A statuesque, blonde beauty from Down Under, Jessica Peart, was crowned Miss Global 2015 at the glittering coronation finals at the Newport Performing Arts Theater in Resorts World Manila on Thursday night.
Peart, a 22-year-old, 5-foot-11, speech pathology student at Deakin University, bested more than 40 delegates from around the world, including Philippines’ Candice Ramos.
Virginia Prak of Cambodia won first runner up with Miss Ireland Lorna Murphy and newcomer Miss Bulgaria’s Gergana Doncheva finishing second and third runners up, respectively. Ramos, 28-year-old, Tourism Management graduate of the University of the Philippines, settled for 4th runner up.
Photo by Joy Arguil
The pageant on its third year was almost similar to the Miss Universe competition with the candidates naming a 20 semi-finalists competing in swimsuit. Then moving forward to the evening gown portion were the Top 11 candidates before the Top 5 finalists were announced making the Q&A final round of competition.
The Top 11 also included USA’s Mariah Coogan, El Salvador’s Angie Durkee , Taiwan’s Jolie Chi, Myanmar’s Htet Htet Aung and South Africa’s Zandile Tanda. Others in the Top 20 were Guyana’s Ariella Basdeo, South Korea’s Jiyoung Jung, Dominican Republic’s Saudhi Rodriguez, Wales’ Rubie Marie, Poland’s Karolina Jazwinski, Colombia’s Luisa Millan, Vietnam’s Jane Huynh, England’s Sophie Rankin, Jordan’s Katia Zakaria and Israel’s Bareket Drori.
Special awards were given to Tanda (Miss Photogenic,) Murphy (Miss Fitness), Doncheva (Miss Talent), Aung (Miss Fashion), Canada’s Eden Boutilier (Miss Goodwill), and Chi (Miss Congeniality).
The delegates stayed for the duration of the pageant for two weeks with a visit to Caramoan Islands, charity work at a Children’s Orphanage and charity event with ex-pound for pound king and Congressman Manny Pacquiao.
Peart, a model and actor with bit appearances in Neighbours, is into dancing and singing, playing kayak and paddleboard, and raising money for charities. She was a finalist at the 2015 Miss Universe Australia pageant.
She also worked as a part-time nanny and speaks German fluently. In her StarNow profile, Peart said, “Throughout my time in the industry, I have developed a real passion for modeling and acting and have been pleasantly overwhelmed with the number of opportunities that have come my way. I would love to continue developing my modeling and acting skills as well as build a profile in the lifestyle and fitness sector, especially for young girls and women. A dream of mine is to eventually grace the pages/covers of magazines, campaigns and catalogues around the world. I cannot wait to expand my horizons, work with new people and see where the industry can take me.”