Miss Grand is a beauty pageant franchise based in Thailand. It was founded in 2013 by media personality Nawat Itsaragrisil, and consists of the annual national pageant Miss Grand Thailand, as well as the international competition Miss Grand International, to which participating rights are licensed to organizers in other countries.
The current Miss Grand International titleholder is Nguyễn Thúc Thùy Tiên of Vietnam, who was crowned on 4 December 2021 at Show DC Hall in Bangkok, Thailand.[2]
History
The speech on the 'Stop the wars and violence' campaign of the Top 10 finalists Miss Grand International 2021 at Show DC Hall, Bangkok, Thailand, on 4 December 2021.
Miss Grand International was founded in 2013 by Nawat Itsaragrisil, a Thai television host and producer. The pageant was founded in Thailand amidst a political crisis, inspiring the organizers to use the slogan 'No mob, Stop the Wars' as part of its identity,[3] later rephrased to 'Stop the Wars and violence' in the following year.[4][5][6] The pageant aims to promote peace by being against all kinds of conflicts.[7][4]
The contest features contestants selected by licensees in each country. Its first three competitions were held in Thailand under the sponsorship of the country's government and televised worldwide via Channel 7,[5] while subsequent events have also taken place overseas,[19] and was broadcast via the local television channels together with the social media platforms including its official YouTube channel and Facebook page.[20]
The contestants of each edition of the pageant were selected by the franchise holder in respective countries or territories, through either a national contest, internal casting, or being hand-picked.[37][38] Being a newly established international pageant, most of the contestants who participated were selected as the national representative without acquiring the title in a national pageant . Nonetheless, in pageant popular countries, especially in Far East and the Americas,[22] annual national pageants are usually being held to crown a winner to compete in the Miss Grand International pageant,[39] for example; Miss Grand Cambodia[id], Miss Grand Malaysia[es], Miss Grand Nepal[es], and Miss Grand Paraguay[es],[40][41][42][43] some of them were the runner-up or obtained the supplementary title at other national pageants, e.g. the delegates from Femina Miss India (2015–2021), Binibining Pilipinas, Miss Mexico (2017–2020), etc.[44][45][46]
Miss Grand International is the platform's annual international beauty pageant. Its inaugural edition was held in Bangkok in 2013 under sponsorship from Thailand's government[5][59] and featured 73 participating countries; the inaugural titleholder was Janelee Chaparro of Puerto Rico.[60][61] In 2016, the pageant was held for the first time outside Thailand, at Westgate Las Vegas, Las Vegas, USA, on October 25.[20] Since 2015, the grand final is usually held on October 25 each year. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2020 and 2021 editions of the pageant were delayed, the 2020 edition was first scheduled to be held on October 25, 2020, but was postponed to March 27, 2021, and the venue was also moved to Bangkok, Thailand,[25] similar to the 2021 edition which was held in December 2021, two months behind the traditional schedule.[62]
The current Miss Grand International titleholder is Nguyễn Thúc Thùy Tiên of Vietnam, who was crowned on 4 December 2021 at Show DC Hall in Bangkok, Thailand making her the first woman from Vietnam to win the crown.
The pre-pageant activities of Miss Grand International usually consist of three main events, the swimsuit competition, a national costume parade, and the preliminary contest. The swimsuit competition is organized at a separate venue to determine the winner of the Best in Swimsuit award while the national costume and the preliminary round of each edition are usually held at the same venue of the grand final round.[70][71] All aforementioned events are live streamed via the pageant's Facebook and YouTube accounts.[71] In the preliminary round, all contestants will compete in swimwear and evening gowns in front of a panel of preliminary judges.[71] Each round of the preliminary competition and the Swimsuit competition will determine the winner of Best Evening Gown and Best in Swimsuit awards which will be announced later on the final stage of the contest as well as the winner of other special awards including Best National Costume and Miss Popular vote. Moreover, the scores from all ancillary events, preliminary competition, together with a closed-door interview portion and the swimsuit competition, also determine the Top 20 during the grand final telecast of the pageant.[72]
List of the main special award winners in the Miss Grand International pageant
The grand final of the pageant is usually broadcast worldwide on television and the social media platforms of the pageant. As the tradition of the pageant, twenty semifinalists are chosen from the initial pool of contestants through observation during the entire pageant, a closed-door interview, swimsuit round as well as a preliminary competition, which featured contestants competing in swimsuits and evening gowns.[72] However, the "Country of the year" was first introduced in 2020 edition, which was selected by the audience on social networks.[7][78] The winner of this category automatically enters the twenty finalists regardless of all previous scores.[78] The Top 20 would then compete in a swimsuit competition, with 10 of them advancing to the Top 10, this number eventually was reduced to 9 with the 10th semifinalist being the Top Popularity Winner determined through mobile voting,[72][7] all 10 semifinalists would then compete in an evening gown and give their speeches with a ‘Stop the War and Violence' theme.[79][80]
After the speech round and evening gown competitions, the judges then select the top five to compete in the question-and-answer portion,[79] where all entrants will be asked the same question about an ongoing global situation; such as the management of COVID-19 pandemic crisis,[81] the 2016 United States presidential election,[8][64] and the ongoing socioeconomic and political crisis in Venezuela.[82] The judges will select the winner based on their answer and all previous accumulate scores, then the host will sequentially announce the fourth, third and second runners-up.[76][83] The last 2 candidates of the top 5 finalists will stand in the center of the stage then one of them will be named Miss Grand International.[7][76][84][85][83]
The summary of the pageant selection process is shown below.
The events/rounds that are used to determine the qualifier (s).
Awarded, category still exists
Awarded, category renamed
Awarded, category no longer exists
1 2 The winner of Country of the Year award was automatically placed at Top 20 finalists in 2020 edition, regardless of the accumulated score.
1 2 The winner of Miss Popular vote award has been automatically placing at Top 10 finalists since 2015, regardless of the accumulated score.
