Miss Grand International also known as Miss Grand is an international beauty pageant franchise that was based in Thailand. It 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 franchise has been owned and run by a Thai stock exchange-listed company with the same name, also known as MGI PCL, since its inception in 2013, with Nawat Itsaragrisil as the president.

The current Miss Grand International is Luciana Fuster of Peru who was crowned on 25 October 2023.

History

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, later rephrased to 'Stop the War and Violence' in the following year. The pageant aims to promote peace by being against all kinds of conflicts.

The pageant has primarily been focusing on humanitarian issues with the reigning titleholders dedicating their year to work as the organization's spokesperson as well as involved in the charity events related to the said campaigns. For instance, corresponding with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to raise funds available for humanitarian aid, visiting and donated necessities to the internally displaced people in the refugee camps, being the guest speaker at the related events and act as the ambassador of the NGOs (e.g., Catholic Medical Mission Board, Model United Nations), or taking part in any projects of the local charitable organization in the visited countries. Before 2021, the winner of the contest, together with all runners-up, often serve as the campaigners of the Tourism Authority of Thailand, to promote the tourism industry of the pageant-based country.

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, while subsequent events have also taken place overseas, and was broadcast via the local television channels together with the social media platforms including its official YouTube channel and Facebook page.

In 2019, the pageant was being held in Venezuela amid the country's political crisis; several candidates withdrew from the competition due to security concerns and visa regulation problems, such as South Korea, Cambodia, and Laos. Later in 2020, the pageant was also scheduled to be held in Venezuela on 25 October but due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the event was postponed to 2021 and the venue was moved to Bangkok, Thailand.

Contestant selection

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. In its first decade, due to being a newly established pageant, almost half of the participating contestants were appointed; no national pageant was held. Nonetheless, in pageant-popular countries, especially in the Far East and the Americas, annual national pageants are usually being held to crown a winner for the Miss Grand International pageant. For example, Miss Grand Cambodia, Miss Grand Malaysia, Miss Grand Nepal, and Miss Grand Paraguay. Some of the participatants were the runner-up or obtained the title in other national pageants, e.g. the delegates from Femina Miss India (2015–2021), Binibining Pilipinas (2013, 2015 – 2022), Miss Mexico (2017 – 2020), Felvidék Szépe (2015 – 2017), etc.

Despite not being considered an economically popular event in Europe and Africa, many countries have conducted national pageants separately for Miss Grand, for instance, Albania, Kosovo, Spain, France, Italy, and South Africa. In Spain, Italy, and several countries in Asia, each administrative division (i.e. province, state, region) holds a preliminary competition to choose their delegate for the national pageant. Moreover, in some provinces of Spain, Malaysia, and Thailand, third-level divisions' pageants are also held to determine delegates for the provincial competition, in which winners hold the title "Miss Grand (Province)" for the year of their reign. Unfortunately, cultural impediments in the swimsuit competition have precluded some countries, such as ultraconservative and Muslim countries, from participating, while some countries have not participated because of a lacking of funding.

Although the title of Miss Grand pageant was global registered copyright, some national or local pageants unrelated to the Miss Grand International has been observed such as the Azerbaijan model search contest named "Miss and Mister Grand Azerbaijan" which was organized by Elxan Pashayev since 2018, '"Miss Zimbabwe Grand", headed by Farai Zembeni since 2019, the pageant finalists participate in various continental contests in Africa, as well as the local pageant in the Bahamas, "Miss Grand Bahama", established in 1970, which the name "Grand Bahama" refer to the third largest island in the northernmost region of the country.

Main pageant

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 and featured 73 participating countries; the inaugural titleholder was Janelee Chaparro of Puerto Rico. In 2016, the pageant was held for the first time outside Thailand, at Westgate Las Vegas, Las Vegas, US, on 25 October. Since 2015, the grand final is usually held on 25 October 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 25 October 2020, but was postponed to 27 March 2021, and the venue was also moved to Bangkok, Thailand, similar to the 2021 edition which was held in December 2021, two months behind the traditional schedule.

