Bhubaneswar: Style, compassion, talent, intelligence, and elegance were at their best as teenage models walked the ramp at the 18th Nanhipari-Little Miss India talent beauty pageant, which concluded at KIIT International School in Bhubaneswar on December 30. Thirty young girls in the age group of 13-16 years were shortlisted for the semi-final round after regional auditions at Guwahati, Lucknow, Kolkata, Patna, Bhubaneswar, Mumbai, Delhi, Bengaluru, Srinagar and Hyderabad.
They faced several competitions during the two-day event. In the grand finale, Shubhangi Dwivedi from Lucknow, was crowned KIIT Nanhipari- Little Miss India 2018. Yashika Singh of Delhi and Mira Singh of Amritsar were crowned first and 2nd runners-up respectively. The top three winners also received a cash award of Rs. 3 lakh, Rs. 1 lakh and Rs. 50,000 respectively, along with a silver crown, trophy and certificates. Many other titles were decided in the final round, like Miss Rapunzel – the girl with the most beautiful hair award, that was given to Amandeep Kaur of Amritsar.
Similarly, Miss Photogenic – the girl with the best pose in the photoshoot round went to Tapti Thakur of Bhopal, Miss Selfie – with maximum likes on Facebook page went to Soumya Pradhan of Bhubaneswar, Miss Fashion, the girl with the best costume in both rounds went to Vanisa Dandapat of Bhubaneswar, Miss Whizkid, the girl with highest marks in the quiz round went to Goutami Madan Deshmukh of Mumbai and others.
“Nanhipari”, a talent show for teenage girls had a modest start in 2001 in a remote and small tribal town in the Kendujhar district of Odisha. In a time-span of 18 years, it has become a national event of repute, touted as the ‘Little Miss India’ competition, the only one of its kind.