Crowns and Awards
As the tradition of this pageant, the crown of the title holders, known as the Golden Crown, has been set to be changed every 3 years,[86] all versions of the Golden Crown are made of gold and brass for structual integrity, while the exterior is adorned by diamond, and emerald.[19] Its first version was designed by a Thaijewellery design company, God Diamond, headed by Chawalit Chommuang,[87] and was used for the first three editions of the pageant.[19] The crown used from 2016 to 2018 was designed by an unrevealed company.[19]
The latest version of the golden crown, which was used since 2019, was made by a Venezuelanjewellery designer, George Wittels, who signed as the official jewel sponsor of the Miss Grand International Organization during 2019 – 2024.[67][88] He additionally designed the crown for all four runners-up of the pageant since the 2019 edition, the first time that the organization provided the crown for the runner-up positions.[88]
Since 2014, the organizer has also been offering USD$ 40,000 cash to each year winner for spending a year work as the organization's spokesperson in its campaign,[41][73][76][89] the prize was increased from USD$ 30,000 in 2013;[61][89] Furthermore, all four runners-up of each edition, also received cash prizes, ABS-CBN reported that Samantha Bernardo of the Philippines got USD$ 6,000 in cash after she had obtained the first runner-up title at the Miss Grand International 2020 pageant in Bangkok, Thailand,[90]Vartika Singh of India received USD$ 4,000 for her second runner-up finish at the 2015 edition.[91] Besides the finalists, the winner of each special award also received a prize; approximately USD$ 3,000 according to the 2013 and 2014 contests.[89][92]
After relinquishing the crown to the successor, the immediate predecessor is provided with a replica tiara; the replica is usually produced by the same designer as its master.
Countries and territories that won the Miss Grand International title
1 title
1 dethroned title
1 temporarily assumed title
2 titles
Miss Grand International Limited
Since its founding on 6 November 2013, the Miss Grand beauty pageant franchise has been managed by the Miss Grand International Company Limited (MGI Co.,Ltd.), a privatelimited company based in Thailand, currently headed by Nawat Itsaragrisil,[98] a Thai television host and producer who had previously served as producer of Miss Thailand World for BEC-Tero. After ending his role with BEC-Tero, Nawat signed a business partnership with Channel 7 and subsequently established his national pageant, Miss Grand Thailand in mid-2013 and the newly established international pageant, Miss Grand International, which was later launched in the same year on 19 November.[1][99]
Alongside its flagship beauty pageant, the company eventually expanded and diversified into the food-processing and cosmetics industries in 2018. In 2019, the company become involved in the talent management sector[100] The company is scheduled to be listed on the Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) in late 2022.[100]
Since the establishment of the contest, there was one case of resignation from her title when 2015 Miss Grand International winner Anea Garcia from Rhode Island, a Dominican American model, who later placed third in the Miss USA 2015 pageant then represented Dominican Republic in the Miss Grand International.[115] She stepped down from her reign and was replaced by first runner-up Claire Elizabeth Parker from Australia in which the contest cited "with immediate effect, Miss Anea Garcia will step down from her position as Miss Grand International 2015 due to unable to fulfill and follow the contractual agreement with Miss Grand International Organization."[116][117][118][119] The organization further stated, "her studies were in the way, making it very hard for us to schedule her activities."[115] Garcia was interviewed by The Providence Journal and stated that she resigned since "her safety was in jeopardy when she was sexually assaulted in South Sudan while representing the organization and [they] showed no concern about the incident" after she informed the organizers.[120][121] The Miss Grand International later claimed that Garcia was "dethroned" for being "demanding and disrespectful" and for taking an "inappropriate photo while wearing the crown with a revealing slit in her dress in the upper leg-crotch area," as opposed to the organization's initial press release that she "stepped down."[120]
Parker, who succeeded Anea Garcia as Miss Grand International 2015 after her resignation, was later stripped off from her title in February 2019, almost four years after her reign ended and the organization released a statement that she's no longer be addressed to as Miss Grand International 2015 when she decided to take part in a major national pageant title, Miss Universe Australia 2019 a preliminary of one of the Big Four international beauty pageants, Miss Universe.[122][119]
Several statements and actions made by the pageant's founder, Nawat Itsaragrisil, have attracted controversy to the pageant itself.
In 2016, Nawat was reported by Miss Iceland 2015 Arna Ýr Jónsdóttir to have said that "she's too fat and needed to lose weight" prior to the finals of Miss Grand International 2016 held in Las Vegas on October 25, 2016,[123] eventually dropping out of the pageant before the coronation due to the controversy. Jónsdóttir, a former member of the Icelandic national athletics team, stated "I decided to stand by myself and women in general, I'm not going to have anyone telling me that I am too fat to look good on stage."[124] In a statement, Nawat said that they give similar advice to other contestants who asked what should they do to improve in order to win. Nawat eventually said that he had spoken with Jónsdóttir along with the company's vice president and clarified matters.[125] The pageant organizers was also accused of withholding her passport and "threatened me by saying, you can get your passport back if you pay 3,000 dollars"[126] after she withdrew from the contest. Jónsdóttir was eventually able to retrieve her passport.
Nawat has also expressed displeasure[127] about the behavior of Filipino pageant fans online. This is after several incidents of Filipino pageant fans attacking him on social media. These incidents include accusations of Nawat rigging the results of Miss Grand International, of him having a bias against Filipina contestants,[128][129] an Instagram post where Nawat insinuated that the coronation of Catriona Gray as Miss Universe 2018 was a rigged affair[130] and saying that Miss Philippines 2018 didn't make it due to the rest of the contestants being better than her.[130]
Nawat has also gotten into a verbal row with the Miss Supranational organization after the then reigning Miss Supranational Chanique Rabe did not include Miss Grand into what she considers the "Big Five" of pageants, saying that those pageants were "minor crowns".[131]
This section is being initially created, or is in the process of an expansion or major restructuring, and is not yet ready for use. You are welcome to assist in its construction by editing it as well. If this section has not been edited in several days, please remove this template. If you are the editor who added this template and you are actively editing, please be sure to replace this template with {{in use}} during the active editing session. Click on the link for template parameters to use. This article was last edited by Thomson Walt(talk | contribs) 7 hours ago. (Updatetimer)
In addition to Thailand, several national licensees have been separately organizing their preliminary pageants to select the representatives for the Miss Grand International pageant. As listed below, the lists were divided into 4 geographic continent groups, including; Africa, the Americas, Asia-Oceania, and Europe.
