known as Priya Emmanuel, is a Malaysian TV host, former model and beauty pageant titleholder who was crowned Miss Universe Malaysia 2011 but did not make it to the semifinalists round. She was also ...

- Miss Universe Malaysia 2011. *Carven Ong - Carven Ong Couture creative designer. *Michelle Lam - Esthetics International Group director. *Shawn Loong - Shawn Cutler Group of Salons founder, creative director and celebrity stylist. *Elizabeth Lee - Bowerhouse co-founder.

Pre-judging Judges

Source: *Marini Ramlan - artist and entrepreneur. *Rubin Khoo - associate publisher at Burda Luxury KL. *Sunita Chhabra - editor of "Life Inspired" at The Star. * Datuk Yasmin Yusoff - Miss Universe Malaysia 1978, actress and singer. *Zahir Kelvin Ong Abdullah - TV host and executive director of Venus Assets Sdn Bhd.

Background

The public could watch the live-streamed competition by purchasing tickets to the show on the Miss Universe Malaysia website, with 20 per cent of the proceeds to be channeled to Lighthouse Children Welfare Home Association in Kuala Lumpur and Selangor. The winner will also receive a cash prize and sponsored prizes with a combined value of RM 180,000 and a full education scholarship from

HELP University HELP University (; formerly known as HELP Institute) is a private university in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. HELP is an acronym for Higher Education Learning Philosophy. It was founded on 1 April 1986, by the first and current Chancellor of the scho ...

Final program

The grand finale was originally scheduled for 5 March 2020, then being delayed from April 2020 and once again to 11 July 2020 before being rescheduled to 5 September 2020. It was originally to be held at The Majestic Hotel Kuala Lumpur, but it was changed to live-streamed virtually at Miss Universe Malaysia website.

Marketing

The finalists will be featured in an online show, The Next 2020 Miss Universe Malaysia, comprising 18 episodes scheduled to be aired starting January 23, 2020, followed by 10 episodes of their journey leading to the crowning of Miss Universe Malaysia on online lifestyle channel, hurr.tv. The webisodes will also be available on the Miss Universe Malaysia Organization YouTube channel and the hurr.tv mobile app.

Results

§ – Fan favorite winner

Order of announcements

;;;Top 11 1. Kuala Lumpur - Celine Foo 2. Sabah - Rindsay Laige 3. Selangor - Charissa Chong 4. Johor - Serene Chai 5. Sarawak - Francisca James 6. Kuala Lumpur - Louisa Ananthan 7. Pahang - Quinn Fung 8. Kuala Lumpur - Pritha Manivannan 9. Kuala Lumpur - Chua Xinger 10. Kuala Lumpur - Neha Verma 11. Sabah - Meme Yaw § ;;;Top 4 1. Selangor - Charissa Chong 2. Kuala Lumpur - Neha Verma 3. Sarawak - Francisca James 4. Johor - Serene Chai

Special awards

Contestants

18 contestants competed for the title of Miss Universe Malaysia 2020:

Crossovers

Contestants who previously competed/appeared at other international/national beauty pageants: ;;;International Pageants ;

Miss International Miss International (''Miss International Beauty'' or ''The International Beauty Pageant'') is a Japan-based international major beauty pageant organized by the International Culture Association. First held in 1960, it is the fourth largest page ...

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

- Charissa Chong (Unplaced) ;World Miss University *2014 - Charissa Chong (Top 30) ;Miss Asean *2014 - Charissa Chong (Top 5) ;Miss Global Beauty Queen *2017 - Meme Yaw (Unplaced) ;;; National Pageants ;

2017 2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly. Events January * January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...

- Meme Yaw (Top 50) ;

Miss World Malaysia Miss World Malaysia is a national beauty pageant and an organisation based in Malaysia. The winner represents the country at Miss World. On occasion, when the winner does not qualify (due to age or any other reason), a runner-up is sent. The r ...

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

- Serene Chai Yong Bin (1st Runner-up) *

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

- Francisca Luhong James (4th Runner-up) → (2nd Runner-up) *

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

- Francisca Luhong James (Top 5) ;;;Miss International Malaysia *2013 - Charissa Chong (Winner–Miss International Malaysia) *2017 - Meme Yaw (Winner–Miss Global Beauty Queen Malaysia) ;;;Miss Astro Chinese International * 2016 - Serene Chai Yong Bin (Top 8) ;;; Miss Cultural Harvest Festival * 2015 - Francisca Luhong James (2nd Runner-up) ;;;Supermodel International Malaysia *2017 - Charissa Chong (Top 20) ;;;Miss Malaysia Borneo Tourism *2015 - Meme Yaw (Top 5) ;;;Sabah Model Of The Year *2016 - Meme Yaw (Finalist)

Notes

References

External links

* * * {{Miss Universe Malaysia 2020 in Malaysia 2020 beauty pageants

2020 The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of even ...

Events postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic