Long decried as dated and sexist, the Miss USA show ceased being a TV event in the late seventies.

As with the Miss Universe pageant, the concept stagnated until the television rights were procured by Donald Trump a few years back; since then, each Miss USA contest has increased in both scale and ratings.

Trump has reportedly stepped up the glitz factor on this year's event, airing for the first time in high definition and hosted by the brother-sister duo of Donny and Marie Osmond.

As in the past, the contestants from the 50 states and the District of Columbia will be judged in the traditional swimsuit, evening gown and interview categories.

The panel of judges will be composed of the usual assortment of semi-celebrities, including actor Rob Schneider, Nip/Tuck's Kelly Carlson and Heather Mills.

Miss Michigan Elisabeth Crawford hopes to win all three at tonight's celebrity-driven Miss USA pageant.

If Elisabeth Crawford of Canton walks away with the tiara on tonight's NBC broadcast of the Miss USA pageant, she knows what comes next.

The winner moves to an apartment in New York City, does interviews with the likes of Jay Leno and travels to Vietnam for rehearsals to compete in Miss Universe.

"It's literally overnight, you become a celebrity," says the 25-year-old Miss Michigan USA.

Well, not always. In a post-feminist world, big-name pageants have lost some of their star power. The telecasts often aren't treated as major TV events. The winner of the sash and crown doesn't necessarily become a household name.

But lately, the buzz is back. Pageants were big news locally in January when Kirsten Haglund of Farmington Hills nabbed the Miss America title.

The hopes - and heels - were high as Melbourne's aspiring McNaughts and Hawkos strutted their stuff in Toorak today.

About 30 women today signalled their intention to compete for the crown in the 2008 Miss Universe Australia pageant.

Melbourne's registration day, heats and final will be held at the Trak Showroom in Toorak on April 30, while the 2008 Miss Universe Australian Preliminary Final will be on May 14.

Online registrations are now open.

Jaimi Greely is among the young Melburnians with an eye on becoming this year's Erin McNaught or Jennifer Hawkins.

 She said Hawkins' win at the 2004 Miss Universe pageant gave hope to other young women in Australia.

"I'm already quite a fairly confident person, but I think it helps with the people who watch the contest like little girls,'' she said.

The competition will be held in three cities of Vietnam, HCM City, Hanoi and Nha Trang, from June 15 to July 14, attracting representatives from around 80 countries and territories.

Besides competitors, the event will draw famous persons attending as guests, sponsors, organisers, etc. The total number of guests estimated for the outdoor party to welcome the new beauty queen is over 3,000, including Cindy Crawford, Naomi Campbell, Ricky Martin, etc. and especially billionaire Donald J. Trump, who has joined hands with NBC Universal to sponsor Miss Universe.

Vo Thanh Trung, a representative of the organising board, said it is very complicated to welcome 80 competitors and their representatives. From June 15-17, they will arrive at Vietnam via HCM City’s Tan Son Nhat International Airport

Challenges for Vietnamese representative

For one month, every day competitors will have to attend various programmes organised in the three above cities, including: visiting the Presidential Palace, the Prime Minister’s Office, the People’s Committees of some cities, some charity organisations, attending fashion and music shows, parties, gift auctions, shooting films to advertise Vietnam, participating in parades in Nha Trang city (Tran Phu road) and Hanoi (around Hoan Kiem Lake).