Africa
Namibia
Namibia participated at Miss Grand International twice in 2013 and 2015, represented by Grace Diaz Khakhane and Unongo Kutako, respectively.[134][135] After Magnolia Events Management, headed by Magnolia Kuhanga, acquired the license in 2015, the national contest Miss Grand Namibia was held three times during 2015 – 2018.[136][137][138][139] Unfortunately, all winners of such a national pageant did not take part at the international stage for unclear reasons, however, Unongo Kutako, one of the Miss Grand Namibia 2015 finalists, was appointed to participate at the Miss Grand International 2015[es] in Thailand instead of the original winner, Linda Amadhila.[135] Since then, no Namibia representatives at Miss Grand International, although the national pageants was additionally held to determine the titleholders in 2016 and 2018.[140][141]
In 2016, the first preliminary pageant for Miss Grand Namibia, Miss Swakopmund, was held in the city of Swakopmund, Erongo Region, the winner of the said regional pageant was automatically qualified to the national contest Miss Grand Namibia 2016 in Windhoek,[140] which Esperance Luvindao, a medical student at the University of Namibia, was later elected as the national winner.[142] For the most recent edition, Miss Grand Namibia 2018, several regional casting events were conducted nationwide by the national licensee to determine the regional representatives for the national contest, such as Erongo, Khomas, Ohangwena, etc.[143] The national final round was held in Windhoek on 24 March 2018, in which Rail Lucas of Ohangwena Region was announced as the national winner.[141][144]
b. b Originally crowned first runner-up, took over the title after the original winner resigned.
Tanzania
Miss Grand Tanzania 2014 Lorraine Marriot during the swimsuit competition of the 2014 Miss Grand International in Thailand on 26 September.
Tanzania made its debutant at Miss Grand International in 2014 by Lorraine Marriot under the direction of the Miss Universe Tanzania president, Fatuma Bannamun Rutaihwa.[146] Later in 2015, Jinah Dameckh, the second runner-up Miss Tanzania 2015, was appointed to represent the country at the 2015 edition but Dameckh, unfortunately, withdraw for undisclosed reasons.[147] After two consecutive years of absence, the Tanzanianbusinessperson, Rasheedah Jamaldin, purchased the franchise for 2017–2018 then the first and only edition of Miss Grand Tanzania was held to determine the country representative for Miss Grand International 2017[es] at the Dar es Salaam Convention Center on 11 August 2017 featuring 10 national finalists, in which Batuli Mohamed was crowned Miss Grand Tanzania 2017.[148][149][150] The last Tanzania representative at Miss Grand International is Queen Mugesi Ainory Gesase who was appointed to compete at the 2018 international contest in Myanmar.[151]
Liberia
Liberia entered the Miss Grand International pageant for the first time in 2021. The country representative was Hajamaya Mulbah, one of the Miss Grand Liberia 2021 finalists, who was promoted to replace the original winner of such a contest, Goretti Itoka.[152][153][154] The organizers cited Itoka wished to relinquish the title willingly, howbeit, Itoka later contended that she was removed without any direct clarification from the organizers.[152][153][154] The Ministry of Information, Culture affairs, and Tourism of Liberia (MICAT) was also involved to manipulate the situation and has sent a communication document to the organizer, however, no organizer's official response.[154]
In addition to Thailand, Zimbabwe is the other country that separately held the national contest, Miss Grand Zimbabwe, to select the representative for Miss Grand International in 2013. This inaugural edition was organized at Gardens Restaurant in the city of Bulawayo under the direction of the former Miss Tourism Zimbabwe 2010,Samantha Tshuma, which a 22 years old TanzanianmodelFungai Mawada announced the winner at a contest held on 13 July outclassing 15 other finalists.[156][157][158] Nevertheless, Mawada was later disqualified on 2 September by the aforementioned organizer who nominated herself as the country representative at such an international contest and additionally stated that all 16 participating models were not suitable for the international competition,[156][157] causing her to receive negative opinions from several modeling agencies.[156] Tshuma was placed at Top 20 finalist of the swimsuit competition at the Miss Grand International 2013[es] pageant which was held in Thailand on 19 November.[159]
In the following year, the Miss Grand Zimbabwe organization was also embroiled in a similar scandal when the new franchise holder, Chris Vukani Mhlanga, who was in a relationship with the 2013 national licensee, has unveiled a new country representative, Lillie Chopamba, to replace Marble Nyathi, the finalists who had been nominated from Bulawayo to represent the country at the Miss Grand International 2014[es] in Bangkok.[159][160] Mhlanga claimed Nyathi's body was not good enough for the international pageant, however, Nyathi argued that she was removed because of refusing Mhlanga's love proposal as well as some financial issues between her and the organizer.[159][160][161] Lillie Chopamba was the last Zimbabwe candidate at Miss Grand International, although the other national pageant with a similar name, Miss Zimbabwe Grand, was held annually since 2019 to determine the winners for several international platforms, but has no affiliation to the Miss Grand International.[162][163]
South Africa made its debutant at Miss Grand International in 2015 by Magdalena Lenie Pieterse, who had been serving as the director of the Miss Grand South Africa beauty contest since 2017. After winning the 2015 title at the parallel contest of the Commonwealth Pageant South Africa, Miss & Mrs. Grand South Africa 2015–16, held in the Lyric Theatre at Gold reef cityamusement park of Johannesburg on 17 September 2015,[164][171] Pieterse entered the Miss Grand International 2015[es] world final round in Bangkok, Thailand,[164] then became the director of the national preliminary contest for such an international pageant two years later.