The current Miss Grand International titleholder is Luciana Fuster of Peru, who was crowned on 25 October 2023 at Phú Thọ Indoor Stadium, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam making her the second woman from Peru to win the crown.

Edition	Date	Final venue	Host country	Entrants	Ref.
2013	19 November	Impact Arena, Muang Thong Thani, Nonthaburi	Thailand	71
2014	7 October	Indoor Stadium Huamark, Bangkok		85
2015	25 October			77
2016		Westgate Las Vegas, Las Vegas, Nevada	United States	74
2017		Vinpearl Convention Center, Phú Quốc	Vietnam	77
2018		The One Entertainment Park, Yangon	Myanmar	75
2019		Poliedro de Caracas, Caracas	Venezuela	60
2020	27 March 2021	Show DC Hall, Bangkok	Thailand	63
2021	4 December			59
2022	25 October	Sentul International Convention Center, West Java	Indonesia	68
2023		Phú Thọ Indoor Stadium, Ho Chi Minh City	Vietnam	69
2024		TBA	TBA
2027	TBA	TBA	Vietnam

Pre-pageant activities

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. All aforementioned events are live streamed via the pageant's Facebook and YouTube accounts. In the preliminary round, all contestants will compete in swimwear and evening gowns in front of a panel of preliminary judges. 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 finalists during the grand final telecast of the pageant.

List of the main special award winners in the Miss Grand International pageant

Edition	Best in Swimsuit	Best National Costume	Best Evening Gown	Miss Popular Vote	Country's Power of The Year	Best Social Media	Ref.
2013	Latvia	China	Dominican Republic	Myanmar	Award given since 2020.	Not Awarded
2014	Thailand	Vietnam	Indonesia	Cambodia		Japan
2015	Costa Rica	Philippines	Japan	Sri Lanka		India
2016	Bahamas	Indonesia	England	Korea		Jamaica
2017	Costa Rica	Indonesia	China	Indonesia		Paraguay
2018	Cuba	Peru	Thailand	Vietnam		Indonesia
2019	Panama	Ecuador	Peru	Vietnam		Not Awarded
2020	Brazil	3 Countries  Guatemala  Japan  Thailand	Mexico	Malaysia	Cambodia
2021	Puerto Rico	3 Countries  Angola  Malaysia  Peru	Thailand	Cambodia	Not Awarded
2022	Not Awarded	4 Countries  Peru  Thailand  United Kingdom  Vietnam	Mexico	Mauritius	Vietnam	Czech Republic
2023	Dominican Republic	3 Countries  Japan  Nigeria  Vietnam	Russia	Myanmar	Myanmar	Not Awarded

Grand Final

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 semi-finalists 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. However, the "Country of the year" was first introduced in 2020 edition, which was selected by the audience on social networks. The winner of this category automatically enters the twenty finalists regardless of all previous scores. 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 semi-finalist being the Top Popularity Winner determined through mobile voting, all 10 semi-finalists would then compete in an evening gown and give their speeches with a ‘Stop the War and Violence' theme.

After the speech round and evening gown competitions, the judges then select the top five to compete in the question-and-answer portion, where all entrants will be asked the same question about an ongoing global situation; such as the management of COVID-19 pandemic crisis, the 2016 United States presidential election, and the ongoing socioeconomic and political crisis in Venezuela. 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. 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.

The summary of the pageant selection process is shown below.

Miss Grand International Selection Criteria

Events Rounds/Awards

Post-crowned domestic activities

International pageant camp

Ancillary events

Online processes

Closed-door interview

Sub-contests

Preliminary contest

Grand final

Swimsuit competition

National costume section

Swimsuit round

Evening gown round

Swimsuit round

Evening gown round

Speech round

Q&A portion

Quarter-finalist (Top 20)

1 spot: 2020,2022

Semi-finalist (Top 10)

1 spot, 2015–present

Finalist (Top 5)

Winner

Special awards

Country of the year

Twice in 2020, 2022

Best National costume

2016–present

2013–present

Best in Swimsuit

2016–present

2013–present

2013–present

Best Evening gown

2021–present

2013–present

Best Social media

2014–2022

Miss Popular vote

2013–present

The events/rounds that are used to determine the qualifier (s).    Awarded, category still exists    Awarded, category renamed    Awarded, category no longer exists

^ The winner of Country of the Year award was automatically placed at Top 20 finalists in 2020 edition, regardless of the accumulated score. ^ 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, all versions of the Golden Crown are made of gold and brass for structural integrity, while the exterior is adorned by diamond, and emerald. Its first version was designed by a Thai jewellery design company, God Diamond, headed by Chawalit Chommuang, and was used for the first three editions of the pageant. The crown used from 2016 – 2018 (2nd version) and 2019 – 2021 (3rd version) was designed by an unrevealed company and George Wittels, respectively.

