Manila: Miss Philippines Maxine Medina trended on Twitter which allowed her to be on top 12 out of the 86 candidates of the Miss Universe pageant, after online voting of fans began on January 23, officials said.
Judges will officially announce the top 12 on coronation night – based on preliminary selection on Wednesday, said Tourism Undersecretary Kat de Castro.
Other candidates can be part of the most chosen top 12 based on online voting of global fans, which started on Monday and will continue until January 29, said de Castro, adding the interactive votes of fans worldwide could push candidates to top 12.
"I think the reason for Miss Universe doing that is – the judges want more air time (there’s a three hour Miss Universe special event) for everyone to get to know the top 12 finalists - their achievements, advocacies, strength, and talents,” explained de Castro
The top 12 candidates will get points from judges and global fans’ online voting – based on preliminary events, including swimsuit competition on January 30.
The top 12 candidates will be shortlisted to top nine – based on highest averaged scores given by the judges and online voters worldwide, also on January 30.
Results of the evening gown competition will pare down the winning candidates to six.
Results of the dreaded question and answer round on topics chosen by the judges will shortlist the top six to top three candidates.
Judges and online fans will rank, not score, the three candidates – on who they believe should win based on the candidates' overall performance, organisers said.
How to vote
Fans can go to http://vote.missuniverse.com, the event’s official application, on Twitter, #Miss Universe, with specific hashtags per country. Fans can download Vodi, a mobile messaging app. Fans can vote 10 times a day per registration.
Miss Universe coronation will be held at Pasay City’s the Mall of Asia Arena on January 30.
