Six NIU students will be competing in a pageant this evening – but there won’t be a swimsuit competition.

Gamma Phi Omega’s “Mr. Papi Chulo” pageant features six male NIU students in four different competitions at 7 p.m. today at the Holmes Student Center’s Carl Sandburg Auditorium.

Admission is free and doors will open at 6:30 p.m.

“We started doing it for philanthropic reasons; to bring together Greeks, non-Greeks, everybody on campus,” Elvia Garcia, president of Gamma Phi Omega and a junior business management major said. “It’s a good time, the contestants have put so much time and energy into it, and it’s a well organized event.”

Mr. Papi Chulo is a term that embodies the ideal of a classy, smooth, slick kind of guy, but the pageant adds an element of academia and talent to the competition, Garcia said. The contestants are representative of the whole university.

“The participants are diverse and we encouraged that. We have Asian, African-American and Hispanic participants,” Garcia said.

The pageant consists of an introduction, a sleepwear portion, a talent competition and a formal wear portion. Contestants will be judged by a panel of five professors, who will tally the results, independent of Gamma Phi Omega, and announce the winner.

“What is really nice is that this is not just looking at beauty,” pageant judge and associate professor Clersida Garcia said. “This is about how a talented person carries themselves.”

Garcia also said she was looking forward to the talent portion of the competition, to see what talents the contestants would bring to the show.

The winner of the pageant, aside from the title and fame, will receive a check for $100, a $20 gift certificate for Eduardo’s Mexican restaurant, one week of window display at the Homes Student Center, a shirt with the title “Mr. Papi Chulo 2005” on it and a pair of movie tickets.