Miss Grand

Nawat Itsaragrisil is a television host and producer who had served as producer of the beauty pageant Miss Thailand World for BEC-Tero (owner of the television network Channel 3) for seven years until 2012. He subsequently established his own pageant, launching Miss Grand Thailand in 2013 in partnership with Channel 7.[1] He envisioned the beauty pageant as an entertainment business, aiming to create spectacular live television events attracting large viewership and to open up opportunities for the winners to pursue careers in the entertainment industry. Beginning in 2016, Miss Grand Thailand began franchising the provincial competitions to individual organizers, who would name 77 provincial titleholders to compete in the national pageant.[2] Under Channel 7, the pageant was the most popular in Thailand in terms of television viewership, with ratings ranging from 1.479 to 1.886 in 2017–2019.[3] In 2020, the pageant ended its partnership with Channel 7 and switched to broadcasting on One 31 instead.[4]

The winner of Miss Grand Thailand is the country's representative to the international competition Miss Grand International, which was also launched in 2013. The pageant features contestants selected by licensees in each country, which numbered ninety in 2017.[2] The first three competitions were held in Thailand, while subsequent events have also taken place overseas, beginning in 2016.