Miss Venezuela, Dayana Mendoza, has been crowned as Miss Universe 2008 at the star studded event at the Crown Convention Center in Nha Trang, Khanh Hoa, Vietnam. The 22 years-old beauty queen’s career ambition is to become an Interior Designer. She also enjoys photography and is interested in advertising. As expected, the odds were stacked against our African representatives to this year’s pageant but our girls managed to have a lot of fun during their trip to Vietnam. It seems that having fun at the pageant is the real reward that Africans can expect at these contests. LOL!

Well it wasn’t all bad for Africa at least Miss South Africa, Tansey Coetzee made it to the Top 15. Maybe next year would be a better year for us. But to begin with, Africa could do with some representation on the panel of judges. The judging panel for the 2008 Miss Universe Pageant included: Donald Trump Jr., Executive Vice President of the Trump Organization; Roberto Cavalli; Nadine Velazquez, Jennifer Hawkins; Louis Licari, Joe Cinque, Eesha Koppikhar; Nguyen Cong Khe, Taryn Rose.

Throughout the two-hour event, contestants from 80 countries and territories around the world competed in three categories: swimsuit, evening gown and personality interview. Riyo Mori, Miss Universe 2007, crowned her successor at the conclusion of the two-hour primetime telecast, before an estimated worldwide viewing audience of more than 1 billion viewers.

First Runner Up: Miss Colombia, Taliana Vargas.
Second Runner Up: Miss Dominican Republic, Marianne Cruz Gonzale.
National Costume Award: Miss Thailand, Gavintra Photijak.
Miss Congeniality Universe™ Award: Miss El Salvador, Rebeca Moreno.