In 2016, An English-Bollywood TV channel in Johannesburg, Zee World, obtained one year license for the Miss Grand International 2016[es],[172] the national contest was held on 6 August 2016 at Atterbury Theatre in Pretoria featuring 6 national finalists, in which Caitlin Harty, a professional model based in Johannesburg, was announced as the titleholder.[172][165] However, Zee World lost the license to Magdalena Pieterse in the following year. Under the direction of Pieterse, her first affiliated titleholder, Yajna Debideen, was appointed to the position instead of conducting the national contest.[166][173] Debideen was the first runner-up Miss Supranational South Africa 2017.[166][173]
In the following year, the organizer company, Maggy-Dee Productions, was founded by Pieterse, responsible for managing the national contest.[174] The first pageant under the direction of such an organ was happen on 4 August 2018 at Atterbury Theatre in Pretoria, and the contest has been held annually since then.[174][175][169] South Africa got placements twice at Miss Grand International contest, including Top 20 finalists by Belinde Schreuder in 2019 and the fourth runner-up by Jeanè Van Dam in 2021.[167][176]
Since acquiring the license, the Miss Grand South Africa pageant under the direction of Lenie Pieterse has been aiming to empower women with the knowledge to bring about changes to communities in need by becoming a charity and cultural ambassadors within South Africa.[175] Several national finalists are currently working with the local non-profit organizations (NGOs) or gives the necessities support for those organs.[175][177][178] For instances, the 2021 finalist, Storm Hurlbatt, an established financial advisor, who created the MakeNoise360 campaign to change the culture of violence and injustice in the society.[178] as well as Genive Trimble, the other 2021 finalist, who affiliated with the Humanitarian Empowerment Fund, the organization that was founded for holistically change and empower communities, families, and industries through helping with food supply, security, education, and rehabilitation.[175]
Americas
Bahamas
The Bahamas took part in the Miss Grand International pageant twice in 2016 and 2017, sequentially represented by Selvinique Wright and Rejean Bosh.[179][180] Both of them were appointed to the position without participating in any respective contests. The national preliminary contest of the Bahamas for Miss Grand International was firstly held in 2018 after Navado Dawkins, the Nassau-based designer, purchased the license. Its grand final was happening on 1 July 2018 at Meliá Nassau Beach - All-Inclusive Resort, featuring contestants from 7 cities and districts, including Andros, Eleuthera, Exuma, Grand Bahama, Inagua, New Providence, and the San Salvador,[181][182] in which the representative of New Providence, Dannise Bain – a nineteen years old international model, was named the Miss Grand Bahamas 2018 titleholder and expected to represent the country at Miss Grand International 2018[es] in Myanmar.[183][184] Unfortunately, due to visa regulation problems, Bain was unable to participate in such an international platform.[185] Since then, no national pageant has additionally been held or appointed country representative for the Miss Grand International.
The highest achievement of the Bahamas at Miss Grand International is the top 10 finalists in the 2016 edition, won by Selvinique Wright who also obtained the Best in Swimsuit of the said edition.[179] Previously, Selvinique competed as Miss Star Fish Bay in the Miss Universe Bahamas 2016 pageant,[179][186] where she finished as top 5 finalists then was selected by such an organization to compete in Las Vegas for the 2016 Miss Grand International title.[186]
Brazil
The Regional Pageants of Miss Grand Brazil in 2022.
The inaugural contest of Miss Grand Brazil happened after Gerson Antonelli had acquired the license in 2014.[187][188][189] The contest was held during the annual festival Festival Nacional do Folclore at the Anfiteatro da Casa de Cultura of Olímpia city in São Paulo on 25 July, featuring 13 contestants, in which Yameme Ibrahim of Paraná won the main title.[187][188][189] Ibrahim then participated at Miss Grand International 2014[es] in Thailand on 25 October and was placed among the top 20 finalists.[189][190] However, the license had been brought back to the hand of Henrique Fontes, who also serves as the president of Miss Brazil CNB, in the following year then the country representatives at Miss Grand International were appointed to the position instead of organizing the national contest for four years consecutively,[188] including Paula Gomes (2015),[191] Renata Sena (2016),[192] Caroline Venturini (2017),[193] and Gabrielle Vilela (2018).[188] Originally, the second edition of Miss Grand Brazil was finagled to be held in 2017 at Hotel do Bosque Eco Resort in Angra dos Reis (RJ) on 5 May but the program, unfortunately, was rescheduled to 2019 for undisclosed reasons.[194] Two years later, the suspended program was finally held on 28 February at Dall'Onder Grande Hotel in Bento Gonçalves of Rio Grande do Sul state, with 22 candidates representing each federative unit of Brazil participating.[188][195] Since then, the Miss Grand Brazil pageant has been held annually to determine the winner to compete at Miss Grand International as well as many other international beauty contests.[196][197]
After its first postponement in 2017, the pageant, originally planned to be held on 12 October, has been canceled once again in 2021, resulting from the widespread COVID-19 infection in Brazil,[197] which exceeds more than twenty thousand new positive cases per day in the second half of the year.[198] Therefore, the director decided to assign the second runner-up of the 2019 contest–Lorena Rodrigues–to participate in the international edition,[199] in which she finished as the second runner-up, the highest placement of Brazil in the aforementioned international contest.[93][94]
The Miss Grand Brazil pageant has been licensing the participant rights to the local agency since 2019.[200] The regional licensees then select their representatives through either a national contest, internal casting, or a hand-pick.[200] In the 2022 edition, at least 13 federative units of Brazil (i.e., Goiás, Mato Grosso do Sul , Minas Gerais) held the state pageant or casting event to determine the finalists for Miss Grand Brazil 2022.[201][202][203] Moreover, the national organizer also receives the application directly to choose the supplement national finalists.[200]
b. b Originally crowned first runner-up, took over the title after the original winner resigned.
