Miss Grand USA
Miss Grand USA, also referred to as Miss Grand United States of America, is an annual female beauty pageant in the United States, founded in 2016 by a Dominican-American businessperson, Chantel Martínez, aiming to select the country representative for Miss Grand International, which is an annual international beauty pageant promoting World Peace and against all kinds of conflicts.
The Miss Grand USA organization has been franchising the state competitions to individual organizers since 2016, which in some cases are responsible for more than one state. Each U.S. state must choose a candidate who competes at the national Miss Grand USA pageant, however, delegates may be appointed state or regional titles if a state pageant is not offered in their area.
The United States holds a record of 6 placements at Miss Grand International, the highest position was first place, won in 2020 by Abena Appiah of New York, followed by the third and fourth runners-up by Sthephanie Miranda and Michelle León in 2023 and 2016, respectively.
History
The United States has been participating at Miss Grand International since its inception in 2013. Under the management of Earth Pageant Productions during 2013 – 2015, the first two country representatives were appointed to join the international event without organizing the contest while the last one obtained the title through the Miss Earth United States 2015, two of them, Blair Griffith and Lauren Petersen, were placed among the top 20 finalists in 2013 and 2015, respectively.After Chantel Martínez, a New York-based Dominican-American fashion model, acquired the franchise in 2016, she eventually ran the first contest of Miss Grand USA to determine a winner for the international stage. The event was held at Leonard Nimoy Thalia of Symphony Space in New York City, featuring 13 national finalists, of whom Michelle León from the host state was announced the winner. León also obtained the fourth runner-up title after participating in the 2016 Miss Grand International contest in Las Vegas, Nevada. Later in 2018, Martínez scheduled to organize the 2018 contest on May 28 in New York, but lost the franchise to Israel Silva and Hernan Rivera of H&I Grand Productions LLC, the Chicago-based event organizer that owned and ran the Miss Grand USA beauty contest from 2019 to 2023. The license was then transferred to an e-commerce company, Protagonist Live LLC, in early 2024, with former Miss Grand Ireland 2023, Rachel Slawson, as the president under Iron Tiara LLC. On December 6, 2024, Crown Legacy LLC took over the management of the franchise still under production of Protagonist Live LLC.
Since its establishment, the pageant, originally programmed to be held on 31 August, was canceled once in 2020 due to the significantly increased of COVID-19 infection cases in the country, the organizer then decided to appoint a Ghanaian American model Abena Appiah to instead compete at the international stage in Thailand, where she won the contest, making her the first American representative to hold such a title and the first black contender to do so.
Editions
Location and date
The following list is the edition detail of the Miss Grand USA contest, since its inception in 2016.| Year | Edition | Date | Final venue | Host State | Entrants | Ref. |
| 2016 | 1st | Leonard Nimoy Thalia, Symphony Space, New York City | New York | 13 | ||
| 2017 | 2nd | 25 Jul | Leonard Nimoy Thalia, Symphony Space, New York City | New York | 17 | |
| 2019 | 3rd | 11 Aug | Lincolnshire Marriott Resort, Lake County | Illinois | 28 | |
| 2021 | 4th | 20 Jun | Joe's Live Rosemont, Rosemont | Illinois | 18 | |
| 2022 | 5th | 23 Jun | Copernicus Center, Chicago | Illinois | 12 | |
| 2023 | 6th | 17 Aug | Crowne Plaza Chicago O'Hare Hotel & Conference Center | Illinois | 25 | |
| 2024 | 7th | 12 Aug | Club M2, Miami | Florida | 19 | |
| 2025 | 8th | 18 Aug | Rio Showroom at Rio Las Vegas, Las Vegas | Nevada | 32 |
International competition
Winner gallery
;States by number of wins| Number of wins | State | Years |
| 2 | Colorado | 2013, 2022 |
| 2 | New York | 2016, 2020 |
| 1 | North Carolina | 2021 |
| 1 | Nevada | 2019 |
| 1 | Illinois | 2018 |
| 1 | California | 2017 |
| 1 | Virginia | 2015 |
| 1 | South Carolina | 2014 |
| 1 | - | - |