Miss Asia Pacific International is one of the oldest international

beauty pageants A beauty pageant is a competition in which the contestants are judged and ranked based on various physical and mental attributes. Per its name, beauty pageants traditionally focus on judging the contestants' physical attractiveness, sometimes sol ...

, based in

Manila Manila, officially the City of Manila, is the Capital of the Philippines, capital and second-most populous city of the Philippines after Quezon City, with a population of 1,846,513 people in 2020. Located on the eastern shore of Manila Bay on ...

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

. It was founded in 1965 as Miss Asia and later renamed Miss Asia Pacific in 1984, followed by Miss Asia Pacific Quest in 1985 when Latin American and Pacific countries were included. In 2005, it was renamed to its current title, Miss Asia Pacific International. The current titleholder is Janelis Leyba of the United States, who was crowned

Miss Asia Pacific International 2024 Miss Asia Pacific International 2024 was the fifth edition of Miss Asia Pacific International pageant, held at the Newport Performing Arts Theater in Pasay, Metro Manila, Philippines, on 7 October 2024. Chaiyenne Huisman of Spain crowned Janel ...

on 7 October 2024 at

Newport Performing Arts Theater The Newport Performing Arts Theater (NPAT), also known as simply Newport Theater, is a performing arts center on the grounds of Newport World Resorts in Pasay, Metro Manila, Philippines. It is a modern multi-purpose theater named after its locati ...

Pasay Pasay, officially the City of Pasay (; ), is a Cities of the Philippines#Legal classification, highly urbanized city in the Metro Manila, National Capital Region of the Philippines. According to the 2020 Philippine census, 2020 census, it has a ...

, Philippines. She is the first American to win the title, marking the comeback of the pageant.

History

The pageant was established in 1965 as the ''Miss Asia'' contest. The first titleholder was Angela Filmer from Malaysia. She was crowned by incoming first lady

Imelda Marcos Imelda Romualdez Marcos (; born Imelda Remedios Visitación Trinidad Romuáldez; July 2, 1929) is a Filipino politician who was First Lady of the Philippines from 1965 to 1986, wielding significant political power after her husband Ferdinand ...

on December 4, 1965. The initial edition of the contest included participants from 18 countries. The pageant's name was changed to ''Miss Asia Pacific'' in 1984 and ''Miss Asia Pacific Quest'' in 1985 when participants from the

Americas The Americas, sometimes collectively called America, are a landmass comprising the totality of North America and South America.''Webster's New World College Dictionary'', 2010 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio. When viewed as a sing ...

and the

Pacific region The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is bounded by the contine ...

were included. In 2005, it was renamed ''Miss Asia Pacific International'' to allow participants from all countries. The pageant was not held in 1990 due to the Luzon earthquake, in 1991 due to the

Mount Pinatubo eruption The 1991 eruption of Mount Pinatubo in the Philippines' Luzon Volcanic Arc was the second-largest volcanic eruption of the 20th century, behind only the 1912 eruption of Novarupta in Alaska. Eruptive activity began on April 2 as a series of ...

, in 2004, from 2006 to 2015, and from 2020 to 2023. In 2005, Leonora Jimenez Monge from

Costa Rica Costa Rica, officially the Republic of Costa Rica, is a country in Central America. It borders Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the northeast, Panama to the southeast, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, as well as Maritime bo ...

was dethroned after participating in the

Miss World Miss World is the oldest existing international beauty pageant. It was created in the United Kingdom by Eric Morley in 1951. Since his death in 2000, Morley's widow, Julia Morley, has co-chaired the pageant. Along with Miss Universe, Mi ...

contest. The title was then passed to the first runner-up, Yevgeniya Lapova from

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

. The pageant was then suspended after the conclusion of the 2005 edition. It resumed 12 years later in 2016, with Tessa le Conge from the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

winning the title. The last titleholder before the hiatus was Chaiyenne Huisman from

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

, who was crowned on October 9, 2019. Due to restrictions related to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, no competitions were held from 2020 to 2023. The pageant returned in October 2024, with Eva Patalinjug as the new President and Kristine Caballero-Aplal as General Manager.

Titleholders

List of runner-ups

Continental Queens

References

{{reflist

External links