he official beauty contest in Kurdistan went underway on Thursday in Hala Hawler Festival.

Kurdistan for the first time established a beauty contest to select the region’s beauty queen.

The festival of Hala Hawler was directed by the KRG tourism committee in association with Erbil Contractors Union of Kurdistan and the Erbil governor. A section of the festival was dedicated to the beauty contest Thursday, Sirwan Tofiq director of the festival told PUKmedia.

Certain criteria was required to qualify into the contest, among these were that the pageant must be older than 18 years old and younger than 35, must be no less than 165 cm tall and must also be exceptionally intelligent possessing high certificates, Tofiq added.

12 out of 35 pageants qualified for the final stage of the contest, Tofiq noted.

Shene Aziz Ako, an 18-year-old from Sulaimaniyah, was the winner.

Beauty contests – or any other contest for that matter – prove vital to Kurdistan’s worldwide ranking but more importantly encourages Kurds to step up and show their worth within the Kurdish community.





PUKmedia