Miss Lebanon

Miss Lebanon
Formation	1952 (Current, 1990)
Type	Beauty Pageant
Headquarters	Beirut
Location	Lebanon
Director	Antoine Maxud
Website	Official Website

. Miss Lebanon - Lebanon's Official National Beauty Pageant (Arabic: انتخابات ملكة جمال لبنان‎) is a beauty contest in Lebanon.

Miss Lebanon is the only national beauty contest that awards prizes worth more than one million US dollars to its winners. It is broadcast on Lebanese Broadcasting Corporation (LBC), since 1991. Current Director is Antoine Maxud.

The pageant has been cancelled a few times due civil wars, conflicts with Israel and lack of protection for the delegates.

The winner of Miss Lebanon competes at Miss World and Miss Universe. The pageant also send representatives to Miss International, Miss Earth and Miss Intercontinental pageants.

Format

Every year, the Miss Lebanon Pageant takes on a new format with a new number of contestants. On average, the pageant has taken form of a one night gala, several primes, and even reality television. Below is an outline of the recent years of the pageant's format:

Pageant	Winner	# of Contestants	Format	# of Primes	Venue
2003	Marie Jose Hnein	16	Reality TV (24/7)	8	LBC Studio
2004	Nadine Njeim	16	Reality TV (24/7)	7	LBC Studio
2005	Gabrielle Bou Rached	30	Weekly Primes	5	Casino Du Liban
2007	Nadine Njeim	18	Weekly Primes	3	Casino Du Liban
2008	Rosarita Tawil	18	Weekly Primes	2	LBC Studio
2009	Martine Andraos	16	Grand Gala	1	LBC Studio
2010	Rahaf Abdallah	16	Grand Gala	1	LBC Studio
2011	Yara Khoury-Mikhael	16	Grand Gala	1	Beirut Souks

Pageant Controversials

• In the 1972 Miss Universe pageant in Dorado, Puerto Rico, the 1971 winner, Georgina Rizk, was not allowed to attend due to government restrictions because of fears of a terrorist attack. These fears were triggered when, two months prior to the pageant, bombings occurred outside the hotel in which Miss USA, Tanya Wilson, was then staying. Lebanon did not send a delegate to the pageant that year either.

• In the 1993 Miss World pageant, in Sun City, South Africa, a scandal had a share of controversy when Israel's Tamara Porat and Lebanon's Ghada Turk were photographed side by side each other. The photos caused uproar in their respective countries. It was four months before Ghada was allowed to return to her country, which is officially still at war with Israel. The picture was scanned from the Times Magazine, November 22, 1993.

Winners

Géorgina Rizk, Miss Universe 1971

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Joëlle Behlock, Miss Lebanon 1997

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Rosarita Tawil, Miss Lebanon 2008

Miss Lebanon
1952	Leila Saroufim	1953	Hania Beydun	1959	Gladys Tabet
1960	Leila Antaki	1961	Nohad Cabbabe	1962	Élénore Abi Karam
1963	Mona Slim	1964	Nani Barakat	1965	Yolla Georges Harb
1966	Marlène Tali	1969	Sonia Fares	1970	Georgina Rizk
1972	Marcelle Herro	1973	Sylvia Ohannessian	1974	Gisèle Hachem
1975	Ramona Karam	1977	Vera Aloune	1978	Katia Fakhry
1979	Jocelyne Daou	1980	Denise Sfeir	1981	Zeina Joseph Challita
1982	Batoul Attar	1983	Sylvia Hobeika	1984	Renée Philippe Barakat
1985	Mirelle Abi Fares	1986	Marie Khoury	1987	Eliane Georges
1991	Diana Bagdache	1992	Nicole Bardawil	1993	Ghada El Turk
1994	Lara Badawi	1995	Dina Azar	1996	Nisrine Sami Nasser
1997	Joëlle Behlock	1998	Clémence Achkar	1999	Norma Elias Naoum
2000	Sandra Rizk	2001	Christina Sawaya	2003	Marie José Hnein
2004	Nadine Nassib Njeim	2005	Gabrielle Bou Rached	2007	Nadine Wilson Njeim
2008	Rosarita Tawil	2009	Martine Andraos	2010	Rahaf Abdallah
2011	Yara Khoury Mikhael

Representatives since 1995

Year	Miss World	Result
1995	Julia Syriani
1996	Nisrine Sami Nasser
1997	Joëlle Buhlock	Top 10
1998	Clémence Achkar
1999	Norma Elias Naoum
2000	Sandra Rizk
2001	Christina Sawaya
2002	Bethany Kehdi
2003	Marie José Hnein	Top 15
2004	Nadine Nassib Njeim
2005	Lamita Frangieh
2006	Annabella Samir Hilal	Top 16
2007	Nadine Wilson Njeim
2008	Rosarita Tawil
2009	Martine Albert Andraos
2010	Rahaf Abdallah
2011	Yara Khoury Mikhael

Year	Miss Universe	Result
1996	Julia Syriani
1997	Dalida Chammaï
1998	Nina Kadis
1999	Clémence Achkar
2000	Norma Elias Naoum
2001	Sandra Rizk
2004	Marie José Hnein
2005	Nadine Nassib Njeim
2006	Gabrielle Bou Rached
2007	Nadine Wilson Njeim
2008	Rosarita Tawil
2009	Martine Albert Andraos
2010	Rahaf Abdallah
2011	Yara Khoury Mikhael

Year	Miss International	Result
1997	Nisrine Sami Nasser
1998	Clémence Achkar
2002	Christina Sawaya	Winner
2003	Nathalie Nasrallah
2007	Grace Beyani
2008	Jessica Michelle Kahawati	Top 12
2009	Sarah Mansour
2010	Daniella Rahme

Year	Miss Intercontinental	Result
2000	Nancy Korakezian
2001	Claudia Berberi
2003	Dominique Joseph Hourani	Winner
2004	Amale Baltayi
2007	Nancy Afiouni	Winner
2008	Sheila Marouni
2009	Nicole Licha Khouri
2010	Nathalie Farrai

Year	Miss Earth	Result
2001	Adelle Raymonde Boustani
2002	Regida Antoine Farah
2003	Mary Georges Hanna
2004	Lana Khattab
2005	Chantal Karam
2007	Amale Khoder	Top 15
2008	Pamela Saade
2009	Nicole Licha Khouri
2010	Jihane Nehme

Best results

Pageant	Year	Placement
Miss Universe	1971	Winner
Miss World	1997, 2003	9th Place
Miss International	2002	Winner
Miss Intercontinental	2003, 2007	Winner
Miss Earth	2007	Semi finalist

See also

• Mister Lebanon

External links

• Miss Lebanon 2007 (English & Arabic Official Site)
• Miss Lebanon 2010 Rahaf Abdalla