Each year, thousands of contestants, typically between the ages of 15 and 25, compete in local contests for a chance to represent their country in the world final.
The male and female winners of the final event, held in Barcelona, Spain, receive a modeling contract with an international modeling agency.
[2] The contest is sponsored by FashionTV, model agencies, and fashion and beauty brands that have included Revlon, Calvin Klein, Levi Strauss, Diesel and Lacoste.
[3] Notable participants that did not win the contest were 2010 participant Janina Leontschuk who walked in a show by Diane von Fürstenberg,[12] 2011 finalist Jessica Aidi who was photographed by Karl Lagerfeld for the cover of Elle,[1] and 2013 semifinalist Elisabeth Winters who appeared in an editorial in Horse Magazine.
[13] Notable figures from the fashion world that have participated in the contest juries are Swiss photographer Yvan Rodic also known as FaceHunter, German model agent Thomas Zeumer, Italian model Antonia Dell'Atte [it] model agent Peyman Amin [de] and former judge of Germany's Next Topmodel, Spanish celebrity Erik Putzbach [es] French choreographer Marie-Ange Schmitt-Lebreton[14] and former training director for Supermodelo,[15] and Andreas von Estorff the German founder of Model Management.