Season1 of the Hidden Beauty of Ethiopia competition was first started on October 2015 in Addis Ababa Ethiopia. During that time about 2000 models signed up for the competition through social media and online registration. Judges with long term experience were selected from the modeling and fashion industries in order to evaluate the competing models of HBE. On the first phase of the competition we had an audition in our office. We measured heights and took snap shots to see how photogenic they are. Then the next stage was to shortlist the once who were very photogenic and invite them back to the office for interview. The interview was to assess their confidence on how to represent their country as an international model. The last stage was to give them few challenges such as photo shoots, catwalks in front of a big crowd.
The fact that the winning model had a striking look, great personality and was also confident made her win the competition. The depth knowledge she has about her country history and culture was also a big bonus for her to win the competition.