After announcing the winner of the 2013 Original Dolly Model Search, the magazine’s Editor-in-Chief tells The Weekly why the nationwide competition now asks for more than height and weight measurements.
Yesterday 16 year-old Samantha Garza was announced the winner of The Original Dolly Model Search 2013, becoming an ambassador for the glossy teen title as well as signing with Chadwick Models.
In the second year of the revamped competition, Dolly Editor-in-Chief, Tiffany Dunk explains the title was looking for young girls who embody confidence, healthy attitudes and appeal to readers, with interests beyond just modelling.
“We wanted to find someone that they could relate to because you know the key thing is that teenage girls want to see girls who look like them in magazines. They’re really wanting to see themselves being represented in the media, which is why our model search is different”, she tells The Weekly.
Model searches and competitions run by both magazines and television stations nationwide have faced scrutiny in the past decade, which is one of the reasons Dunk decided Dolly’s search would have to change if relaunched.
In its second running year, the competition now includes positive body image workshops and the winner is awarded a twelve-month ambassadorship role, blogging for the title’s website as well as modelling.
“The teen mag world is very different to what it was at ten years ago, and we are much more responsible in the way that we represent girls within the magazine” she says.
“We don’t ask the girls anything about their physicalities. We don’t ask how tall they are, how much they weigh, what clothing size they wear.”
The 2013 judges, including Dunk met with over 6000 teenage girls this year and yesterday announced the winner at an intimate breakfast at Sydney’s Museum of Contemporary Art.
“I think Samantha is a perfect example of a great role model for Dolly readers in that she’s smart and confident but she’s real”, says Dunk.
Last year — in relaunching the competition — the title was criticised for selecting a 13 year-old winner, Kirstie Thatcher, who was labelled ‘too young’ by various media outlets and protestors.
Dunk hopes the extra roles included in the ambassadorship will encourage winners to pursue interests beyond solely modelling, with Australian women such as Megan Gale now walking on both the catwalk and into boardrooms.
“There are a lot of models who big media organisations report on all the time whether it’s Megan Gale or Miranda Kerr or Jenifer Hawkins who are business women”, she tells The Weekly.
“Models do have a purpose too so what you can do or what you should be doing as someone who uses that service as part of your publication is representing it in a really responsible way and trying to make it as positive an experience as you can.”
