Miss Universe 1976 was the 25th Miss Universe pageant, held on 11 July 1976[a] at the Lee Theatre in Hong Kong. Rina Messinger of Israel was crowned by Anne Marie Pohtamo of Finland. This was the first and only time that an Israeli has won the competition. It was the only time in the pageant's history that the event was held in Hong Kong.
| Miss Universe 1976 | |
|---|---|
 Rina Messinger, Miss Universe 1976 | |
| Date | 11 July 1976[a] |
| Presenters | |
| Venue | Lee Theatre, Hong Kong |
| Broadcaster | |
| Entrants | 72 |
| Placements | 12 |
| Debuts | |
| Withdrawals | |
| Returns | |
| Winner | Rina Messinger  Israel |
| Congeniality | Margaret McFarlane  Trinidad and Tobago |
| Best National Costume | Rocío Lazcano  Peru |
| Photogenic | Pauline Davies  England |
Results
Placements
| Placement | Contestant |
|---|---|
| Miss Universe 1976 | |
| 1st runner-up | |
| 2nd runner-up | |
| 3rd runner-up |
|
| 4th runner-up |
|
| Top 12 |
Contestants
Seventy-two contestants competed for the title.
| Country/Territory | Contestant |
|---|---|
 American Samoa
|
Taliilani Letuli[2] |
 Argentina
|
Lilian Noemí De Asti[3] |
 Aruba
|
Cynthia Bruin |
 Australia
|
Julie Anne Ismay |
 Austria
|
Heidi-Marie Passian |
 Bahamas
|
Sharon Smith |
 Barbados
|
Jewell Nightingale |
 Belgium
|
Yvette Aelbrecht |
 Bermuda
|
Vivienne Hollis |
 Bolivia
|
Carolina Aramayo |
 Brazil
|
Katia Moretto |
 Canada
|
Normande Jacques |
 Chile
|
Verónica Sommer |
 Colombia
|
María Helena Reyes |
 Costa Rica
|
Silvia Jiménez |
| Curaçao
|
Anneke Dijkhuizen |
 Denmark
|
Brigitte Trolle |
 Dominican Republic
|
Norma Lora |
 Ecuador
|
Gilda Plaza |
 El Salvador
|
Mireya Calderón |
| England
|
Pauline Davies |
 Finland
|
Suvi Lukkarinen |
 France
|
Monique Uldaric |
 Germany
|
Birgit Margot Hamer |
 Greece
|
Melina Michailidou |
 Guam
|
Pilar Laguana |
 Guatemala
|
Blanca Montenegro |
 Holland
|
Nannetje Nielen[4] |
 Honduras
|
Victoria Alejandra Pineda |
 Hong Kong
|
Rowena Lam |
 Iceland
|
Gudmunda Hulda Johannesdottir |
 India
|
Naina Balsaver[4] |
 Indonesia
|
Juliarti Rahayu Gunawan |
 Ireland
|
Elaine O'Hara[4] |
| Israel
|
Rina Messinger |
 Italy
|
Diana Scapolan |
 Japan
|
Miyako Iwakuni |
 Liberia
|
Laurine Wede Johnson |
 Luxembourg
|
Monique Wilmes |
 Malaysia
|
Faridah Norizan |
 Malta
|
Mary Grace Ciantar |
 Mauritius
|
Marielle Tse-Sik-Sun |
 Mexico
|
Carla Jean Evert |
 New Zealand
|
Janey Kingscote |
 Nicaragua
|
Ivania Navarro[4] |
 Northern Mariana Islands
|
Candelaria Borja |
 Norway
|
Bente Lihaug |
 Panama
|
Carolina Chiari |
 Papua New Guinea
|
Eva Regina Arni |
 Paraguay
|
Nidia Fátima Cárdenas |
| Peru
|
Rocío Lazcano |
 Philippines
|
Elizabeth de Padua |
 Puerto Rico
|
Elizabeth Zayas |
 Scotland
|
Carol Jean Grant |
 Singapore
|
Linda Tham |
| Sint Maarten
|
Angela Huggins |
 South Africa
|
Cynthia Classen |
 South Korea
|
Chung Kwang-hyun |
 Spain
|
Olga Fernández |
 Sri Lanka
|
Genevieve Parsons |
 Suriname
|
Peggy Vandeleuv |
 Sweden
|
Caroline Westerberg |
 Switzerland
|
Isabelle Fischbacher |
 Thailand
|
Katareeya Areekul |
| Trinidad and Tobago
|
Margaret McFarlane |
 Turkey
|
Manolya Onur |
 United States
|
Barbara Peterson[5] |
 United States Virgin Islands
|
Lorraine Patricia Baa |
 Uruguay
|
Leila Vinas |
 Venezuela
|
Judith Castillo |
 Wales
|
Sian Adey-Jones |
 Yugoslavia
|
Svetlana Radojcic |
Notes
Debuts
Returns
Last competed in 1973:
Last competed in 1974:
Withdrawals
Belize - Janet Joan Joseph
Haiti
Jamaica - Angela Ruddock
Lebanon - Ramona Karam
Morocco
Micronesia - Instead of the region, the delegates from Northern Marianas had been represented themselves as the individual territory since then.
Did not Compete
Antigua - Cleopatra Sanders
British Virgin Islands - Irene Penn
Tahiti - Amiot Mora
Awards
Trinidad and Tobago - Miss Amity (Margaret McFarlane)[1]
England - Miss Photogenic (Pauline Davies)[1]
Peru - Best National Costume (Rocío Lazcano)
Notes
- ^ a b The event was held at 8:00 am Hong Kong Time (UTC+08:00); for the Americas, this was July 10 in their local times.
References
- ^ a b c d e "Israeli Wins Miss Universe". The News and Observer. Associated Press. 12 July 1976. p. 19. Retrieved 24 August 2023.
- ^ "Hong Kong Is Agog Over Beauty Pageant". The New York Times. 10 July 1976. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 26 August 2023.
- ^ "Kissinger, el personaje preferido" [Kissinger, the favorite character]. El Tiempo (in Spanish). 9 July 1976. pp. 3B. Retrieved 26 August 2023 – via Google News Archive.
- ^ a b c d Basu, Soma (15 February 2017). "40 years ago as competitors on stage for the Ms.Universe pageant, their looks mattered. Now their bonding and inner beauty does". The Hindu. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 25 August 2023.
- ^ "It's All a Dream World for the New Miss U.S.A." The Kansas City Times. Associated Press. May 17, 1976. p. 9. Retrieved 25 July 2023.