Miss World 2013: Beauty Contest Winners of Last Ten Years[PHOTOS]

The Miss World 2013 pageant final will take place on 28 September in Bali, Indonesia and the excitement is brewing up.

The Miss World contest is one of the oldest international beauty pageants and was first created in the UK in 1951 by Eric Morley. The original contest was introduced as part of the Festival of Britain celebrations.

In 1951, 26 women competed for the crown, with Sweden's Kiki Haakonson named the first Miss World. Throughout the 1950's, the swimsuit outfits caught attention from the public. Within a few years, it garnered a global audience when it was televised by the BBC from 1959 to 1979 and then Thames Television until 1988. In 1970, the competition hosted by Bob Hope was the single most-watched show of the year in Britain.

Miss World contestants compete in various categories such as top model, sports, multimedia, beach fashion and Beauty with a Purpose. In the final, the winner will be crowned by reigning Miss World and according to the tradition, she will spend the winning year in London and travel to represent the Miss World Organisation (MWO) and it causes.

Wenxia Yu was crowned Miss World 2012 making her second Chinese contestant to take the crown in the Miss World competition, after Zhang Zilin won in 2007.

In other pageant news, Miss Philippines Megan Young won Miss Top Model 2013 contest beating Miss England Kirsty Heslewood, who was one of the ten finalists.

Scroll down to take a look at the beauty contest winners of last ten years.