Canada began to organize the separate event for the Miss Grand International pageant in 2017, under the management of the Calgary-based model agency Di Benedetto Models, headed by Angelo Di Benedetto.[210] However, the winner of the event, Maddison Fysh, resigned the title caused the organizer to appoint their affiliated model –Natalie Allin – to instead compete in the international competition.[205][206] The same incident also happen in 2018, when the runner-up Grace Diamani was promoted to take over the position after the original winner – Veronica Rodriguez – had relinquished the national title for undisclosed reasons.[208]
In 2019, Benedetto lost the franchise to Michelle Weswaldi, the president of the Miss World Canada pageant.[211] Since then, the first runner-up of the said national contest has been assumed Miss Grand Canada,[212] Except in 2021, the Miss World 2020 contest was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which caused the winner of Miss World Canada 2020 to compete at Miss World 2021 instead, and the 2021 national contest was also delayed, the organizer then decided to hold an ad hoc virtual contest to determine the country representative for Miss Grand International 2021[es]. The contest featured 23 national finalists, in which a Ukrainian-Canadian model Olga Bykadorova was announced the winner.[209][213]
Canada has been sending its delegates to compete in the Miss Grand International since 2013.[214] The highest achievement was the second runner-up in 2014, won by Kathryn Kohut, a model and actress from Alberta.[215][216] Kohut was appointed to compete at such an edition after obtaining the first runner-up in the Miss Earth Canada 2014 contest in Montréal, the event was managed by the Filipino-Canadian organizer Ronaldo Soriano Trono, who served as the national director of Miss Grand Canada and South Korea during 2013–2015.[217]
Chile joined Miss Grand International for the first time in the 2014 edition in Bangkok, represented by 21-year-old model Karla Bovet Quidel, then absent for two years consecutively.[226] Later in 2017, Latin Scouting y CBC Producciones–headed by Boris Cabrera–the organizer of the Reinas de Chile, had obtained the franchise and consequently ran the inaugural edition of the Miss Grand Chile contest at the Music Palace Event Center of Talca on 22 September.[218] The contest featured 9 national finalists representing Chillán, Chillán Viejo, Concepción, La Florida, Pucón, Puerto Montt, Quillota, Talca, and Valdivia, of which, Nicole Ebner from La Florida was named Miss Grand Chile 2017 and later participated at Miss Grand International 2017[es] in Vietnam but got non-placement.[218][219] In addition to crowning such the winner, the Miss Supranational Chile 2017 title was also awarded to Konstanza Schmidt of Quillota.[218] However, the contest had not been held in the following year, the licensee assigned María Flores, one of the 2017 finalists from Concepción, to participate at the international event in Myanmar instead.[220][222]
During 2019–2020, the license belonged to Keno Manzur, who also serves as national director of many international pageants in Chile such as Miss World, Miss Universe, as well as Miss Earth. Under the leadership of Manzur, the second edition of Miss Grand Chile was happening in mid-2019,[227] and the winner was chosen as the top 20 finalists, the first placement of Chile, after participating in the international contest in Venezuela.[223] Nonetheless, the pageant was not held in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic caused the organizer to appoint the candidate to take part in the 2020 international edition in Thailand instead.[224] Later in 2021, Manzur relinquished the franchise to Cristian Chanaca and Gab Alfonsino, who have been organizing the contest annually since then.[225]
Colombia has been taking part in the Miss Grand International since 2013. However, most of its representatives were assigned to participate without organizing the preliminary contest for such the international pageant specifically, except in 2018, in which the first edition of Miss Grand Colombia was conducted in Villeta of Cundinamarca Department at the BH Tempo Hotel on 11 February after Miss Earth Colombia, who served as the national licensee during 2013–2017, had lost the franchise to Top 3 Latam–the Cundinamarca-based pageant organizer, headed by Neyder Duarte.[228] The contest featured 5 national finalists representing 5 national regions, including Altiplano, Andean, Llanos, Orinoquía, and Sinú,[228] of which Génesis Andrea Quintero Pérez from Orinoquía was announced the winner and expected to compete in Myanmar for the international title,[229][230][231] but unfortunately forced to resign by the organizer due to health problems after having breast augmentation as well as the financial conflict between them.[230][232] The organizer then relinquished the franchise to the Concurso Nacional de Belleza de Colombia (CNB Colombia; Miss Colombia), who appointed Sheyla Quizena Nieto to compete at the said platform instead.[233][234] Nevertheless, Quintero was later assigned to participate in the following international edition in Venezuela by the 2019 national licensee–Luis Humberto Garcés, as the replacement of the former representative, Sthefany Rodríguez, the Colombian-Venezuelan model who resigned the title two months after the appointment;[235] and was placed among the top 20 finalists.[223] Since then, the license had been being transferred to the different organizers every year, including Juan José Mendoza in 2020,[236] back to Miss Colombia in 2021,[237] and under the control of César Prado in 2022.[238]
Since the first participation of the Dominican Republic in Miss Grand International in 2013, the national pageant that was specifically held for the said international stage happened only once in 2016, under the leadership of Chantel Martinez, the first runner-up Miss Grand International 2013[es], who served as the national director of Miss Grand Dominican Republic during 2014–2017. Contestants from 20 provinces and municipalities participated in the competition held on 5 July at Cibao Grand Theatre[es] in Santiago de los Caballeros,[239] in which Lucero Arias a fashion model from Dajabón was announced the winner,[240] but unfortunately got non-placement after participating at Miss Grand International 2016[es] in Las Vegas, United States.[20] No other edition of such a national contest has been additionally held ever since, all the ensuing representatives were either appointed or gained the right from other contests; for instance, the winners or runners-up of Misses of Dominican Republic were designated as Miss Grand Dominican Republic during 2020–2021.[241]
Ecuador made a debut with the top 20 placement result at Miss Grand International in 2013, represented by Alexandra Zulay Castillo Velasco,[242] the national finalists of Miss Ecuador 2012.[243] During 2014–2017, the franchise belonged to the Miss Earth Ecuador, which one of the finalists of such a contest was appointed as Miss Grand Ecuador. However, none of them was qualified for the further round on the international stage. The 2018 representative, a 23-year-old Blanca Arámbulo, the third runner-up Miss Ecuador 2018 who was designated for the international contest in Myanmar as the replacement of the former one, Norma Tejada,[244] also got unplaced.[245] Ecuador broke the record of non-placement in 2019 after the new franchisee, the Concurso Nacional de Belleza Ecuador[es] (CNB Ecuador), had appointed a 24-year-old actress from Guayaquil–Mara Topic Verduga–to join the international contest in Venezuela,[246][247][248] where she was ranked among the top 10 finalists as well as obtained the Best in National Costume award.[249][223]
Tahiz Panuz, the president of the CNB Ecuador, has been serving as the national director of Miss Grand Ecuador since 2019.[250] Under his leadership, the first edition of Miss Grand Ecuador happened on 26 June 2021 at the TC Televisión Office in the city of Guayaquil.[251][252] The contest featured 6 national finalists from 6 provinces; including Cañar, El Oro, Esmeraldas, Los Ríos, Manabí, and Pichincha,[253] of which Andrea Aguilera from the province of El Oro was elected as the winner. Aguilera had later participated at Miss Grand International 2021[es] in Thailand and was awarded the first runner-up, the highest placement of Ecuador at such the international contest since 2013.[251][252][253] Previously, Aguilera has ever competed at Miss Earth Ecuador 2019 but did not win the main title.[251][252]
Unfortunately, no pageant held to determine the titleholder in 2022, the first runner-up of the previous edition, Emilia Vásquez of Pichincha Province, was appointed to represent the country at Miss Grand International 2022[id] in Indonesia instead.
