Miss Belgium is a national beauty pageant in Belgium. The winner of Miss Belgium automatically represents her country at the Miss World and Miss Universe pageants if the dates do not overlap.
History
Queen of the Beach The first contest looking for the most beautiful girl in Belgium was in 1928. It was journalist Jean-Jacques Fortis who organised the contest "La Reine de la Plage" - "The Queen of the Beach" as a promotion for the journal Piccolo, now Le Soir. It was Anne Koyaert who won the contest in Blankenberge.
Miss Belgium Following the success, Fortis was allowed to organise a bigger election. In 1929, Jenny Vanparys was the first girl officially crowned Miss Belgium. She participated in Miss Europe. The next year, Netta Duchâteau was the winner. Duchâteau participated and won the International Pageant of Pulchritude in 1931, earning her the title "Miss Universe 1931". Duchâteau became an instant celebrity and the Miss Belgium contest got a lot of attention.
In 1968, Cécile Muller took interest in the contest. In 1969 she organised for the first time Miss Belgium. Muller, who thought herself to be a feminist, took the contest very serious. She demanded the participants of the contest to be bilingual - being able to talk Dutch and French, the two main languages of Belgium. Muller gave the participants training how to handle interviews. She also followed and guided the winner of the Miss Belgium-title very strictly. Thanks to the guidance of Muller, the contest became bigger every year. Muller saw the contest as an act of feminism and tried not to find the most beautiful face of Belgium but a modern young woman who could represent Belgium in every way. She succeeded on launching the contest at television. In 1993 the contest was broadcast on VTM for the Flanders region and at RTL for the Walloon region. A million viewers saw the elections of Miss Belgium that decennia. Many of those winners - including Goedele Liekens, Lynn Wesenbeek, Sandrine Corman, Dina Tersago and Julie Taton - had successful careers in television. For the election of 1994 a new golden crown was made by a crown maker of Paris.
In 2005, business woman Darline Devos became the new organiser of the election. She organized the election further. She succeeded in changing the preliminary provincial elections and applying the same rules in those contests. Every winner of those provincial contest was awarded one of the same eleven Swarovski-crowns. A new crown for Miss Belgium was made, consisting of 500 Swarovski-crystals. Devos also founded the Miss Belgium house, a house in the center of the country. It serves as the work place for the organisation of Miss Belgium and a place to stay for the reigning Miss Belgium. She made a new deal for the Dutch-speaking part of Belgium with broadcaster VT4. Although the girls of the next years were more successful at the Miss Universe and Miss World contests, the Belgian audience lost its interest in the election. Caused by declining viewership of the election, the contest was broadcast in the Dutch-speaking region by Vijftv, the small affiliate channel of VT4, in 2010-2011 and on digital broadcasters Life! in 2012, Studio 100 TV in 2013–2014, Ment TV in 2015, Fox Flanders in 2016-2018 and Eclips TV in 2019. In the French-speaking region broadcaster RTL stopped broadcasting the election in 2012. It was succeeded by digital broadcaster STAR TV in 2012 and AB3 in 2013–2018. Since 2019 the contest no longer broadcast in Wallonia. Additionally, the election also meets criticism in Wallonia because most winners are from Flanders.
Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the election of Miss Belgium 2021 was postponed from January 2020 to March 2021. A new crown made of white stones and some pink stones as finisher debuted at the election of Miss Belgium 2021.
The Reigning Miss Belgium, Chayenne Van Aarle, had a major car accident during her last week of her reign. Since she was still recovering she wasn't able to be present at the election of her successor. The Miss Belgium 2023 pageant show was postponed due to suspicions of a terrorist attack. A suspect was arrested, weapons were found in his car and after the venue was fully searched, the show started with a delay.
Controversy The Miss Belgium was met with controversy at different occasions. Miss Belgium 1952, Anne-Marie Pauwels refused to part from her boyfriend during the contest of Miss World 1952. She was disqualified and Belgium wasn't allowed to participate at Miss World 1953.
In 1971, the Dolle Mina's jumped on stage during the final of the election, yelling “We are not cattle!”.
Miss Belgium 2002, Ann Van Elsen, was one of the candidates who refused to participate in the Miss World competition held in Nigeria in to protest the conviction of Amina Lawal. This was against the wishes of the Miss Belgium organisation. Van Elsen was replaced by her first runner-up Sylvie Doclot.
Miss Belgium 2006, Virginie Claes, was accused of buying her title. No proof of this was found.
The election of Alizee Poulicek, a native speaker of French and Czech, has even been linked to the 2007–08 Belgian government formation. The reason is that, during the traditional language test, she failed to speak or understand Dutch. The audience even booed her for this. The behaviour of the audience was noted across Europe,I språkligt blåsväder | Nyheter | Aftonbladet and the Flemish newspaper Het Laatste Nieuws sarcastically put the headline "Miss Belgium doesn't speak Dutch. Our country is in a deep crisis".
Miss Belgium 2017, Romanie Schotte, was accused of racism because of a post at Instagram. An investigation was started by Unia (the Center of Equal Opportunities) on 17 January but it was already closed on 19 January. In 2018 however, Miss Belgium 2018 Angeline Flor Pua, was met with much racism after winning. The Secretary of State of Equal Opportunities Zuhal Demir disapproved the racist comments and applauded the new Miss Belgium. The reaction of Flor Pua was well received and even broadcast on the BBC.