The latest version of the golden crown, which was going to be used for the 2022 – 2024 edition, was also made by a Venezuelan jewellery designer, George Wittels, who signed as the official jewel sponsor of the Miss Grand International Organization during 2019 – 2024. 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.

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, the prize was increased from USD$ 30,000 in 2013; however, some Vietnamese media published that Nguyễn Thúc Thùy Tiên earned USD$ 60,000 for winning the contest in 2021. 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, Vartika Singh of India received USD$ 4,000 for her second runner-up finish at the 2015 edition, and 3,000 and US$$2,000 for the third and fourth runners-up, respectively. Besides the finalists, the winner of each special award also received a prize; approximately USD$ 1,000 – 3,000 according to the 2013 to 2015 contests.

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.

Gallery of Miss Grand International crowns

• 
  The first edition of the golden crown, as worn by Miss Grand International 2014, Lees Garcia
• 
  The second edition of the golden crown, as worn by Miss Grand International 2018, Clara Sosa
• 
  The third edition of the golden crown, as worn by Miss Grand International 2020, Abena Appiah

Recent Titleholders

Edition	Country	Titleholder	National Title	Venue of Competition	Number of Entrants
2023	Peru	Luciana Fuster	Miss Grand Peru 2023	Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam	69
2022	Brazil	Isabella Menin	Miss Grand Brazil 2022	West Java, Indonesia	68
2021	Vietnam	Nguyễn Thúc Thùy Tiên	Miss Grand Vietnam 2021	Bangkok, Thailand	59
2020	United States	Abena Appiah	Miss Grand United States of America 2020		63
2019	Venezuela	Valentina Figuera	El Concurso by Osmel Sousa 2018	Caracas, Venezuela	60

Winners gallery Miss Grand International 2023 Luciana Fuster  Peru Miss Grand International 2022 Isabella Menin  Brazil Miss Grand International 2021 Nguyễn Thúc Thùy Tiên  Vietnam Miss Grand International 2020 Abena Appiah  United States Miss Grand International 2019 Valentina Figuera  Venezuela Miss Grand International 2018 Clara Sosa  Paraguay Miss Grand International 2017 María José Lora  Peru Miss Grand International 2016 Ariska Putri Pertiwi  Indonesia Miss Grand International 2015 Claire Elizabeth Parker  Australia Miss Grand International 2014 Lees Garcia  Cuba Miss Grand International 2013 Janelee Chaparro  Puerto Rico

Country/Territory by number of wins

Miss Grand International's winning countries and territories by the number of wins Color key:   2 titles   1 dethroned title   1 title   1 temporarily assumed title

List of countries by number of Miss Grand International wins

Number of win (s)	Country/Territory	Years
2	Peru	2017, 2023
1	Brazil	2022
	Vietnam	2021
	United States	2020
	Venezuela	2019
	Paraguay	2018
	Indonesia	2016
	Australia	2015
	Dominican Republic
	Cuba	2014
	Puerto Rico	2013

Continents by number of wins

Continent or region	Titles	Years
Americas	8	2013, 2014, 2015, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2022, 2023
Asia	2	2016, 2021
Oceania	1	2015
Europe	0
Africa	0

Notes

Miss Grand National

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.

