Who is eligible to apply?
Illinois resident, Asian or AAPI women who are at least 18 years old by June 8, 2024 (first rehearsal date).
And YES! We’ve had contestants who identify as:
- Asian Adoptee
- Biracial
- Disabled
- Gender non-binary
- Married
Are there fees to apply or participate?
There is no application fee.
If you become a contestant, you will need to provide a $300 deposit. The first $100 will need to be provided as soon as you accept your contestant seat, the remainder will need to be provided by the date of the contestant photoshoot (See Relevant Dates Page). Payment plans are available upon request.
Should you sell at least 5 tickets (priced at $80 each) AND you complete the pageant process, you will be refunded your $300 deposit the day after the pageant.
To incentivize all contestants to sell tickets, after the first 5 tickets, each additional ticket sold via a contestant’s page will result in $10 paid out to the contestant weekly. All tickets are non-refundable.
What happens after I apply?
You will receive a confirmation email that we’ve received your application. The application deadline is April 15, but we may review applications and schedule virtual interviews on a rolling basis.
Is training provided?
What is the time commitment?
Aside from the rehearsals and photoshoot, we will also expect contestants to commit time on their own. We support you along the way, but you definitely need to put in time outside of one on ones and rehearsals to do well in the pageant.
Expect to spend:
- At least 1 month drafting your Community Platform Project Plan.
- At least 15 min per week practicing your walking and posing.
- At least one 1-hour one on one meeting
- We encourage you to schedule at least 15 mins of one on one meetings per month. You’re limited to 1 hr worth of one on one per month. No rollovers.
- Spend time staying up to date with our Slack Community updates.
If you want to attend optional events, there will be plenty of opportunities, but it’s up to you to manage your time. Optional event attendance is not part of the overall score, but you can get points deducted from the overall score if you consistently sign up and come late, or don’t show up to optional events. See the list of events we’ve participated in here.
Are contestants required to attend events outside of rehearsals and the pageant?
There will be plenty of events for contestants to attend. Contestant attendance is optional, but highly encouraged. Attendance of these events does not impact your score, but they will give you exposure to the community and will hopefully be fun! If you become a titleholder, a certain amount of attendance is mandatory, depending on your title. We, do, however, encourage contestants to prioritize working on their Community Platform Project Plan and practicing their walking/posing and speaking over attending optional events. See the list of events we’ve participated in here.
What does "pageant process completion" mean?
We treat the pageant day like a graduation from the pageant process. The pageant process duration for any given contestant starts when they become a contestant until the pageant day. If the contestant does not follow rules and code of conduct, the contestant is subject to disqualification. If the contestant is disqualified or they voluntarily dropout of the pageant, they will NOT be refunded their contestant deposit, regardless of how many tickets they’ve already sold.
Why does Miss Asian Chicago take a deposit?
Most pageants will charge contestants a non-refundable fee in order to recover costs. We want to be more accessible, so we take a deposit.
The deposit is to better ensure that applicants who are extended a seat in the pageant place more consideration into their acceptance decision and have a stake in their participation. We put a lot of time, effort, and resources into each contestant, so they should not take the process nor our time lightly.
A contestant should be sure that they do not have any known circumstances that could cause them to drop out of the pageant. They should also follow the rules and protocols and respect the process and people involved.
Contestants will need to provide the full amount of the deposit by the date of the contestant photoshoot. If they have economic hardship, they may request a payment plan option.
What are "one on ones"?
One on ones are meetings between a contestant and a member of our pageant team, either virtually or in-person. During the meeting, the contestant can get detailed training in a specific area of the pageant that they want to work on.
The best and easiest form of receiving regular feedback, however, is through sending drafts and videos via our Slack community.
Contestants are limited to 1 hr’s worth of one on ones per month, starting from the moment the contestant is accepted. Unused time does not rollover. Contestants are allowed to schedule one on ones in 15 minute increments. We do this to pace out both contestants’ progression as well as our commitments.
Unlike most pageants, we provide training, and we provide it for free (pageant coaching is not normally free!) As such, we suggest contestants fully utilize this opportunity.
Is it safe to do a pageant? What about harassment?
It's unfortunate that the increased visibility you get from being a contestant usually leads to an increase of unwanted harrassment on social media and in-person.
We will have a portion of our contestant on-boarding dedicated to discussing safety, harrassment and boundaries. And lines of communication are always open to discuss issues.
One immediate suggestion is to create a separate public instagram account.
Who would I mostly work with?
Our pageant founder/producer/director Victoria Ng will be your main contact and trainer.
Some of our former and current contestants/titleholders and board members may help during rehearsals and offer some one on ones.