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Miss World Australia
Sabrina
Houssami photo credit: Fairfax
Greg
Tingle and Sabrina Houssami, Ruby
Rabbit De Dom (credit: Tito
Media)
Greg
Tingle and Sabrina Houssami photo credit: Tito
Media
News
- 1st Feb 2007
Miss World Australia to be face of Australian
Grand Prix Australian
Formula 1 Grand Prix website
News
just in: Sabrina Houssami was placed 3rd in Miss World
2006. Congratulations Sabrina.
11th
October 2006 - News just in: Media Man Australia met
and interviews
Sabrina Houssami and the Ruby Rabbit, Sydney, as part
of her Australian homecoming celebrations.
Recent News
Sabrina
Houssami is currently overseas in Poland competing
in Miss World.
Please
vote for Sabrina via SMS on 19927362 (199ARENA), in
Australia. Please sms MW101 to the given phone no.
as many times as you can.
Profile
Sabrina
Houssami
When
she was deciding where to study Sabrina Houssami,
a 19-year-old Bankstown girl and the new Miss World
Australia, chose Sydney University because it had
the most beautiful surroundings and the highest academic
standards.
Like
the University Houssami has been blessed with beauty
and intelligence. The second year liberal arts student,
who originally planned to complete a PhD in child
psychology, said she wanted to study somewhere that
"was relaxing and conducive" to long hours
of study.
"I
love the quadrangle, it's just so beautiful. The whole
university is such a tranquil, idyllic environment,"
she says. "There is also such a strong sense
of learning here," says Houssami, who is currently
studying Arabic, statistics and psychology.
She
already speaks Hindi - her mother is Indian and she
has visited New Delhi "about 12 times".
But learning Arabic is giving her an insight into
her father's Lebanese Muslim culture.
Houssami
loves the "diversity of culture" at Sydney
University. It's an amazing example of tolerance.
You always see mixed groups of people walking together."
When she overhears students speaking in Arabic, "I
love that I can understand a bit of what they are
saying."
So
how did she come to be in a beauty pageant? Houssami
says she was online when she stumbled across the Miss
World Australia website. Reading further she discovered
the Miss World Australia philosophy of supporting
charity: "beauty with a purpose".
As
a prefect she had been involved in organising Jeans
for Genes and other school fundraising, and at university
she missed having that "platform" for charity
work Charity is also one of the pillars of Islam,
Houssami says. "I want to influence the world
in a positive way, like a ripple in the water of life."
Indian
poverty is "very close to my heart". Her
current charity is The Astara Angels Charity, which
is raising funds to build an orphanage for abandoned
Indian girls in Rishikesh, at the foothills of the
Indian Himalayas. Astara sells postcards with pictures
of a brick on it for $20. Anyone who buys a postcard
will "have their name inscribed on a brick"
at the home, Houssami says.
Houssami
says most of her university teachers are very "very
understanding" about her charity work. "I
think I go to the best university in the world in
that it truly encompasses world values in both its
staff and student population," she adds. "It
truly epitomises tolerance and diversity."
After
winning the Bankstown, and then NSW rounds of the
competition, in 2005 she was named Miss World Australia
runner-up. But organisers were so impressed with her
ongoing fundraising work that when the Miss World
competition was unexpectedly brought forward this
year (it will be held in September in Poland) they
asked her to be Australia's representative. (Credit:
Sydney University)
Please
vote for Sabrina via SMS on 19927362 (199ARENA), in
Australia. Please sms MW101 to the given phone no.
as many times as you can.
Miss
World Australia Crowning
The
official crowning of Miss world Australia 2006 Sabrina
Houssami was celebrated in a Royal gala dinner at
The Bellevue, Bankstown on Wednesday July 19th, 2006.
The
majestic event was exceptional and the attendance
was very big showing Huge support for Sabrina.
Distinguished
guests included Senator Eddie Obeid, local member
Tony Stuart, Bankstown mayor Tania Mihailuk, Burwood
mayor John Faker, Canterbury mayor Robert Furolo,
and Few consuls and ambassadors from sydney and Canberra.
Entertainers
included Kamahl (Australian crooner), Stuart Wagstaff
(Philanthropist & star of Blankety Blanks), Simon
Westaway (Actor), Arnott (Popstars), T.A.P. Singers
& Teamwork Dancers.
Sabrina
was crowned by Last year Queen Dennae Brunow and State
winners have also been presented with Valuable jewelries
from major sponsor Kimberly Fine Diamonds.
Sabrina
will now attend few major charity events this month
before heading to Poland to represent Australia in
Miss world final which will be conducted at the end
of next month.
