‘Kurier Wileński’ beauty contest: before the curtain rises

On Sunday, April 14^th, Palace of Culture and Sport in Vilnius will be hosting Polish girls from Vilnius region who are competing for the honorable title of ‘Kurier Wileński Girl – Polish Miss of Lithuania 2013’. 

The newspaper ‘Kurier Wileński’ which came up with the idea and traditionally organises the show, has started its struggles already in Spetember 29^th last year when the contest was announced in the press. The use of the word ‘struggles’ is no incidental. The organisation of such an event requires the enormous work of many people.

On the eve of the contest we interviewed a few people involved in its organisation.

Robert Mickiewicz, chief editor of ‘Kurier Wileński’

We are happy that the contest initiated 18 years ago is still alive, that is still developing and is still popular with the public. It is not a typical contest. Our goal is to promote the youth from Vilnius region. Every year, we want to let people know how clever and talented are our young Polish girls. Each year they prove to themselves and to others that they are able to participate in a competition that is like an exam from diffrent areas of life.

Their task is not easy. They need to demonstrate the knowledge about our only Polish daily newspaper in Lithuania: about its subject matter, about problems we write about and of course about the journalists, current and past.

These mini interviews about the knowlegde of ‘Kurier Wileński’ that the candidates need to prepare to in a serious manner are one of many points of the evening. This year as in the previous ones, the girls will sing, recite, dance, perform scenes.

For the editorial staff, organising the contest is a matter of prestige but at the same time it’s a big responsibility and a lot of work involving many people not only in the office but outside of it too.

We would not manage without loyal sponsors and those who despite the difficult years of economic crisis are joining us. Every year we gain new sponsors. We are glad that this year political party Electoral Action of Poles in Lithuania decided to sponsor the main award. We want to thank all of our sponsors, the old ones and the new ones. Becasue, I want to point it out once again, this contest is, unfortunately, quite expensive.

Renata Brasel, the contest stage manager

It is a common knowledge already that Teresa Andruszkiewicz and I have been connected to this contest for seven years. On one hand, such a continuity is nice for the good of the event because we have more and more experience, but on the other hand we need to watch out not to repeat ourselves, we want to surprise the audience with a new, attractive and imaginative programme.

Imaginative because next to traditional annual rivalries we prepared performances that together create small special spectacles.

What will happen this year? I can’t say just yet, one more day of mystery. But I can promise that the audience will have many positive experiences that evening. For example, there will be a fashion show of well-known designer Elwira Horosz from Białystok, who dresses the girls from ‘Miss Polonia’ beauty pageant. Not to mention our musical guests – Katarzyna Niemyćko who will also perform a duet with Egidijus Sipavicius and with the band „Pop Ladies”. We will aslo be able to listen to a young songstress Great Buzarewicz. And obviously, our final ten girls – successful, rhythmical, capable and friendly. I think everything will work out great.

Andrzej Podworski, organisation manager

When one contest ends, we start thinking about another, because preparations aren’t easy, unfortunately. We need to think about basic things like: room, sound, light etc., about every single detail, even the smallest one. But, obviously the hardest part is founding a sponsor.

This year’s finalists, the final ten that has been choosen during the final round of eliminations in January,  had a very thigh schedule. I’m not talking here about the preparations under the watchful eye of the experienced specialists like Renata Brasel (stage management) and Teresa Andruszkiewicz (choreography), there are plenty of  accompanying events. They were interviewed, they had fittings of leather-wear, they had their photos taken, they listend to the lectures of Roman Jachniewicz, director of psychological and pedagogical clinic in Vilnius region.

Source: http://kurierwilenski.lt/2013/04/12/przed-podniesieniem-kurtyny-konkursu-pieknosci-kuriera/

Tłumaczenie Justyna Kaczmarek w ramach praktyk w Europejskiej Fundacji Praw Człowieka, www.efhr.eu. Translated by Justyna Kaczmarek within the framework of a traineeship programme of the European Foundation of Human Rights, www.efhr.eu.