MISS Earth USA Lindsey Marie Coffey, 28, from Brownsville, Pennsylvania, won the 20th Miss Earth Pageant in a virtual competition yesterday, besting the field of 84 eco angels worldwide who participated in virtual preliminary competitions over the last two months.
Coffey, a 5-foot-9 professional model who wrote in her profile that her family’s bloodline is linked to Marie Antoinette, the last French queen before the start of the French Revolution, succeeded Nellys Pimentel from Puerto Rico to become the first winner from the USA since the Manila-based advocacy-driven pageant began in 2001.
Named as Miss Air 2020 was Stephany Kassis Zreik, 24, from Valencia, Venezuela, a lawyer and model.
Chosen as Miss Water was Roxanne Allison Baeyens, 23, a Filipino-Belgian actress and Tourism graduate from Baguio City, Philippines.
Selected as Miss Fire was Michala Petrovna Rubinstein, 28, an Israeli-Ukranian professional model who lives in Copenhagen, Denmark.
Miss Earth and her “elemental” court were chosen from 8 finalists, which also included the delegates from Myanmar, the Netherlands, Poland and Puerto Rico, who answered the same final question: “The year 2020 has brought us a lot of conspiracy theories and conflicting news a.k.a. fake news. How do you reconcile these with the concept of truth?”
Coffey, who advocates for water conservation, stressed that it is “…crucial to figure out what you believe. We need to respect the solid evidence that is presented at hand…”
When host James Deakin announced her as the winner, Coffey was overwhelmed with emotion before delivering her victory speech: “I’m just so grateful for the entire experience and of course to the Miss Earth organization for making us find power in our voices to continue our advocacy during this trying times where the world needs it the most and I can’t wait for me and my eco queen sisters to have an amazing reign.”
While the other major international pageants postponed their finals for this year, Miss Earth proceeded with a virtual competition. “We decided not to skip this year so we can continue with our mission to raise awareness on the state of the environment,” said Carousel Productions’ executive vice president Lorraine Schuck.
The virtual finals, presented by Carousel Productions and Jewel Beauty Strong, was aired over TV5 and virtual channel ktx.ph.