Nicaragua competed at Miss Grand International for the first time in 2014, by María Rivera, the appointed representative from Managua.[254] In 2016, the Miss Nicaragua, headed by Karen Celebertti, had obtained the license for the 2016–2017, then the country representatives were elected via such a national competition.[254] After an absence in 2018, the León-based designerSaúl Benítez later purchased the license in the following year, however, his first two affiliated titleholders–Vanessa Baldizón and Teresa Moreno–were designated without organizing the contest,[254] both of them were the national finalists of Miss Nicaragua 2017.[255][256] In 2021, Benítez ran the first contest of Miss Grand Nicaragua on 8 August at Jose de la Cruz Mena Municipal Theater of the León city, aiming to determine the country representative for the 2021 and 2022 edition of Miss Grand International.[254][257] The contest consisted of 9 candidates from 7 departments, including Boaco, Granada, León, Managua, RACCN, RACCS, and Río San Juan, of which, both Managua and the RACCN was sending 2 delegates to take part.[254] In the final round, Epifanía Solís of Managua together with Maycrin Jáenz of Granada were sequentially announced Miss Grand Nicaragua 2021 and 2022.[254][257][258]
Since the debutant in 2014, to date, none of Nicaragua's representatives were qualified to the further round on the international stage.[254] However, the 2021 candidate, Epifanía Solís, was placed among the top 10 best in a swimsuit competition, one of the sub-contests in Miss Grand International 2021[id] pageant.[259]
France has usually been participating in almost every edition of the Miss Grand International pageant, except in 2018. In the first era of the pageant, its representatives were appointed to join the contest by different national directors. However, after Sonia Mansour, former Miss Grand France, took over the franchise in 2019, the inaugural edition of Miss Grand France was finally happening under her directorship on 4 July 2019, in which Cassandra De Sousa was named the winner, outclassed 8 other national finalists.[260] De Sousa later competed at Miss Grand International 2019[es] in Venezuela in October that year, unfortunately, she got non-placement.[22]
Later in 2021, Mansour lost the franchise to the other organization, who arranged the contest amid the health restrictions linked to the COVID-19 pandemic, the contest consisted of 5 national finalists, and a 24-year-old model from Aquitaine, Elodie Sirulnick, was announced the winner.[263][264][265] Along with the national crown, Sirulnick also won the prize for the Elegance and the Sympathy special awards.[265] She is the second candidate from France that got placement in the Miss Grand International contest following Eline Lamboley who was placed among the 20 finalists in the Miss Grand International 2015[es] in Thailand.[266]
Belgium
Miss Grand Belgium titleholders
Sarah De Groof (2014)
Rana Özkaya (2015)
Zomkey Tenzin (2021)
Belgium is one of the countries that participated in the Miss Grand International contest since its inception in 2013. Nevertheless, most of its representatives have been chosen without organizing the national contest. After Carolyn Collinda, the Netherlands-born businessperson, obtained the license in 2021, she subsequently organized the first competition of Miss Grand Belgium on 18 September 2021 at AED Studios in the city of Lint.[267][268] The contest featured seven national finalists, in which Tenzin Zomkey who was born in India's Tibetan refugee camp and is currently residing in Flemish Brabant of Belgium was crowned Miss Grand Belgium 2021.[268][269][270]
Netherlands
The Netherlands has always been conducting the national contest to determine its representatives for the Miss Grand International pageant since 2013,[271][272] except for 2015, 2019 and 2021, when the titleholders were assigned to the position instead of organizing the pageant.[273] In addition to crowning the national winner for the said contest, its candidates for several other international pageants were also chosen on the same stage, such as Miss Supranational Netherlands, Miss Earth Netherlands, etc.[271][274] However, the organizer once conducted the contest to determine Miss Grand Netherlands separately in 2016. The contest was held on 5 June at the Aalsmeer Studios in the city of Aalsmeer featured 4 national finalists,[274] in which an artist from Utrecht, Floor Masselink, was crowned Miss Grand Netherlands 2016.[274][275] In 2020, the pageant was held virtually, due to the COVID-19 pandemic,[276]
The Miss Grand Netherlands beauty pageant comes under the franchise of 12 Months of Beauty, which is run by Robin and Stefan Hoven–Lieuw Choy, the national directors.[277][278][279][280] Their first placement at Miss Grand International is top 20 finalists in 2013, won by Talisa Wolters who obtained the Miss Grand national title after participating in Miss Grand & Supranational Netherlands 2013 contest, also held by Robin and Stefan.[271] The Netherlands representatives also got the same placement in 2015, 2017 and 2021.[69][281]
Spain has always been sending their delegates to compete in the Miss Grand International since the establishment in 2013. The national preliminary for the international contest, Miss Grand Spain, was held for the first time in 2016 after Vicente Gonzalez took over the franchise from the former owner, Marcel Arnalot Salazar, in 2015.[293] Few provincial pageants were held to select their representatives for the inaugural edition such as Miss Grand Sevilla, Miss Grand Huelva, and Miss Grand Ciudad Real.[294][295][296] However, the number of its preliminary contest was significantly increased to 24 in the 2021 edition.[297] In some provinces, for instance, Seville, Huelva, and Cádiz, local pageants are also held to determine delegates for the province competition,[298][299] in which winners hold the title "Miss Grand (Province)" for the year of their reign.[300] Some runners-up of the provincial pageants might be appointed to represent the neighboring provinces in case the directors of those provinces were lacking.[301][302]
