We could dress this up with some fancy language. We could tell you that Thoreau said, “The perception of beauty is a moral test.” We could suggest that the online assessment of these women’s pulchritude—conducted via readers’ votes, some 50,000 of which winnowed a field of 20 semifinalists (of 450 nominees) down to the winners you see here—was the ultimate such moral test. But let’s just skip all the pretense and look at some hot chicks, shall we?

Get behind the scenes of the photo shoot.

Click here for photos and videos of all 20 of this year’s semifinalists in our 10 Most Beautiful Women in Dallas competition.