Miss Universe

The Miss Universe beauty contest has been held since 1952 (not to be confused with the similar Miss World). Founded by California clothing company Pacific Mills to showcase its Catalina brand swimwear,it became part of Kayser-Roth and then Gulf and Western Industries. The process of electing Miss Universe in most cases is a long one. Most countries which want to participate must first hold contests in each city to elect a candidate to become the country's representative for Miss Universe. Then it must elect a candidate from among the women selected by each city. For example, in Finland, Miss Helsinki must compete against the women selected by the other Finnish cities. Once a country has selected a candidate she goes on to compete for the title of Miss Universe. Such a national competition does not necessarily always occur, however. For example, Australia abolished their competition as a relic of a bygone era. Since then, Australian delegates have been quickly picked by a modelling agency in time for the Miss Universe competition. Ironically, this process produced an Australian Miss Universe in 2004. According to the organisers, the Miss Universe contest isn't won just on looks. Women who aspire to become Miss Universe must be intelligent, well-mannered and cultured. Many times, a candidate has lost the contest because she did not have a good answer to a question during the contest's question and answer round. The first winner in 1952 was Armi Kuusela from Finland. As of the 2004 contest, there have been 4 Venezuelan Miss Universes, 4 Puerto Rican Miss Universes and 7 Americans. Many other countries have won the contest once or twice. In 1998, one Miss Universe, 1981's Irene Saez, ran for President in Venezuela, losing to Hugo Chávez. In 1992 she had been elected mayor of Chacao. While mayor, she gained some notoriety by banning overly passionate kissing in public parks. In 1999 she became governor of Margarita Island. Yet another one, 2002's winner Oxana Fedorova of Russia, became the first one to be stripped of her crown, making first runner up Justine Pasek of Panama, the first Panamanian ever to hold the title. The Miss Universe contest's central offices are in New York, and the contest is held in different cities each year. All the contests until 1972 were held within the United States. Miss Universe Organization, a partnership between NBC and Donald Trump, has run the contest since June 20, 2002; they also hold the U.S broadcast rights. They also produce the Miss USA (the winner of which goes on to represent the U.S in the Miss Universe pagent), and Miss Teen USA contests.

The winners

\n{| border=0 style="border: solid; border-width: 1px; margin: 2px; padding: 2px"\n|-\n! Year\n! Miss Universe\n! From\n! Venue\n|-\n| 1952\n| Armi Kuusela\n| Finland\n|-\n| 1953\n| Christiane Martel\n| France\n|-\n| 1954\n| Miriam Stevenson\n| USA\n|-\n| 1955\n| Hillevi Rombin\n| Sweden\n|-\n| 1956\n| Carol Morris\n| USA\n|-\n| 1957\n| Gladys Zender\n| Peru\n|-\n| 1958\n| Luz Marina Zuluaga\n| Colombia\n| Long Beach, California\n|-\n| 1959\n| Akiko Kojima\n| Japan\n|-\n| 1960\n| Linda Bement\n| USA\n|-\n| 1961\n| Marlene Schmidt\n| Germany\n|-\n| 1962\n| Norma Nolan\n| Argentina\n|-\n| 1963\n| Idea Maria Vargas\n| Brazil\n|-\n| 1964\n| Corinna Tsopei\n| Greece\n|-\n| 1965\n| Apasra Hongsakula\n| Thailand\n|-\n| 1966\n| Margareta Arvidsson\n| Sweden\n|-\n| 1967\n| Sylvia Hitchcock\n| USA\n|-\n| 1968\n| Martha Vasconcellos\n| Brazil\n|-\n| 1969\n| Gloria Diaz\n| Philippines\n|-\n| 1970\n| Marisol Malaret\n| Puerto Rico\n|-\n| 1971\n| Georgia Risk\n| Lebanon\n|-\n| 1972\n| Kerry Anne Wells\n| Australia\n| Dorado, Puerto Rico\n|-\n| 1973\n| Margarita Moran\n| Philippines\n| Athens, Greece\n|-\n| 1974\n| Amparo Muñoz\n| Spain\n| Manila, Philippines\n|-\n| 1975\n| Anne Marie Pohtamo\n| Finland\n| San Salvador, El Salvador\n|-\n| 1976\n| Rina Messinger\n| Israel\n| Hong Kong\n|-\n| 1977\n| Janelle Commisiong\n| Trinidad and Tobago\n| Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic\n|-\n| 1978\n| Margarett Gardiner\n| South Africa\n| Acapulco, Mexico\n|-\n| 1979\n| Maritza Sayalero\n| Venezuela\n| Perth, Australia\n|-\n| 1980\n| Shawn Weatherly\n| USA\n| Seoul, South Korea\n|-\n| 1981\n| Irene Saez\n| Venezuela\n| New York City, New York\n|-\n| 1982\n| Karen Diane Baldwin\n| Canada\n| Lima, Peru\n|-\n| 1983\n| Lorraine Downes\n| New Zealand\n| St. Louis, Missouri\n|-\n| 1984\n| Yvon Ryding\n| Sweden\n| Miami, Florida\n|-\n| 1985\n| Deborah Carthy-Deu\n| Puerto Rico\n| Miami, Florida\n|-\n| 1986\n| Bárbara Palacios Teyde\n| Venezuela\n| Panama City, Panama\n|-\n| 1987\n| Cecilia Bolocco\n| Chile\n| Singapore\n|-\n| 1988\n| Porntip Nakhirunkanok\n| Thailand\n| Taipei, Taiwan\n|-\n| 1989\n| Angela Visser\n| Netherlands\n| Cancun, Mexico\n|-\n| 1990\n| Mona Grudt\n| Norway\n| Los Angeles, California\n|-\n| 1991\n| Lupita Jones\n| Mexico\n| Las Vegas, Nevada\n|-\n| 1992\n| Michelle Mc Lean\n| Namibia\n| Bangkok, Thailand\n|-\n| 1993\n| Dayanara Torres\n| Puerto Rico\n| Mexico City, Mexico\n|-\n| 1994\n| Sushmita Sen\n| India\n| Manila, Philippines\n|-\n| 1995\n| Chelsi Smith\n| United States\n| Windhoek, Namibia\n|-\n| 1996\n| Alicia Machado\n| Venezuela\n| Las Vegas, Nevada\n|-\n| 1997\n| Brook Mahealani Lee\n| United States\n| Miami Beach, Florida\n|-\n| 1998\n| Wendy Fitzwilliam\n| Trinidad and Tobago\n| Honolulu, Hawaii\n|-\n| 1999\n| Mpule Kwelagobe\n| Botswana\n| Trinidad and Tobago\n|-\n| 2000\n| Lara Dutta\n| India\n|| Nicosia, Cyprus\n|-\n| 2001\n| Denise Quiñones\n| Puerto Rico\n| Bayamon, Puerto Rico\n|-\n| rowspan=2 valign=top | 2002\n| Oxana Fedorova\n| Russia\n| San Juan, Puerto Rico\n|-\n| Justine Pasek\n| Panama\n|-\n| 2003\n| Amelia Vega\n| Dominican Republic\n| Panama City, Panama\n|-\n| 2004\n| Jennifer Hawkins\n| Australia\n| Quito, Ecuador\n|} See also: Miss Earth, Miss World

External link

\n*http://www.missuniverse.com/history/index.html