Miss Venezuela (Spanish: Organización Miss Venezuela) is a Venezuelan beauty pageant operated by the Cisneros Group. Founded in 1952, it currently selects Venezuelan representatives to Miss Universe, Miss World, and Miss International. The current national director of Miss Venezuela is Miss Universe 2013 Gabriela Isler.
The current Miss Venezuela is Clara Vegas Goetz of Miranda who was crowned on 4 December 2025 at the Centro Comercial Líder in Caracas, Venezuela.
History
On 7 May 1905, Manuela Victoria Mujica Antich of Lara, was elected by popular vote as Miss Venezuela. Many authors and scholars in the history of the Miss Venezuela contest consider her as the first Miss Venezuela ever, and its vote as a precursor of the current national pageant.
Miss Venezuela (1952 - 1981) The Miss Venezuela pageant was officially founded in 1952 by Pan Am and businesswoman Gloria Sánchez, for selecting a Venezuelan representative for the Miss Universe pageant in Long Beach, California.
The speed with which the contestants were chosen for that first contest would characterize its first editions, in which parades with different outfits were held over the course of a week or more in different locations in the country. Due to protests by religious organizations at the time, the swimsuit parades were held in private, witnessed by jurors only. Eventually, Venezuela's representatives to Miss World (since 1955) and Miss International (since 1960) would also begin to be elected.
After a first interruption in 1954 during the Marcos Pérez Jiménez dictatorship, Pan Am ceded the rights to the contest in 1955 to Venezuelan journalist and musicologist, Reinaldo Espinoza Hernández.
Hernández, who despite the triumph of Susana Duijm in Miss World 1955 (first Hispanic American to win at one of the Big Four international beauty pageants), faced protests by the Venezuelan Catholic Church and feminist movements, which added to the lack of interest by the press of the time. In addition, a second interruption in 1959 caused by the 1958 Venezuelan coup d'état, led to the sale of the contest to Edwin E. Acosta-Rubio, a Cuban-Venezuelan businessman in 1962.
Business-minded, Acosta-Rubio immediately changed the format of the competition. Turning the semi-improvised tourist pageant into an organized annual institution. In order to choose the contestants with professional and responsible criteria, Acosta-Rubio created the so-called Venezuelan Beauty Committee. Developed the publicity projection of the event and broadcast it for the first time on television in 1962, through the RCTV network, began to charge for tickets for the finals. With all these changes accomplished in the late 1960s, the Miss Venezuela contest began to be a favorite and traditional reference among Venezuelans, in the Venezuelan popular culture and more importantly, for Acosta-Rubio, as a profitable and appreciated business.
In 1968, the swimsuit and evening gown portions of the show were broadcast on television for the first time. Although it was not of great importance at the moment, Osmel Sousa began to work in those years as a graphic and fashion designer for the contest.
In 1969, Ignacio Font Coll, brother-in-law of Edwin Acosta-Rubio, who was the creator and president of OPPA Publicidad, appointed him as director of the current Miss Venezuela Organization.
Already in the 1960s, the Acosta-Rubio Organization had begun to obtain excellent results with Mercedes Revenga as first runner-up at the Miss Beauty Form 1964 contest and later on reaching the top 15 at Miss Universe 1964. The choice of Mariela Pérez and Peggy Kopp as first and third runners-up at Miss Universe 1967 and Miss Universe 1968, respectively. Adriana López with the Miss Planet Resort 1967 won, Judith Castillo, being first runner-up at Miss Universe 1976, and Zully Guilarte winning the 1968 Miss Tourism of Central America and the Caribbean pageant. Maritza Sayalero won Miss Universe 1979, being the first edition of Miss Universe to be televised in color in Venezuela. With her win, began what is considered the 'Golden age of Miss Venezuela'.
Since 1972, the Cisneros Organization acquired the rights to start producing and broadcasting the beauty contest on its channel, Venevisión. María Antonieta Cámpoli, Miss Venezuela 1972 at Miss Universe 1972 was second runner-up, and later at Miss Intercontinental 1974, María Emilia de los Ríos of Bolívar state.
Miss Venezuela Organization (1981 -) In 1981, Irene Sáez won Miss Universe 1981, Pilín León won Miss World 1981, in addition to the death of Coll. Finally, in 1982, the Cisneros Group was placed at the helm of the beauty contest and the Miss Venezuela Organization was officially structured. After this, in February 1982, Cisneros and Acosta-Rubio appointed Osmel Sousa (a long time-worker at the empress) as Coll's successor, taking the charge of President. Besides, Joaquín Riviera, María Kallay and Mery Cortez, were appointed as official producer, coordinator and choreographer of the event, respectively.
Starting in 1984, the crowns used in the organization's pageants were made by jewelry designer, George Wittels. Until July 2018, Wittels was in charge of making the goldsmith pieces for the contest. George was succeeded by Mila Toledo, Miss Federal District in 1980.
In 1996, the beauty pageant launched its website, missvenezuela.com. Also, in the same year, the Mister Venezuela competition was founded, as well as, Miss Venezuela Mundo in 2000. In both cases, at the request of the Miss World Organization
In 2009, Venezuela entered the Guinness World Records for being the first and so far only representation in Miss Universe to be crowned by another winner from the same nation.
In 2010, the pageant acquired the Miss Earth franchise, which it maintained until 2015, obtaining Alyz Henrich a second crown for this contest as Miss Earth 2013.
