Beauties ditch the ditz for Miss Edinburgh

A RADIOGRAPHER, a mum-of-two and a history of art student may not seem like the sort of people to enter a beauty contest.

But a new "Miss Edinburgh" has set out to quash the "ditz and glitz" stereotype by welcoming entries from women of any size, height and background.

More than 100 ladies between the ages of 17 and 28 sent in photographs to the "non-discriminatory" contest after seeing it advertised on the event website and Facebook page.

Now, 13 potential beauty queens have been selected by the judging panel, which includes Hearts player Jos Gonalves, to strut their stuff at the final, held at the Pleasance Theatre on 9 April.

Organiser Murray Roxburgh said that although looks were obviously part of the competition, he wanted to give as many people as possible the opportunity to take part.

He said: "We started a Miss Glasgow contest four years ago and it proved popular, but Edinburgh has never had a similar event.

"We decided to go for it, but we looked at the rules for other events and thought they were very restrictive and not representative of modern Scottish girls.

"Our competitions have no rules saying you must be over a certain height, or below a certain dress size.

"Some even ban girls from taking part if they have been married or had children. We want everyone that takes part to enjoy the experience of the show."

The final 13 will perform in four rounds at the plush event, including traditional swimwear and evening wear categories, plus casual wear and charity wear – the latter of which Mr Roxburgh said was particularly important.

He said: "You find that at these competitions a lot of girls pledge to do charity work, but it's often just talk. At our event the contestants have to buy an outfit from a charity shop and promote it."

The winner of the title will be awarded two model photo shoots and a presenting position at the Scottish Hotel Awards on 25 April.

But contestant Lucy Pawluk, 27, from Corstorphine, said she had entered the contest for the fun of it. She said: "I saw it advertised on one of my friend's Facebook pages and thought it looked like a good laugh. It seems like a very open competition, which I think was the attraction for a lot of us."

Ashleigh Hewitt, 26, who was voted Miss Glasgow in 2008-9 and is set to present the Edinburgh event, encouraged the current competitors not to get too hung up on their looks.

She said: "I was really surprised during the competition. It was nothing like it was in the films, where girls are bitchy to each other, and I still keep in touch with some of the girls now."