BHUBANESWAR: Shubhangi Dwivedi from Lucknow was crowned 18th KIIT Nanhipari – Little Miss India 2018. Yashika Singh of Delhi and Mira Singh of Amritsar were crowned first and second runners up respectively. The top three also received cash awards of Rs. 3 lakh, Rs. 1 lakh and Rs. 50,000 respectively, along with silver crown, trophy and certificates.
Many other titles were decided in the final round such as; Miss Rapunzel – girl with most beautiful hair – award was given to Amamdeep Kaur of Amritsar. Similarly, Miss Photogenic – girl with best pose in photo shoot round – to Tapti Thakur of Bhopal, Miss Selfie – maximum likes on Facebook page – to Soumya Pradhan of Bhubaneswar, Miss Fashion girl – girl with best costume – in both rounds to Vanisa Dandapat of Bhubaneswar, Miss Whiz kid – girl with highest marks in quiz round – to Goutami Madan Deshmukh of Mumbai, Miss Cinderella – girl having best personality – to Mira Singh and Miss Urvasi – girl with best talent – to Chandrima Sarkar of Kolkata among others.
Korean Indian Cultural Economy Exchange Association sponsored crowns and cosmetics gift hamper for the winning contestants. They also agreed to sponsor the winner to training and grooming from an international fashion institute in South Korea and participate in a global beauty pageant contest there in the forthcoming years. Ven Shimsan of Hongbeopsa Monastery is sponsoring the winner and one of her parents for a week-long trip to South Korea.
Auditions were conducted in 20 states where more than 3000 participants took part. In all 33 contestants were selected for the semi final round. ‘Nanhipari’ is a talent show for teenage girls between the age group of 13-16 years. It had a modest start in 2001 in a remote and small tribal town of Keonjhar district of Odisha. In a short time-span of just 18 years, it has become a national event of repute, touted as the ‘Little Miss India’ competition, the only one of its kind.\
Heabin Song from South Korea, Nini Arora, fashion designer from Patna, Tripti Rao, Mrs. India 2017, Meena Pote, Mrs. India Earth 2017 and Mrs. Bernali Ganguly, classical dancer and singer were the jury members. Indrajeet Ganguly, Rajasekhar, Choreographer, Sanlisa Patel, Mrs. Delhi Photogenic 2018, Amit Wanchoo, CEO, Space Communications, Namsook Yom from South Korea and Dutee Chand, Indian professional sprinter and current national champion in the women’s 100-metres event among others graced the occasion.