Miss Universe 1976

Miss Universe 1976, the 25th Miss Universe pageant, was held on 11 July 1976[lower-alpha 1] at the Lee Theatre in Hong Kong. Rina Messinger of Israel was crowned by Anne Marie Pohtamo of Finland. This was the first time that an Israeli has won the competition.

Miss Universe 1976
Date	11 July 1976[lower-alpha 1]
Presenters	Bob Barker Helen O'Connell
Venue	Lee Theatre, Hong Kong
Broadcaster	CBS TVB (Host broadcaster)
Entrants	72
Placements	12
Debuts	Barbados Northern Marianas Papua New Guinea St. Maarten
Withdrawals	Belize Haiti Jamaica Lebanon Micronesia Morocco
Returns	Honduras Norway Surinam
Winner	Rina Messinger  Israel
Congeniality	Margaret McFarlane  Trinidad and Tobago
Best National Costume	Rocío Lazcano  Peru
Photogenic	Pauline Davies  England

Results

Miss Universe 1976 participating nations and results

Placements

Final results	Contestant
Miss Universe 1976	Israel – Rina Messinger
1st Runner-up	Venezuela – Judith Castillo
2nd Runner-up	Wales – Sian Adey-Jones
3rd Runner-up	Scotland – Carol Grant
4th Runner-up	Australia – Julie Ismay
Top 12	Argentina – Lilian Deasti  Chile – Verónica Sommers  Colombia – María Reyes  Curaçao – Anneke Dijkhuizen  England – Pauline Davies  Hong Kong – Rowena Lam  Norway – Bente Lihaug

Contestants

•  Argentina - Lilian Noemi De Asti
•  Aruba - Cynthia Marlene Bruin
•  Australia - Julie Anne Ismay
•  Austria - Heidi-Marie Passian
•  Bahamas - Sharon Elaine Smith
•  Barbados - Jewell Sharon Nightingale
•  Belgium - Yvette Maria Aelbrecht
•  Bermuda - Vivienne Anne Hollis
•  Bolivia - Carolina Elisa Aramayo Esteves
•  Brazil - Katia Celestina Moretto †
•  Canada - Normande Jacques
•  Chile - Maria Veronica Sommer
•  Colombia - Maria Helena Reyes Abisambra
•  Costa Rica - Silvia Jiminez Pacheco
•  Curaçao - Anneke Dijkhuizen
•  Denmark - Brigitte Trolle
•  Dominican Republic - Norma Lora
•  Ecuador - Gilda Plaza
•  El Salvador - Mireya Carolina Calderon Tovar
•  England - Pauline Davies
•  Finland - Suvi Lukkarinen
•  France - Monique Uldaric
•  Germany - Birgit Margot Hamer
•  Greece - Melina Michailidou
•  Guam - Pilar Martha Laguana
•  Guatemala - Blanca Alicia Montenegro
•  Holland - Nannetje Johanna Nielen
•  Honduras - Victoria Alejandra Pineda Fortin
•  Hong Kong - Rowena Lam
•  Iceland - Gudmunda Hulda Johannesdottir
•  India - Naina Sudhir Balsavar
•  Indonesia - Yuliarti Rahayu
•  Ireland - Elaine Rosemary O'Hara
•  Israel - Rina Messinger
•  Italy - Diana Scapolan
•  Japan - Miyako Iwakuni
•  Korea - Chung Kwang-hyun
•  Liberia - Laurine Wede Johnson
•  Luxembourg - Monique Wilmes
•  Malaysia - Teh-Faridah Norizan
•  Malta - Mary Grace Ciantar
•  Mauritius - Marielle Tse-Sik-Sun
•  Mexico - Carla Jean Evert Reguera ­†
•  New Zealand - Janey Kingscote
•  Nicaragua - Ivania Navarro Yenic
•  Northern Mariana Islands - Candelaria Flores Borja
•  Norway - Bente Lihaug
•  Panama - Carolina Maria Chiari
•  Papua New Guinea - Eva Regina Arni
•  Paraguay - Nidia Fatima Cardenas
•  Peru - Rocío Rita Lazcano Mujica †
•  Philippines - Elizabeth Samson de Padua
•  Puerto Rico - Elizabeth Zayas Ortiz
•  American Samoa - Taliilani Ellen Letuli
•  Scotland - Carol Jean Grant
•  Singapore - Linda Tham
•  South Africa - Cynthia Classen
•  Spain - Olga Fernandez Perez
•  Sri Lanka - Genevieve Bernedette Parsons
•  Sint Maarten - Angela Huggins
•  Surinam - Peggy Vandeleuv
•  Sweden - Caroline Westerberg
•   Switzerland - Isabelle Fischbacher
•  Thailand - Katareeya Areekul
•  Trinidad and Tobago - Margaret Elizabeth McFarlane
•  Turkey - Manolya Onur †
•  Uruguay - Leila Luisa Vinas Martinez
•  United States - Barbara Elaine Peterson
•  Venezuela - Judith Josefina Castillo
•  Virgin Islands - Lorraine Patricia Baa
•  Wales - Sian Adey-Jones
•  Yugoslavia - Svetlana Radojcic

Notes

Debuts

•  Barbados
•  Northern Mariana Islands
•  Papua New Guinea
•  Sint Maarten

Returns

Last competed in 1973:

•  Norway

Last competed in 1974:

•  Honduras
•  Surinam

Withdrawals

•  Belize - Janet Joan Joseph
•  Haiti
•  Jamaica - Angela Ruddock
•  Lebanon - Ramona Karam
•  Morocco
•  Micronesia - Instead of the region, the delegates from Northern Marianas had been represented themselves as the individual territory since then.

Did not Compete

•  Antigua - Cleopatra Sanders
•  British Virgin Islands - Irene Penn
• Tahiti - Amiot Mora

Awards

•  Trinidad and Tobago - Miss Amity (Margaret McFarlane)
•  England - Miss Photogenic (Pauline Davies)
•  Peru - Best National Costume (Rocío Lazcano)

General references

1. The event was held at 8:00 am Hong Kong Time (UTC+08:00); for the Americas, this was July 10 in their local times.

• West, Donald (ed.). "Miss Universe 1976". pageantopolis.com. Archived from the original on February 7, 2012.

External links

• Miss Universe official website