Miss Universe Philippines 2023 Michelle Dee made it to the top 10 and won two special awards.
Sheynnis Palacios of Nicaragua took home the Miss Universe crown, beating 83 other contestants in the 72nd iteration of the pageant held at the Gimnasio Nacional Jose Adolfo Pineda in San Salvador, El Salvador. She succeeded Miss Universe 2022 R’Bonney Gabriel of the United States of America.
Moraya Wilson of Australia was named the second runner-up, while Anntonia Porsild of Thailand was this year’s first runner-up.
In the top 3 Q&A portion, asked if they could live the life of any woman for a year, Nicaragua chose British writer, founding feminist philosopher, and women’s rights advocate Mary Wollstonecraft. Palacios shared that she would work to close the income gap that sets women back, further emphasizing that there are no limitations for women in the workplace.
Puerto Rico’s Karla Guilfú and Colombia’s Camila Avella rounded up the top five.
Miss Universe Philippines 2023 Michelle Marquez Dee made it to the top 10. She also won the Spirit of Carnival Award and was one of the Gold Winners of the Voice for Change competition, where the candidates shared their respective advocacies through a three-minute video. An advocate for autism acceptance, inclusivity, and empowerment, She shares the accolade with Angola’s Ana Coimbra and Puerto Rico’s Karla Guilfú.
This year’s Miss Universe pageant set a new standard for the competition with the removal of the age limit and the inclusion of the pageant’s first plus-size beauty queen (Jane Dipika Garrett of Nepal), mothers (Camila Avella of Colombia and Michelle Cohn of Guatemala), and two trans women (Rikkie Kollé of the Netherlands and Marina Machete of Portugal). The 72nd iteration also marks the debut of Pakistan with Erica Robin. Among these pioneering women, Nepal and Portugal made it to the top 20, while Colombia moved on to the top 5.
El Salvador previously hosted Miss Universe in 1975. The pageant returns to Central America after Panama played host in 2003. For 2024, Mexico will be hosting the global pageant.
