MANILA, Philippines — The Miss Universe Organization handed out a number of special awards following the conclusion of the 73rd Miss Universe preliminary competition.
This year's Miss Universe is taking place in Mexico, and the preliminary round saw 125 delegates from around the world don national costumes, swimwear, and evening gowns.
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When the evening gown portion ended, a special awarding ceremony was conducted to recognize several national organizations and competing beauty queens.
Canada's Dennis Dávila was honored as the Best National Director while Puerto Rico's Yizette Cifredo received the Beyond the Crown Award.
Vietnam was recognized as the Best National Pageant and the award was received by Nguy?n Th? H??ng Ly.
The Philippines was named Best National Host Tour Country and Jonas Gaffud was present to receive the award.
Related: The Philippines, Bahrain's Shereen Ahmed win Miss Universe 2024 special prizes
Prior to the evening gown portion, Miss Universe also announced this year's Silver and Gold winners for the Voice for Change competition.
All competing delegates of Miss Universe chooses a cause to champion for Voice for Change, also serving as a public call to action outside of the pageant itself.
The contest's Gold Winners were Bolivia's Juliana Barrientos, Guatemala's Ana Gabriela Villanueva, and Cambodia's Davin Prasath.
The Silver Winners were Aruba's Anouk Eman, Guinea's Saran Bah, Thailand's Opal Suchata Chuangsri, Finland's Matilda Wirtavuori, Eritrea's Snit Tewoldemedhin, Cayman Islands' Raegan Rutty, and Bahrain's Shereen Ahmed.
Shereen's, one of the four Filipinas competing at Miss Universe 2024, advocacy is support for single mothers and coincidentally was celebrating her 30th birthday during the preliminary competition.
The coronation of Miss Universe will be on November 16 (the 17th in the Philippines) where Chelsea Manalo is vying to suceed Nicaragua's Sheynnis Palacios to become the Philippines' fifth winner.
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