Legend

Pageant	First edition	Status	Note
Miss Grand national pageants in Africa
Miss Grand Botswana	2014	Inactive	Held only once in 2014, by a South Africa-based businessperson, Dineo Matlapeng.
Miss Grand Ghana	2020	Active	Separately organized 2 times; in 2020 by Legacy Pageants Limited, and another in 2022 by Akuaba Entertainment.
Miss Grand Liberia	2021	Inactive	Due to the COVID-19 outbreak, the pageant was held virtually.
Miss Grand Namibia	2015	Inactive	Held as a stand-alone contest three times during 2015 – 2018, by Magnolia Events Management (ML Events Artistry).
Miss Grand Nigeria	2015	Merged	Individually organized twice, in 2015 and 2016. Since 2020, the titleholder has been determined through The Nigerian Queen pageant.
Miss Grand South Africa	2015	Active	Held annually since 2015 by different organizers.
Miss Grand Tanzania	2017	Inactive	Happened once in 2017, by Rasheedah Jamaldin.
Miss Grand Zimbabwe	2013	Inactive	Held once in 2013 by Samantha Tshuma.
Miss Grand national pageants in Asia and Oceania
Miss Grand Australia	2014	Active	Held annually since 2014, by different organizers.
Miss Grand Cambodia	2015	Active	Separately organized annually since 2015. Its first five editions (2015 – 2019) was arranged under the direction of Boonkerd Angamnuaysiri. Since 2020, the license has belonged to Mohahang Production.
Miss Grand China		Cancelled	The inaugural edition was expected to be held in 2021 but was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Miss Grand Indonesia	2015	Merged	Held as a stand-alone contest 3 times during 2018 – 2020. Beginning in 2023, the winner of a newly established national beauty contest, Miss Mega Bintang Indonesia, will be assumed to be Miss Grand Indonesia.
Miss Grand Japan	2015	Active	Held annually since 2015, by Eriko Yoshi [ja].
Miss Grand Korea	2017	Active	Held annually since 2017 by different organizers.
Miss Grand Laos	2017	Active	Held individually 3 times, in 2017, 2018, and 2022.
Miss Grand Malaysia	2013	Active	Held annually since 2013 by three different organizers.
Miss Grand Myanmar	2016	Inactive	Separately held once in 2016 by Style Plus H.
Miss Grand Nepal	2016	Active	Held annually since 2016 by three different organizers.
Miss Grand Philippines	2014	Merged	Separately held once in 2014. During 2015 - 2022, the franchise belonged to the Binibining Pilipinas.
Miss Grand Sri Lanka	2016	Inactive	Held twice, in 2016, and 2018.
Miss Grand Thailand	2013	Active	Held annually since 2013.
Miss Grand Vietnam	2022	Active	Held annually since 2022, by Sen Vang Entertainment.
Miss Grand national pageants in Europe
Miss Grand Albania	2014	Inactive	Held in parallel with Miss Grand Kosovo from 2014 to 2018, then was separated into a stand-alone contest in 2019.
Miss Grand Belgium	2021	Active	Under the direction of Carolyn Collinda, the contest was organized twice, in 2021 and 2022.
Miss Grand France	2019	Active	Held annually since 2019.
Miss Grand Italy	2019	Active	Held annually since 2019, by Giuseppe Puzio.
Miss Grand Kosovo	2014	Inactive	Held in parallel with Miss Grand Albania from 2014 to 2018, then was separated into a stand-alone contest in 2019.
Miss Grand Netherlands	2016	Active	Held as a stand-alone pageant in 2016 – 2018. The other titleholders were determined through either the Miss Supranational Netherlands (2014 – 2015) or the 12 Months of Beauty (2020 and 2022) pageants.
Miss Grand Spain	2016	Active	Under the management of Vicente Gonzalez, the pageant has been organized as a stand-alone pageant since 2016.
Miss Grand United Kingdom	2015	Inactive	Held separately twice, in 2015 by Holly Louise, and in 2021 by Megan Darlington.
Miss Grand national pageants in North America
Miss Grand Bahamas	2018	Inactive	Held only once in 2018, by Navado Dawkins.
Miss Grand Canada	2017	Merged	Separately organized 3 times; in 2017 and 2018 by Di Benedetto Models agency, and another in 2021 by the Pageant Group Canada Inc. The country delegates for the Miss Grand International pageant have been selected via the Miss World Canada competition since 2022.
Miss Grand Costa Rica	2022	Active	Held once in 2022 by the Concurso Nacional de Belleza de Costa Rica [es] (CNB Costa Rica).
Miss Grand Cuba	2023	Projected
Miss Grand Curaçao	2014	Inactive	Held as a separate pageant only once in 2014, by the Señorita Curaçao organization.
Miss Grand Dominican Republic	2016	Inactive	Held once in 2016 by Chantel Martinez, the first runner-up Miss Grand International 2013.
Miss Grand Guatemala	2023	Projected
Miss Grand Honduras	2022	Active	First organized in 2022 to determine country representative for the 2022 and 2023 editions of Miss Grand International.
Miss Grand Mexico	2023	Projected
Miss Grand Nicaragua	2021	Active	Organized individually once in 2021 by Saúl Benítez, to elect the winners for the 2021 and 2022 editions of Miss Grand International.
Miss Grand United States	2016	Active	Held annually since 2016.
Miss Grand national pageants in South America
Miss Grand Brazil	2014	Active	Held annually since 2014.
Miss Grand Chile	2017	Active	Organized annually since 2017 by different organizers.
Miss Grand Colombia	2018	Active	Held individually twice; in 2018 by Top 3 Latam, and 2022 by César Prado.
Miss Grand Ecuador	2021	Active	Held separately once in 2021 by Tahiz Panuz, the president of the CNB Ecuador.
Miss Grand Paraguay	2017	Active	Separately held annually since 2017, by Mygami Producciones SRL.
Miss Grand Peru	2023	Active	The first edition was expected to happen in mid-2023.
Miss Grand Venezuela	2022	Active	First organized in 2022 to determined the country representative for Miss Grand International 2023.

