Miss Universe New Zealand is a national beauty pageant in New Zealand which selects the delegates to participate in the international Miss Universe competition. Qualification for Miss Universe New Zealand is based on regional pageants and/or personal interviews (necessary due to lack of regional pageant in some areas).
New Zealanders have contested 44 Miss Universe pageants since its inception in 1952 and is one of 33 countries to win the title. After no entrants were sent to Miss Universe in 2004 and 2005, a new national pageant, Miss Universe New Zealand, was created in 2006.
New Zealand's most successful entrant came in 1983 when Lorraine Downes won the Miss Universe title. The country's only other top five placing came when Delyse Nottle was second runner-up to Shawn Weatherly in 1980. New Zealand has also had three semi-finalist placings, in 1962, 1981 and 1992.
New Zealand is one of only 12 countries to win two or more Miss Photogenic awards, won by Carole Robinson (1969), Delyse Nottle (1980), and Samantha MacClung (2015).
The pageant will allow between the ages of 18 and 27 and are a New Zealand citizen.
Miss Universe New Zealand 2024 marked the show's return after a hiatus since 2019. It was held in the Dorothy Winstone Centre, 16 Howe Street, Freemans Bay, Auckland, on Sunday, 29 September 2024. The grand final was broadcast live via the official Facebook page. The preliminary interview was held on Friday, September 27, 2024, at Cordis Hotel, Auckland, New Zealand.
At the end of the event, Victoria Velasquez Vincent of Auckland was crowned Miss Universe New Zealand 2024 by Diamond Langi of Auckland.[4]
The delegates who represented New Zealand at Miss Universe 1992-1996 also represented New Zealand at Miss World the year before they competed at Miss Universe. The only one of these delegates to place at Miss World was Lisa de Montalk, who was a semi-finalist in both pageants.