The pageant was canceled for the first time in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, originally scheduled to be held at the Fair Pavilion of Daimiel, Ciudad Real on 3 October, with 31 provincial representatives.[303][304][305] Nonetheless, all such candidates instead gained the right to participate in Las Palmas for the succeeding edition, Miss Grand Spain 2021,[306][307] in which Dori Rodríguez of Navarre became the first openly transgender contestant to compete for the Miss Grand Spain title.[308]
Before the current Italian national director - Giuseppe Puzio, acquired the license from Miss Grand International in 2019, Italy has sent representatives for the pageant three times: Katarina Chabrecekova in 2013,[323] Maria Grazia Murazzani in 2015,[324] and Martina Corrias in 2016.[325] However, all three representatives have been appointed to the position. The inaugural edition of Miss Grand Italy was held under the leadership of Puzio in Benevento on 10 September and was broadcast nationwide via the Italian Satellite television channel, Sky Italia N.180,[326] in which Mirea Sorrentino from Pompeii was announced the winner, outclassing 39 other finalists.[327]
Currently, the national finalists' selection of the Miss Grand Italy has been operated via three systems, including (1) the multiplex regional pageant system, in which the regional franchisee conduct several local pageants or casting events to determine the finalists for their regional pageants,[330] (2) a simple regional pageant system, the regional pageant is held to select the national finalists with no lower pageants or casting events,[331] and (3) a central direct application through the national licensee, the organization then selects two candidates a month for the national pageant, beginning from February to August, via the online challenging events.[332]
b. b Took over the title after the original winner resigned.
Kosovo participated at the Miss Grand International for the first time in 2013 by the appointed representative Lirie Sejdija, a Pristina-based professional model.[346] Later in 2014, after Lens Production, headed by Sherif Pacolli, acquired the license,[343] the inaugural competition of the Miss Grand Kosovo pageant was finally happen, which the twenty-one years old Switzerland-based licensed practical nurseNaile Thaqi was announced the winner at a contest held at California Resort in the city of Lipljan on 20 July 2014, outclassing 19 other finalists.[338] The event was broadcast nationwide by the local television channel named RTK Live.[347] Since then, the contest was organized annually until 2021, when the license is no longer belonged to Pacolli. (Except for 2020, in which the titleholder was appointed to the position.)
The contest was usually held at California Resort, located in Lipljan city, Pristina district of Kosovo, only the 2015 edition that was held in the head office of the First Channel.[339] In 2018, the original winner, Bernadeta Nikolla, resigned the title, Nikolla stated that after acquiring the title, the national organizer asked her to pay 20,000 €EUR if she wants to participate in the Miss Grand International 2018[es] in Myanmar and she has also been accused by such an organizer that she is undisciplined and has not been worthy of representing the country in the race, caused her to engage the lawyer for the case and found that the organizer has no license as well as no right to send any country representative to the aforementioned competition.[342] After Nikolla resignation, the organizers appointed their affiliated model, Songyl Meniqi, to join the contest in Myanmar instead.[343]
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom has always been participating in the Miss Grand International since 2013. For the first two competitions in Thailand, its representatives were designated to join the contest, of which, Georgia Smith – Miss Grand United Kingdom 2014, becomes the first UK delegate that got placement at the said contest.[348] In 2015, after Holly Louise – the director of the UK Power Pageant, acquired the licenses for England, Scotland, and Wales, she subsequently held the first contest of Miss Grand United Kingdom at Oxford Town Hall in the city of Oxford on 5 September.[348][349] The contest consisted of 20 national finalists,[349] in which Elizabeth Greenham, Taylor Stringfellow, and Danielle Latimer were announced Miss Grand England, Scotland, and Wales, respectively.[348] During 2016-2019, Miss Grand UK winners were determined through the UK Power Pageant, which was also organized to select the country representatives for Miss International and Miss Intercontinental[es].[350][351][352][353][354] Holly Louise lost the franchise to Megan Darlington in 2020 after she was unable to send representatives for the Miss Grand International 2019[es] pageant in Venezuela due to safety concerns,[22] Darlington began conduct the event for Miss Grand International separately in two years after obtaining the licenses.[355] In 2017, Ashleigh Coyle a 21-year-old Derry-based model and the runner-up Big Brother UK Series 15, was elected Miss Grand Northern Ireland 2017, however, she did not participate in the international stage in Vietnam with unknown reasons.[356]
National franchises have a lot of latitude in choosing candidates for Miss Grand International. Some are the winners of individual contests for their Miss Grand International, others get the honor by winning first or second runner-up from contests for candidates to multiple international pageants, and yet others are chosen in different ways.
The following list is the name of the national licensees of Miss Grand International since its establishment, the list was divided into 4 geographic continent groups, including; Asia-Oceania, the Americas, Europe, and Africa.
Miss Universe is an annual international beauty pageant that is run by the United States–based Miss Universe Organization. It is one of the most watched pageants in the world with an estimated audience of over 500 million viewers in over 190 territories. Along with Miss World, Miss International, and Miss Earth, Miss Universe is one of the Big Four international beauty pageants.
