Pride, optimism and a positive spirit are the building blocks of the ELLE spirit and from a list of over 87 girls from across the country, ELLE selected 12 for the semi-finals. The list has been narrowed down to eight.
Part of the judging criteria consisted of a series of interviews that ELLE conducted with each of the 12 candidates to reduce the list to the current eight. The girls were each asked 20 questions which helped the judges determine their ability to hold a conversation comfortably, strength of character, rapport with the production crew and attitude towards taking criticism.