The Grand Final of the brains-and-beauty pageant took place at the Hotel Inter-Continental in Singapore on Saturday evening.

Ms Tan was one of 12 finalists, who were narrowed down from a field of 620 single female Singaporeans aged between 15 and 28.

Visitors to the contest's website had the chance to judge the contestants on the basis of their vital statistics, photos, and reasons for entering the competition.



Congratulations for winner Stella Tan

The evening's programme included the evening dress and exercise leotard parades common to every beauty contest, but the contestants also sat down at laptop computers to answer Internet trivia questions. Another requirement for the finalists was to produce a home page about themselves.

Before the competition Ms Tan said her interests include technorealism and the Internet.

She said she entered the competition "to be part of the silent invasion which is occurring at a disconcertingly rapid pace. Through this contest, I hopefully can pick up some useful skills to optimise the usage of the computer as a tool.

"To see that this invasion poses a promise, not a threat to my existence," she said.

The organiser, the island's leading Internet Service Provider, SingNet, described the competition a search for intellectual beauty, with 60% of the judging marks awarded for Internet knowledge, 20% for confidence and interview skills and 20% for looks and appearance.

Genetic engineering

"Young ladies should always be aware of new developments in the Internet and Information Technology world," says the contest's website, "It's the next best thing to have happened since the television."

Stella Tan says she entered because brains as well as beauty were required. She is currently studying for a master's degree in Genetic Engineering and hopes to go on to Oxford University for her PhD.

Singapore aims to be the most wired island on the planet, and its intellectuals are treating the Internet as a necessary social skill - the government has even set up a popular online dating service for them.