Miss Peru

History

Peru has been competing in the Miss Universe pageant from 1952 and in the Miss World pageant from 1959. In the Miss Universe pageant, their first representative was Ada Gabriela Bueno who was crowned as the first Miss Peru in a ceremony at the Lawn Tennis Club of Lima and competed in Miss Universe 1952. Ada Gabriela traveled to Long Beach, California to represent her country, but failed to enter the group of semifinalists.

Five years later, Peru became the first Latin American and Spanish-speaking country to win the Miss Universe crown thanks to Gladys Zender, who became Miss Universe 1957. Since the new millennium, Peru started to shine again on the scene of this international beauty contest. Claudia Ortiz de Zevallos, was a semifinalist in the Miss Universe 2003 pageant held in Panama then also joined into the group of semifinalists in the Miss Earth 2003 pageant. Liesel Holler failed to reach the semifinals in 2004, but like her predecessor also joined the group of semifinalists in the Miss Earth 2004 pageant. Débora Sulca made Peru come back in the contest in 2005, being in the 6th place. The final classification of Peru in the Miss Universe was in 2012, when Nicole Faverón was located among the 16 semifinalists. Peru has a total of 17 semifinalists and one winner in this prestigious pageant.

In Miss World, in the early years of the pageant, Peru did not send representatives up to 1959 as in the years 1966, 1969-1972 and 1974 that may be one of the reasons why the country has not had many semifinalists compared to the Miss Universe. In 2002, Marina Mora placed as the 2nd runner up, in 2003, Claudia Hernández joined the group of semifinalists and also won the award for Best Evening Gown. The following year Maria Julia Mantilla, took the crown after 37 years doing an auspicious return to Peru in this contest. Peru has won the crown of Miss World twice.

The other candidates participating in the Miss Peru pageant -the first 10- are sent to compete in other events of lesser importance, such as Miss Continente Americano, Reina Hispanoamericana, Reinado Internacional del Cafe, Miss Atlantico Internacional etc.

In the 1950s, Peru was one of the few South American countries that competed in major international competitions such as the Miss Universe and Miss World pageant. The country became a powerhouse joining the group of semifinals 5 times in the 1950s and 4 times during the 1960s, the country is well known in Latin America for having the first Spanish-speaking Miss Universe in 1957, Gladys Zender.

Peru participated in the Miss World pageant for the first time in 1959, represented by María Elena Rossel Zapata, who was ranked as the 1st runner-up, this was the first time that a Latin American country took the 2nd place in the Miss World pageant.

In 1967, Peru won the Miss World crown for the first time with Madeline Hartog-Bel Houghton exactly ten years after Gladys Zender won the Miss Universe pageant in 1957, Madeline Hartog-Bel Houghton had previously participated in the Miss Universe 1966 where she placed among the 15 semifinalists.

In 1973, Peru did not send her representative, Mary Núñez, to the Miss Universe Pageant, because she was prevented from participating by the president of the republic, Juan Velasco Alvarado. He considered the contest was the product of American capitalism, and a country with which he did not have good relations. This was the only occasion in which a Miss Peru did not participate in the Miss Universe except for the 1955 and 1974, when no contest was held. Given the refusal of Alvarado, Mary Núñez was sent to Miss World 1973 in London, England.

In 1982, Peru became the first South American country to host the Miss Universe pageant. Miss Universe 1982 was held in Coliseo Amauta in Lima on July 26, 1982. The winner was the 18 years old Karen Baldwin from Canada, who became the first representative of her country to win the Miss Universe title. A group of twelve semifinalists were chosen from a total of seventy-seven candidates, representatives from the many countries and territories that competed in this version of the contest. Also, this was the sixteenth consecutive spirited contest for the American television presenter Bob Barker. The show was broadcast via satellite by the U.S. network CBS in collaboration with Panamericana Televisión. In this edition, Peru was represented by Francesca Zaza who was among the 12 semifinalists and won the prize for Best National Costume.

In 1987, Jessica Newton was chosen to represent the country in Miss Universe 1987 in Singapore, the winner of this edition was the Chilean Cecilia Bolocco and Jessica was among the 10 semifinalists, years later Newton took the franchise of the Miss Peru pageant and was the responsible to organize the event and prepare Peruvian queens for the Miss Universe and Miss World for 12 years.

After many years in 1996, Peru reappeared in the contest with Natali Sacco, who entered in the top 10 in Miss Universe 1996, and in 1998, Mariana Larrabure also entered the top 10 in Miss World 1998. Four years later, in 2002, Marina Mora, joined the Top 5, winning the third place in the Miss World 2002 pageant. The following year Claudia Ortiz de Zevallos placed in the Top 15 in Miss Universe 2003 and took the second place prize for Best National Costume, and Claudia Hernández placed in the top 20 in Miss World 2003 and got the award for Best Evening Gown. This was so far the only time in history that Peru classified the same year in the Miss Universe and Miss World.

Peru returned to have another international victory in the field of beauty pageants in December 2004, when María Julia Mantilla won the Miss World title thanks to a worldwide vote through text messages and phone calls, which occurred for the first time in the history of the event managed to win the crown of Miss World 2004. The first runner-up was Claudia Cruz, from Dominican Republic, and the second runner-up was the U.S. citizen from Brazil, Nancy Randall. To date, Peru has 2 Miss World crowns.

On April 16, 2005, Débora Sulca, representing Cajamarca was crowned Miss Peru 2005 and went to Thailand to compete for the title of Miss Universe 2005. She placed in the top 10. while Miss Canada, Natalie Glebova, was crowned the new Miss Universe by Jennifer Hawkins from Australia, Miss Universe 2004. This was the highest position reached by Peru in Miss Universe since 1996

Fiorella Castellano, was crowned Miss Peru Mundo 2005 and represented Peru on December 10, 2005, in Sanya, China. Castellano who sought to be the successor of María Julia Mantilla failed to be among the semifinalists. Since winning the title in 2004, Peru has failed to enter the final group of semifinalists in the Miss World pageant.