Joaquín Riviera, Miss Venezuela executive producer, would be in charge of the event until his death in 2012. After María Kallay's death in 2013, the production of the event was realized by Peggy Navarro, Ricardo Di Salvatore, Vicente Alvarado and Erick Simonato, who were part of the original production team along with Riviera as General Producer. In 2015, Peggy left office, leaving three managers, who to date are still part of the Miss Venezuela Organization.
In 2016, Mery Cortez, announced her departure from the contest and from Venevisión network, after almost 45 years as the choreographic producer of the contest.
On 6 February 2018, Osmel Sousa, announced his retirement as President of the Miss Venezuela Organization, after being in charge of the contest for more than 40 years, leaving the presidency vacant.
On 17 April 2018, the organization announced that the contest would it be run by an executive committee, not a president. The next day, the committee members were announced: Gabriela Isler, Miss Universe 2013, Jacqueline Aguilera, Miss World 1995 and Nina Sicilia, Miss International 1985.
Contestant selection List of state titles There is an unofficial formula to determine the states and regions represented in Venezuela. The base number of contestants over the last decade has been 26–28, which can be increased or decreased by the contest management.
Official states (23)
Amazonas Anzoátegui * Apure Aragua * Barinas Bolívar * Carabobo * Cojedes Delta Amacuro Falcón Guárico Lara Mérida Miranda Monagas * Nueva Esparta Portuguesa Sucre Táchira Trujillo Vargas Yaracuy Zulia *
* Denotes that state has a preliminary pageant – which may or may not still be held – as of 2005 only Táchira, Zulia-Falcón, Lara, Aragua and Sucre held preliminaries.
Official regions (3)
Costa Oriental (Eastern shore of Lake Maracaibo) Distrito Capital (Capital District) Federal Dependencies ("Federal Dependencies" Venezuelan islands)
Together, these 26 regions form the "base" of the Miss Venezuela contest. However, at times other regions and territories have been represented. If there are 27 sashes, the 27th candidate is Miss Peninsula Goajira. If there are 28 sashes, either Canaima (a national park in Bolivar state) or Paraguaná Peninsula (a region of Falcon state) is represented. In 2003, additional titles of Araya Peninsula (a region of Sucre State) and Roraima (a national park in Bolivar State) were created to bring the pageant to its highest ever number of contestants: 32. Surprisingly, in 2008 Península de Araya was used again, and there was no Miss Península Goajira or Miss Costa Oriental that year. In the mid-1990s, the districts of Municipio Libertador and Municipio San Francisco were also represented, the last one only in 1997 and 1998. Also, only in 2003, Guayana Esequiba (part of Guyana that historically Venezuela claims as its own) was represented. Vargas State, the most recent modification to Venezuela's map (1999) was always present in the pageant, but with other names: Departamento Vargas (until 1986), Municipio Vargas (1987 to 1997), Territorio Federal Vargas (1998), and Vargas State since 1999. In 2009, only 20 delegates competed for the crown, the same number that competed on the final night in 2003, so some "traditional" states didn't have a representative.
Winners by state/region
StateNumberYearsGuárico9Miranda8Distrito Capital7Lara4CaraboboNueva EspartaLa GuairaAmazonas3ZuliaDelta AmacuroSucreAnzoátegui2PortuguesaMonagasCosta OrientalTrujilloAraguaApureBolívarRegión Andina12021Táchira1997Yaracuy1995Caracas1961
Venezuelan representation Venezuela's international titleholders represented the following states during their Miss Venezuela competition (indicates year of international victory): Miss Universe: Departamento Vargas (1979), Miranda (1981), Trujillo (1986; 2009), Yaracuy (1996), Amazonas (2008) and Guárico (2013). Miss World: Miranda (1955; 1984), Aragua (1981), Zulia (1991), Nueva Esparta (1995) and Amazonas (2011). Miss International: Monagas (1985), Miranda (1997), Costa Oriental (2000), Carabobo (2003), Barinas (2006; 2018), Trujillo (2010), Anzoátegui (2015) and Portuguesa (2023). Miss Earth: Nueva Esparta (2005), Falcón (2013).
Main pageant
Participation in international pageants Number of wins at major beauty pageants Current franchises Pageant Titles Miss Universe 7 1979, 1981, 1986, 1996, 2008, 2009, 2013 Miss World 6 1955, 1981, 1984, 1991, 1995, 2011 Miss International 9 1985, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2010, 2015, 2018, 2023 Miss Earth 2 2005, 2013 , Venezuela has a total of 24 wins at Big Four international beauty pageants, the most by any country in the world, and consisting of seven Miss Universe titles, six Miss World titles, nine Miss International titles, and two Miss Earth titles.
Miss Venezuela reached the semifinals of Miss Universe each year from 1983 to 2003, and reached the question-and-answer round consistently from 1991 to 2003 (winning in 1986 and 1996), constituting the longest streak of Miss Universe finalists by any country. This streak was ended in 2004, when Ana Karina Áñez was not included in the semifinals at Miss Universe 2004. Venezuela has also held Miss Universe and Miss World titles simultaneously in 1981 (Irene Saez and Pilin Leon), and Miss Universe and Miss Earth titles simultaneously in 2013 (Gabriela Isler and Alyz Henrich). Henrich's Miss Earth victory made Venezuela the only country in the world to have won each of the Big Four pageants multiple times. Venezuela also holds the distinction of being the first, and so far only, country to win back-to-back Miss Universe titles when Dayana Mendoza, outgoing Miss Universe 2008, crowned Stefania Fernandez as Miss Universe 2009.
Success in other fields