Miss Earth is an international major beauty pageant that advocates for environmental awareness, conservation, and social responsibility. The contest is the third largest beauty pageant in the world in terms of the number of national-level competitions to participate in the world finals. Along with Miss World, Miss Universe, and Miss International, the competition is one of the Big Four international beauty pageants — the most coveted beauty titles among all the international pageant competitions.
Miss India or Femina Miss India is a national beauty pageant in India that annually selects representatives to compete in Miss World, one of the Big Four major international beauty pageants. It is organised by Femina, a women's magazine published by The Times Group. Since 2013, Femina also organizes Miss Diva separately which sends representatives to Miss Universe.
Miss International is a Japanese-based international beauty pageant organized by The International Culture Association. The pageant was first held in 1960. Miss International is the fourth largest pageant in the world in terms of having crowned national winners to participate in the international contest.
Miss Pakistan World is a beauty pageant for women of Pakistani descent from around the world. The event is held annually in Canada.
Miss Teen World is an annual international beauty pageant held in Ecuador.
The Big Four or the Big League Pageants refers to the four major international beauty pageants for women – Miss World, Miss Universe, Miss International and Miss Earth. The group was first described by the China Daily newspaper in 2004 as "the world's four major beauty contests". In April 2008, the South China Morning Post described them as "four of the world's top beauty pageants"; the same description was also used by South Korea's leading newspaper, Chosun Ilbo in 2010. In 2017, the Latin Times considered the group as the "most important pageants in the world". In 2018, NBC News referred to them as the "four biggest international pageants", while Agencia EFE delineated them in 2019 as the "four most influential beauty pageants in the world".
Reinas de Costa Rica is a national beauty pageant in Costa Rica that selects representatives to the Miss World and Miss International pageant. After the Miss Costa Rica pageant stopped sending contestants to the Miss World and Miss International pageants in 2006, the franchise was acquired by the Reinas de Costa Rica organization presided by Alan Aleman. However, after two years of absence in the Miss World pageant in 2017-2018, the organization eventually lost the franchise to the newly established contest, Concurso Nacional de Belleza de Costa Rica, in 2019. The organization also lost the Miss Earth franchise to Jose Vásconez in 2016.
Miss World 2015, the 65th edition of the Miss World pageant, was held on 19 December 2015 at the outdoor arena of the Crown of Beauty Theatre in Sanya, China. 114 contestants from all over the world competed for the crown. Rolene Strauss of South Africa crowned her successor Mireia Lalaguna of Spain at the end of the event. It was the first time in the history of Miss World that Spain won the pageant.
Vartika Brij Nath Singh is an Indian model and beauty pageant titleholder who was appointed as Miss Universe India 2019 and represented India at 68th edition of the Miss Universe pageant. She was previously crowned as Miss Grand India in 2015. The GQ magazine had ranked her among the hottest women of India in 2017.
Asha Bhat is an Indian model, actress, engineer and beauty pageant titleholder from Karnataka. She was the first Indian to win the Miss Supranational pageant in 2014. She made her acting debut with 2019 Hindi film Junglee alongside Vidyut Jammwal and then appeared in 2021 Kannada action thriller film Roberrt.
Miss International 2017, the 57th Miss International pageant, was held on November 14, 2017 at Tokyo Dome City Hall in Tokyo, Japan. Kylie Verzosa of the Philippines crowned her successor Kevin Lilliana of Indonesia at the end of the event. This edition also saw the crowning of the first ever moslem women to win Miss International, and was the first to win one of the four major international pageants for Indonesia.
Miss Universe 2018, the 67th Miss Universe pageant, was held on December 17, 2018 at IMPACT Arena, Muang Thong Thani in Nonthaburi Province, north of Bangkok, Thailand. Demi-Leigh Nel-Peters of South Africa crowned her successor Catriona Gray of the Philippines at the end of the event. This is the fourth time a Filipina has won the title.
Miss Universe 2019 was the 68th Miss Universe pageant, held on December 8, 2019, at Tyler Perry Studios in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. Catriona Gray of the Philippines crowned her successor Zozibini Tunzi of South Africa at the end of the event. This is South Africa's third win after their recent victory in 2017. This edition also saw the crowning of the first black woman winner since Leila Lopes was crowned in 2011.
Miss International 2022 will be the 60th edition of the Miss International pageant. The coronation was initially scheduled in 2020. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it moved at least twice; first in 2021, and later to 2022. Sireethorn Leearamwat of Thailand will crown her successor at the end of the event.
Miss Supranational is an annual international female beauty pageant, started in 2009, and with most contests held in Poland and a parallel male contest, Mister Supranational, began in 2016, also in Poland.
Miss Grand Thailand is a Thai beauty pageant that has been held annually since 2013 to select the country representatives to compete in various international pageants including its sister pageant, Miss Grand International. The pageant has been being owned by Nawat Itsaragrisil since its inception and was previously broadcast on Channel 7 from 2013 – 2019 then instead switched to be aired on One 31 after the pageant ends its partnership with the Channel 7 in 2020.
Miss Grand Vietnam is a national beauty pageant in Vietnam. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the first edition will be held in 2022. The winner will represent Vietnam at Miss Grand International 2022 in Indonesia. Miss Grand Vietnam 2021 & Miss Grand International 2021 Nguyễn Thúc Thùy Tiên will crown her successor.
↑ Gerda Bruinette (5 December 2021). "Veels geluk Jeané van Dam!". Vaalweekblad.com (in Afrikaans). Archived from the original on 20 January 2022. Retrieved 21 January 2022.
1 2 Alesha Cadet (15 June 2018). "New pageant seeks to reveal 'beauty in peance'". The Tribune. Nassau. p.10. Archived from the original on 24 December 2021. Retrieved 25 December 2021– via Issuu. "On the international pageant stage, the Bahamas isn't too high in ranking, our goal as a franchise for Miss Grand International Organization is to nurse the pageant system in the Bahamas so that we can increase our ranking internationally and eventually bring a crown home," said fashion designer Navado Dawkins, the pageant's founder
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
