The selection process
The selection process
Every year, a Fallera Mayor de Valencia and a Fallera Mayor Infantil de Valencia are chosen through a lengthy selection process in three phases, which starts in July and ends in October. The process is pretty much the same for both roles.
Pre-selections
Each committee (there are 392 in Valencia) can nominate one of their falleras and one of their falleras infantiles as a candidate. Committees are then gathered into various sectors (there are 26 in total). These sectors group together numerous committees that are geographically close to one another.
Each sector chooses two or three candidates for each of the two categories (girls and adult women) in a process similar to a pageant, where the candidates wear the traditional Valenciana dress. The possible Falleras Mayores are judged not solely on the basis of how good they look wearing their traditional dress, but also on their stage presence, posture, charisma, and manners.
Second selection
After this, the so-called elección de cortes takes place. This selection process consists of several days of observation by a jury of Junta Central Fallera (JCF) members. At the end of this stage, the number of fallera and fallera infantil candidates will have gone down, from the 73 selected at the end of the previous phase to 13 (for each category).
Final selection and La Telefonada
Finally, the 13 candidates in each category are judged and observed for several days by the jury. In early October, on a determined date, all candidates stay at home waiting for a phone call from the Mayor of Valencia. La Telefonada (The Phone Call, in Spanish) will let the future queen know she has been chosen as Fallera Mayor.
Only one of them will receive La Telefonada, while the other 12 will make up the Corte de Honor. This is a group of falleras that accompany the Fallera Mayor in official events. The same will happen in the case of the Fallera Mayor Infantil.
