ATV Miss Asia Pageant is an annual Hong Kong-based beauty pageant organized and broadcast by Asia Television. Originating in 1985 as a local Hong Kong pageant, the contest went on hiatus from the 2000 through 2003, and was re-branded as an Asian pageant in 2004, with contestants spanning the continent of Asia. The pageant was ceased to exist in 2015 with the shutdown of its organizer, ATV. In 2018, ATV announced that they are rebooting the pageant, after their transition from a terrestrial broadcast operation to an online media company. The pageant, which will be partnered with South Korean company CJ E&M, was reported by the media as "ATV's biggest investment of the year".
History
1985–2000: Beginnings as local pageant
With the success of the Miss Hong Kong Pageant by rival Hong Kong television stationTelevision Broadcasts Limited, ATV started organizing Miss Asia Pageant in 1985, searching out Hong Kong's representative for Miss Asia Pacific International. The pageant name was a bit of a misnomer back then as Miss Asia Pageant was actually named to match the name of organizer Asia Television Limited, and it was solely intended for local Hong Kong residents to enter. In 1995, the pageant made history by removing age restrictions for delegates. That year, Aicardi Jiang, at the age of 47 years became the oldest delegate of Miss Asia, placing fifth in the pageant. On the other end of the spectrum, On-Yuen To, was the youngest delegate at the age of 15 years. In 2000, due to poor ratings and lack of sponsors, ATV announced that the pageant would go on hiatus until further notice.
2000–present: Post-hiatus and rebrands
In 2004, ATV rebooted the pageant and re-branded it as an event for not just Hong Kong, but also for the rest of Asia as contestants from other parts of Asia now participate, finally living up to its namesake as an Asia-wide pageant. However, the pageant is still very Chinese focused, with multiple representatives from Hong Kong, Taiwan and Mainland China, compared to one contestant from each of the rest of the countries. As of 2011, Miss Asia Chinese Regional Competitions selects Chinese delegates in several regions: Hong Kong, Macau, Mainland China, Taiwan, Canada, and US. Then, the top performers of these competitions come together for the ATV Miss Asia Pageant Greater China Finals, which also acts as the semi-finals of the ATV Miss Asia Pageant, selecting around 10 finalists. These delegates are then joined by national pageant winners from other Asian countries to compete the crown of ATV Miss Asia at the Finals. In 2011, the pageant name has been modified to ATV Miss Asia Pageant , adding the organizer's name to the title, to distinguish it from other Asia-wide beauty pageants. Whereas the pageant mirrored Miss Hong Kong Pageant pre-hiatus, the revived version more closely resembled the Miss Chinese International Pageant, which is also organized by rival television station, TVB. In 2018, ATV rebooted the whole project after the company was transformed into an online media company.
Major award winners
1980s–1990s
2004–2014、2018–2019
Region rank by number of wins
Miss Asia showing at the International beauty stage
Miss World
Miss Asia Pacific
Other beauty pageants
Miss Asia Canada Pageant
Miss Asia Canada, previously known as ATV Miss Asia Toronto Pageant in 2006–2014, is an annual beauty pageant organized by ATV and RST Creative Studios that select Toronto's representative for the annual ATV Miss Asia Pageant that is held in Hong Kong. Despite ATV's cessation of terrestrial broadcasting in Hong Kong - and by extension, the end of the ATV and the ATV Miss Asia Pageant - Miss Asia Canada founded by Producer/Director Tony Jorge has registered as a National Pageant in Canada in 2015, operating independently the future of the partnership remains unclear as ATV no longer has jurisdiction over their former franchisee, ATV has not yet secured new long term partnership with the new pageant organization as the future of ATV remains unclear. Miss Asia Canada is currently partners with ATV Miss Asia, Miss Supertalent of the World based out of Korea and Miss Asia Millennials based in the USA.