Titleholders
La Reine de la Plage Year Miss BelgiumProvinceRegion Notes 1928 Anne Koyaert — —
Pre-World War II Year Miss BelgiumProvinceRegion Notes 1929 Jenny Vanparays Brussels 1930 Netta Duchâteau Namur Miss Universe 1931 1931 Suzanne Daudin — — 1932 Simone Eraerts Brussels 1933 Georgette Casteels Brussels 1934 Nadia Benedetti — — 1936 Laura Torfs — — 1937 Josée Decœur — — 1938 Mary Van Leda — — 1939 Gilberte de Somme Namur
Post-World War II
Year Miss BelgiumProvinceRegion Notes 1946 Ludovica Bil — — 1947 Yvette Draux Luxembourg 1948 Lucienne Van de Weghe Brussels 1949 Andréa Bouillon — — 1950 Nicole Poncelet Luxembourg 1951 Lucienne Zadworny — — 1952 Anne-Marie Pauwels — — Disqualified at Miss World 1952 1953 Sépia Degehet — — 1954 Nelly Dehem Brussels 1955 Rosette Ghislain Hainaut 1956 Madeleine Hotelet Brussels 1957 Jeanne Chandelle Brussels 1958 Michèle Goethals — — 1959 Diane Hidalgo — — 1960 Huberte Bax Brussels 1961 Nicole Ksinozenicki — — 1962 Christine Delit Liège Top 8 at Miss World 1962 1963 Irène Godin Liège 1964 Danièle Defrère Brussels 1965 Lucy Nossent Liège 1966 Mireille De Man Brussels 1967 Mauricette Sironval Liège 1968 Sonja Doumen Dilsen, Limburg 1969 Maud Alin Hainaut Miss World Friendship at Miss World 1969 1970 Francine Martin Liège 1971 Martine De Hert Antwerp 1972 Anne-Marie Roger Brussels Top 12 and Miss Photogenic at Miss Universe 1972 1973 Christiane De Visch Antwerp 3rd Runner-Up at Miss Europe 1973 1974 Anne-Marie Sikorski Liège 1975 Christine Delmelle Liège 1976 Yvette Aelbrecht Brussels 1977 Claudine Vasseur Brussels 1978 Maggy Moreau Brussels 1979 Christine Cailliau Brussels 1st Runner-Up at Miss Europe 1980 1980 Brigitte Billen Limburg 1981 Dominique Van Eeckhoudt Brussels 4th Runner-Up at Miss Universe 1981 Top 15 at Miss World 1981 Top 15 at Miss International 1981 Miss United Nations 1981 1982 Marie-Pierre Lemaître Brussels 1983 Francoise Bostoen West Flanders 3rd Runner-Up at Miss Europe 1984 Top 15 at Miss World 1983 1984 Brigitte Muyshondt Antwerp 2nd Runner-Up at Miss International 1978 1985 An Van Den Broeck Province 1986 Goedele Liekens Flemish Brabant 1987 Lynn Wesenbeek Antwerp 1988 Daisy Van Cauwenbergh Antwerp 1989 Anne De Baetzelier Flemish Brabant 1990 Katia Alens Province Top 15 at Miss International 1990 1991 Anke Vandermeersch Antwerp Top 6 at Miss Universe 1992 1992 Sandra Joine Province 1993 Stephanie Meire West Flanders 1994 Ilse De Meulemeester Flemish Brabant Top 15 at Miss World 1994 Miss Herbal Essences Universe 1995 Véronique De Kock Antwerp 1996 Laurence Borremans Walloon Brabant Top 15 at Miss World 1996 1997 Sandrine Corman Liège 1998 Tanja Dexters Province 1999 Brigitta Callens East Flanders 2000 Joke van de Velde East Flanders 2001 Dina Tersago Antwerp 2002 Ann Van Elsen Antwerp 2003 Julie Taton Namur 2004 Ellen Petri Antwerp Miss World Designer Dress Award at Miss World 2004 2005 Tatiana Silva Brussels 2006 Virginie Claes Limburg 2007 Annelien Coorevits West Flanders 2008 Alizée Poulicek Liège 2009 Zeynep Sever Brussels Top 15 at Miss Universe 2009 2010 Cilou Annys West Flanders Top 15 at Miss Universe 2010 2011 Justine De Jonckheere West Flanders 2012 Laura Beyne Brussels 2013 Noémie Happart Liège Top 20 at Miss World 2013 2014 Laurence Langen Limburg Did not compete internationally 2015 Annelies Törös Antwerp Top 15 at Miss Universe 2015 2016 Lenty Frans Antwerp Top 11 and Miss World Europe at Miss World 2016 2017 Romanie Schotte West Flanders 2018 Angeline Flor Pua Antwerp Top 30 at Miss World 2018 2019 Elena Castro Suarez Antwerp 2020 Céline Van Ouytsel Antwerp 2021 Kedist Deltour East Flanders Top 40 at Miss World 2023 2022 Chayenne van Aarle Antwerp 2023 Emilie Vansteenkiste Flemish Brabant 2024 Kenza Ameloot East Flanders 2025 Karen Jansen Limburg Top 40 at Miss World 2025 2026 Olga Lombardo Flemish Brabant
Titleholders under Miss Belgium org. Miss Universe Belgium
Miss Belgium has started to send a Miss Belgium to Miss Universe from 1952. On occasion, when the winner does not qualify (due to age) for either contest, a runner-up is sent.