In 2012, Nicole Faverón made Peru return to the Miss Universe pageant after seven years of absence by placing at Miss Universe 2012.

The reigning "Big 2" title holders are Miss Peru Universe is Valeria Piazza, and Miss Peru World is Pierina Wong.

Valeria Piazza went on to become the 18th Peruvian to place in Miss Universe history, by making the Top 13 at Miss Universe 2016.

Notable winners

Peru is one of the 20 countries in the history of pageantry to have won the two most prestigious crowns of Miss Universe and Miss World at least once each.

After winning Latin America's first ever Miss Universe crown, Gladys Zender became very popular and well known in her country. Later she married the politician Antonio Meier and is the mother of the famous Peruvian actor Christian Meier.

Jessica Newton, Miss Peru 1987, after the international contest she went to Los Angeles, California where she studied and also worked with Paramount Pictures. Then she worked in Lima editing different magazines. From 1992 to 2004 she was the organizer of the Miss Peru pageant. Since 2007 she is the representative of the Editorial Condé Nast, which publishes magazines Vogue, Glamour, GQ and Vanity Fair for Latin America and Mexico. In 2015, she returned to completely take over the national pageant and start a new beginning of the Iss Perú Organization. After an 11-year hiatus, her first Peruvian queens as national director were Laura Spoya and Valeria Piazza.

Carmela Stein, Miss Peru 1961 and Miss Universe 1961 finalist currently lives in Mexico and is the mother of the famous Mexican actress Ana Patricia Rojo.

Olga Zumaran, who was Miss Peru 1978 and Miss Peru Mundo 1981, after her reigns she began an acting career. She was later on elected as Mrs. Perú 2009.

Karina Calmet, Miss Peru 1994, became a television presenter and actress. Since 2009 she is part of the Peruvian comedy series Al Fondo Hay Sitio which ended in 2010.

Frieda Holler, Miss Peru 1965, Carmen Amelia Ampuero, Miss Peru 1972, Mónica Chacón, Miss Peru Mundo 1996, Viviana Rivasplata, Miss Peru 2001, Marina Mora, Miss Peru Mundo 2002, have had success in the business category and occasionally participate in various television shows.

Like Gladys Zender and Madeline Hartog-Bel Houghton, María Julia Mantilla also became a well-known and popular figure in her country. Maju began working for Ford models agency in London, and then debuted as a businesswoman and a television presenter . She was the host of the variety TV show, "Al Aire" in America Televisión which ended in 2016 and will be on course for a new TV project in 2017.

Adriana Zubiate, Miss Peru 2002 was a finalist in Bailando por un sueño (Perú) in 2008. Claudia Hernández eventually worked as the morning news reporter at Buenos Días, Perù on Panamericana Televisión. Karen Schwarz, Miss Peru 2009, is hosted some TV shows in Frecuencia Latina up until the end of 2016 due to expecting her first child.

Natalie Vértiz, Miss Peru 2011 and Nicole Faverón, Miss Peru 2012 went on take part of the local Peruvian television industry after their reigns. Vertiz currently works as part of the "Espectáculos" section reporter in América Television's news networks. Whereas Faverón went on to follow involvement in the clothing business industry opening a boutique of her own in Lima.

Other wins

There are other international pageants in which Peru has achieved success by winning the title or placing in the semifinals.

Notable wins: Miss Intercontinental 1971, 1987, Mrs. World 1989, 2016, Miss America Latina 1991, 2016, Miss Asia Pacific World 1994, 2001, Reina Internacional del Café 1997, Miss Teenager Universal 2002, 2007, Miss Caraïbes Hibiscus 2004, 2005, Miss Perla Mundial del Pacifico 2007, Miss Tourism Queen International 2008, Miss Teenager Universe 2008, Miss Beauty International 2009, Miss Continentes Unidos 2010, Reina Internacional de la Ganadería 2015, World Miss University 2016, Reina Mundial del Banano 2016, Miss Supertalent of the World 2016

Runner up or Semi-final entries: Miss International, Miss Earth, Miss Teen International, Miss Maja Mundial, Reina Hispanoamericana, Miss Italia Nel Mondo, Mrs. Universe, and Miss Grand International.

Titleholders

The following is a list of the Miss Universe, Miss World, Miss International, and Miss Earth. Some delegates who won the chance to represent Peru in the Miss Universe pageant also went to the Miss World pageant. The winner of Miss Perú represents her country at Miss Universe. On occasion, when the winner does not qualify (due to age) for either contest, a runner-up is sent.

Big Four pageants

The following women have represented Peru in the Big Four international beauty pageants, the four major international beauty pageants for women. These are Miss Universe, Miss World, Miss International and Miss Earth.

Representatives to Miss Universe

Who ever is the winner of Miss Perú, represents her country at the Miss Universe. On occasion, when the winner does not qualify (due to age) for either contest, a runner-up is sent.

Representatives to Miss World

A separate contest called Miss Peru Mundo selects winners to Miss World.

Representatives to Miss International

The second title of local pageant is crowned as Miss Internacional Perú. She represents Peru at Miss International. On occasion, when the candidate does not qualify (due to age) for either contest, another girl is sent. In 2003, the new Miss Internacional Perú (MIP) Organization selects the winner for Miss International pageant.

Representatives to Miss Earth

Miss Peru used to send a delegate to participate in the annual Miss Earth pageant. In 2014, another organization, Miss Earth Peru, was established to select representative for the Miss Earth pageant.