Miss Venezuela
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 and Miss International 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, 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 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 *
Official regions (3)
- Costa Oriental
- Distrito Capital
- Federal Dependencies
Winners by state/region
| State | Number | Years |
| Guárico | 9 | |
| Miranda | 8 | |
| Distrito Capital | 7 | |
| Lara | 4 | |
| Carabobo | 4 | |
| Nueva Esparta | 4 | |
| La Guaira | 4 | |
| Amazonas | 3 | |
| Zulia | 3 | |
| Delta Amacuro | 3 | |
| Sucre | 3 | |
| Anzoátegui | 2 | |
| Portuguesa | 2 | |
| Monagas | 2 | |
| Costa Oriental | 2 | |
| Trujillo | 2 | |
| Aragua | 2 | |
| Apure | 2 | |
| Bolívar | 2 | |
| Región Andina | 1 | 2021 |
| Táchira | 1 | 1997 |
| Yaracuy | 1 | 1995 |
| Caracas | 1 | 1961 |
;Venezuelan representation
Venezuela's international titleholders represented the following states during their Miss Venezuela competition :