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. 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. 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.

The Miss Grand Liberia 2021 is the inaugural edition of Miss Grand Liberia beauty contest, due to the COVID-19 outbreak, the pageant was held virtually via Zoom application featuring 9 national finalists, in which a social media marketing strategist and the former Miss Mano River Union, Goretti Itoka, was elected as the national winner.

Botswana

Botswana joined the Miss Grand International only once in 2014, with the representation of Lillian Lillie Dlamini, who won the inaugural national contest Miss Grand International Botswana 2014, outclassing 12 other finalists, The event was held on 26 July at Cresta Lodge Hotel in Gaborone, under the management of Dineo Matlapeng, a South Africa-based businessperson.

Participating countries and territories

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 is the list of Miss Grand International participating countries and territories, the competition result, as well as the national licensee entities since 2013. The list was divided into 6 groups based on the geographic continents.

Africa

Color key:
Declared as the winner	10 Top 10 finalists	C Withdrew during the competition
First runner-up	20 Top 20 finalists	R Representative determined but did not compete
Second runner-up	Y Unplaced	N No representative
Third runner-up
Fourth runner-up

Asia

Color key:
Declared as the winner	10 Top 10 finalists	C Withdrew during the competition
First runner-up	20 Top 20 finalists	R Representative determined but did not compete
Second runner-up	Y Unplaced	N No representative
Third runner-up
Fourth runner-up

Europe

Color key:
Declared as the winner	10 Top 10 finalists	C Withdrew during the competition
First runner-up	20 Top 20 finalists	R Representative determined but did not compete
Second runner-up	Y Unplaced	N No representative
Third runner-up
Fourth runner-up

North America

Color key:
Declared as the winner	10 Top 10 finalists	C Withdrew during the competition
First runner-up	20 Top 20 finalists	R Representative determined but did not compete
Second runner-up	Y Unplaced	N No representative
Third runner-up
Fourth runner-up

Oceania

Color key:
Declared as the winner	10 Top 10 finalists	C Withdrew during the competition
First runner-up	20 Top 20 finalists	R Representative determined but did not compete
Second runner-up	Y Unplaced	N No representative
Third runner-up
Fourth runner-up

South America

Color key:
Declared as the winner	10 Top 10 finalists	C Withdrew during the competition
First runner-up	20 Top 20 finalists	R Representative determined but did not compete
Second runner-up	Y Unplaced	N No representative
Third runner-up
Fourth runner-up

See also

• List of beauty contests