AGHANI DOREGO"sVICTORY

HISTORY November 18 LAGOS, Nigeria (Reuters) -- Nigerian Agbani Darego's victory in the Miss World contest has given her country a much-needed reason to celebrate. The news of Darego's crowning -- the first black African to win the international beauty title in its 51-year history -- dominated the front pages of Nigeria's newspapers on Sunday. Gone were the usual stories of spiralling ethnic and religious violence, such as the aftermath of last month's army massacre of hundreds in central Nigeria, a recent spate of controversial Islamic sharia court sentences and accounts of armed robberies. Instead, the face of Darego, 18, chosen from among 93 contestants in the pageant beamed to a projected global television audience of 1.2 billion on Friday, smiled down from news stands. "Things have been so bad lately, it takes your mind off of things, it's a great distraction," Lagos doctor Patrick Nwagbogu said. Nwagbogu said the pageant in Sun City, South Africa -- which for the first time allowed audience voting -- helped highlight the gains Nigeria had made since military rule ended in May 1999. "Nigeria's winning does not surprise me at all," he said. "I was at a cyber cafe on Friday night and there was a 50-long queue of people lining up to cast their vote for this young girl. It's incredible. "With the internet and GSM phones so many people can communicate with the outside world. That has so many implications and we're seeing it clearly with Miss World." Guy Murray-Bruce, organiser of the Most Beautiful Girl in Nigeria pageant which sent Darego to the Miss World contest, predicted her win could give rise to a Nigerian modelling industry, creating opportunies for young women in Africa's most populous country of more than 110 million. With officials saying half of Nigerians are unemployed, some female university graduates resort to prostitution, other women become prisoners to human trafficking rings in Europe and neighbouring countries. "I think it will create opportunities for other women," Murray-Bruce told Reuters in an interview at the weekend. "Suddenly the world sees Nigerian as a place where you have beautiful women. I think Nigeria is finally on the world map in a positive manner." He said Darego was already blazing a trail for Nigerian women having already signed a contract with Donald Trump's New York modelling agency after finishing in the top 10 at the Miss Universe pageant in May. She has also catwalked with supermodel Naiomi Campbell in Spain. The Nigerian government -- still struggling to deliver "democracy dividends" -- is also keen to cash in on Darego's success. The first lady and two governors have planned receptions for her. "Plans were also said to be in the pipeline by government to appoint the new queen an ambassador," the Vanguard newspaper reported on Sunday. At her crowning, Darego was keen to stress she intended to carry on her studies to become a computer scientist as well as carrying out her Miss World duties.

AGHANI AND FRIENDS

November 16 Jerry Springer served as host for the 2nd year in a row, and improved from his last year experience. As the contestants were being introduced in several groups in both swimwear (pre-taped) and evening gowns (modeling on stage), a scoreboard came up reflecting the rankings of the top scored delegates. For example, after the first group of 12 was introduced, the scoreboard came up showing how that group had fared score wise, being Aruba and Portugal the ones with highest ranking. As other delegates were being introduced, the list kept on changing, countries getting in and out, until the last group when the actual top 10 list was shown. The contestants from Chile, Portugal, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Venezuela and Peru were displayed on the scoreboard for a certain amount of time, meaning that they were close. Surprises included Zimbabwe and Hungary, winners in their respective groups! (AP Photo) Springer inmediately proceeded to announce the special awards: Best evening dress award went to Korea, Hyun Jin Seo; Miss Talent was Barbados, Stephanie Chase; and Miss Photogenic award, chosen by votes received in Miss World's official site, was Lada Engchawadechaslip from Thailand. Between some joking and one-liners here and there, the top 10 semifinalists were announced, in the same order as they ranked in the scoreboard: Nigeria, Agbani Darego; Ukraine, Oleksandra Nikolayenko; Nicaragua, Ligia Arguello; Spain, Macarena Garcia; Yugoslavia, Tijana Stansic; Scotland, Juliet-Jane Horne; Aruba, Zerelda "Zizi" Lee; Russia, Irina Kovalenko; and South Africa, Jo-Ann Strauss. Judging by what was seen on the scoreboard, #11 delegate would have been Portugal, Claudia Borges. The top 10 semifinalists were interviewed in an informal chat-like session, and those who did not speak English had their chaperones translate for them.  Then, top 5 was announced. It consisted of Nicaragua, China, Scotland, Aruba, and Nigeria. On this round they were asked questions submitted via the net by Miss World followers. The competition was at its peak! After some entertainment and final words by Priyanka Chopra, the results were read "in reverse order" by president Julia Morley. 2nd runner-up, Scotland; 1st runner-up, Aruba; and winner, Agbani Darego of Nigeria, who is the first black african woman to ever win the crown.

Newly-crowned Miss World 2001, Miss Nigeria Agbani Darego, poses for photographers at Sun City, west of Johannesburg, November 17, 2001. Darego is the first black African to win the title in its 51-year history. Agbani Darego of Nigeria smiles after being named Miss World 2001 at the beauty pageant  at Sun City, South Africa, Friday, Nov. 16, 2001. Miss Nigeria Agbani Darego (R), 18,  smiles while being congratulated after  beingcrowned Miss World 2001 pageant  at Sun City west of Johannesburg  November 16, 2001, the first black  African woman to take the title. From a field of 93 contestants,  Darego took first place ahead of  Zerelda Lee, of Aruba, and  Scotland's Juliet-Jane Horne.  The pageant, hosted by TV  chat show presenter Jerry Springer,  was beamed to a projected  global television audience of 1.2 billion people.