Sabrina
Houssami as Miss World Australia 2006 will represent
Australia in Poland where she will compete against
120 other countries. The judging will be a month long
process and the winner of Miss World will be announced
on September 30th, 2006.
•
Miss World in 2005 was viewed by over 2 billion viewers
across 162 nations and is the most watched annual
television event in the world.
•
The Miss World Contest was born in 1951 in Great Britain.
It has grown into one of the worlds biggest and most
loved events. It has also raised an incredible $400
million dollars for charity thanks to the theme “Beauty
with a Purpose” created by owner Julia Morley
25 years ago.
•
Microsoft figures show Miss World website www.missworld.tv
is the most visited website in the world with 30 million
hits daily during judging
•
Negotiations are underway to bring the Miss World
Final to Australia in 2008.
New
Miss World crowned - 1st October 2006
(Credit:
The Sydney Morning Herald)
An
18-year-old student from the Czech Republic won the
Miss World 2006 beauty contest today, with the Australian
contestant in third place.
Tatana
Kucharova defeated 103 other women in voting among
a panel of judges and from television viewers around
the world during a two-hour finals ceremony in the
Polish capital Warsaw.
First
runner-up in the 56th edition of the annual beauty
pageant was Joana Valentina Boitor, a 17-year-old
from Romania. Australia's Sabrina Houssami, 20, was
third.
Wearing
a long white dress, a teary Kucharova blew kisses
to the 2,500-strong audience in Warsaw's Congress
Hall after she received her diamond crown from Miss
World 2005, Unnur Birna Vilhjalmsdottir of Iceland.
Kucharova,
a tall high-school student with long blond hair, was
born in Trnava and grew up in the town of Opocno.
She told the judges she wants to attend university
and then become a model. She likes tennis and horse
riding and her personal motto is "Always be an
optimist".
A
few white-red-and-blue Czech national flags floated
in the cheering audience after the verdict was announced.
The
organisers of the pageant said this year's finals
offered the widest-ever participation of voters around
the world via the Internet. Votes were also submitted
in text messages sent from mobile phones.
Warsaw
is only the second European capital after London to
host the Miss World contest, organisers say. The 104
finalists spent the past month touring the Eastern
European country's cities, beaches and countryside.
Last
month, a white scarf was added to an artist's depiction
of a mermaid with an exposed breast on a poster advertising
the contest, after officials in Warsaw's conservative
administration deemed it too suggestive.
Global
appeal - The
Sydney Morning Herald - 17th August 2006
If
further proof were needed that we're addicted to gawking
at charitable babes, it's the tiara-and-tantrum spectacular
Miss World, whose TV ratings are surpassed only by
the opening ceremonies of the World Cup and the Olympics.
Later this month, Miss World Australia 2006, 20-year-old
Sabrina Houssami (right), heads to Warsaw where, alongside
100 or so other hopefuls, the Bankstown student will
undergo a gruelling month of personality and talent
tests, to see who can cut it as the world's supreme
female being. "It's a wonderful platform to raise
money for charity," says Houssami, who has worked
for 20 Australian charities and hopes to have raised
$1 million by the time she's "over the hill"
at 25. The 56th Miss World screens on Arena on October
1 at 1pm.
TV
career flagged - Herald
Sun - 2nd Feb 2007
MISS
World Australia Sabrina Houssami will add glamour
to the Australian Grand Prix as its 2007 ambassador,
but has a few confessions to make.
She
hasn't a driver's licence, isn't really a Formula
1 fan, and has never been to a GP.
"But
it's making the experience more interesting for me.
I'm coming in with a fresh perspective and learning
very quickly," she said.
One
of the beauty's responsibilities will be waving the
checkered flag at the main race at Albert Park on
March 18.
"I'm
told I should be practising, and shouldn't give it
a pathetic little wave," she laughed. "I
should really toss the thing around -- go for broke."
The
Sydneysider is in talks with Channel 9 about pursuing
a TV career.
She
has been called back for a second screen test, but
it seems the network was more keen to see how the
Mensa member looked in a bikini.
"They
originally gave me pieces from (travel show) Getaway
just to see how I read, but I told them I'm interested
in more serious presenting or journalistic roles,
so that's what they're looking at."
Websites
Miss
World Australia
Miss
World
Interviews
Interview
- Sabrina Houssami - 11th October 2006
Profiles
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World Australia
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Formula 1 Grand Prix
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Media
Man Australia is delighted to have a business relationship
with Miss World Australia
Public
thank you to Miss World Australia for attending the
Bravehearts charity
gala evening on the 26th August 2006
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