Miss Universe 1998

Miss Universe 1998
Date	May 12, 1998
Presenters	Jack Wagner, Ali Landry, Julie Moran
Entertainment	K-Ci & JoJo
Venue	Stan Sheriff Arena, Honolulu, Hawaii, USA
Broadcaster	CBS
Entrants	80
Placements	10
Debuts	Angola
Withdraws	Bermuda, Cook Islands, Iceland, Turks & Caicos
Returns	Ghana, Great Britain, Guam, Japan, Netherlands, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Norway, Yugoslavia
Winner	Wendy Fitzwilliam  Trinidad & Tobago
Congeniality	Asuman Krause  Turkey
Best National Costume	Wendy Fitzwilliam  Trinidad & Tobago
Photogenic	Vladimíra Hreňovčíková  Slovak Republic

Countries and territories which sent delegates and results.

Miss Universe 1998, the 47th Miss Universe pageant was held at Stan Sheriff Arena, Honolulu, Hawaii, USA on May 12, 1998. Brook Lee, Miss Universe 1997, of the USA crowned Wendy Fitzwilliam of Trinidad and Tobago as Miss Universe 1998. There were 81 contestants who competed for the crown.

Results

Placements

Final results	Contestant
Miss Universe 1998	Trinidad & Tobago - Wendy Fitzwilliam
1st runner-up	Venezuela - Veruska Ramírez
2nd runner-up	Puerto Rico - Joyce Giraud
Top 5	USA - Shawnae Jebbia  Colombia - Silvia Ortiz
Top 10	Brazil - Michella Marchi  India - Lymaraina D'Souza  South Africa - Kerishnie Naicker  Ireland - Andrea Roche  Russia - Anna Malova

Semifinal Scores

Country Interview Swimsuit Evening Gown Average Top 5 Finalists  Trinidad & Tobago 9.717 (1) 9.762 (2) 9.835 (1) 9.771 (1) 9.792 (1)  Venezuela 9.423 (3) 9.855 (1) 9.720 (2) 9.666 (2) 9.713 (2)  Puerto Rico 9.230 (6) 9.697 (3) 9.693 (3) 9.540 (3) 9.633 (3)  USA 9.267 (5) 9.625 (4) 9.505 (6) 9.466 (4) 9.382 (4)  Colombia 9.115 (7) 9.583 (5) 9.635 (4) 9.444 (5) 9.350 (5)  Brazil 9.275 (4) 9.450 (6) 9.428 (9) 9.384 (6)  India 9.492 (2) 9.108 (9) 9.443 (8) 9.348 (7)  South Africa 9.025 (8) 9.117 (8) 9.587 (5) 9.243 (8)  Ireland 8.975 (9) 9.050 (10) 9.327 (10) 9.117 (9)  Russia 8.568 (10) 9.150 (7) 9.453 (7) 9.057 (10)

Winner      First Runner-up      Second Runner-up      Top 5 Finalist      Top 10 Semifinalist (#) Rank in each round of competition

Special Awards

Award	Contestant
Best National Costume	Trinidad & Tobago - Wendy Fitzwilliam  Peru - Karim Bernal  Mexico - Katty Fuentes
Miss Congeniality	Turkey - Asuman Krause
Miss Photogenic	Slovak Republic - Vladimíra Hreňovčíková
Jantzen Best in Swimsuit	Venezuela - Veruska Ramírez
Clairol Herbal Essences Style	Mexico - Katty Fuentes

Judges

Telecast Judges

• Richard Chamberlain – American actor.
• Cindy Adams – Gossip columnist.
• María Conchita Alonso – Cuban-Venezuelan singer and actress.
• Vivienne Tam – Fashion designer.
• Elaine Farley – Senior Editor, Sports Illustrated.
• Richard Johnson – New York Post columnist.
• Shemar Moore – American actor and former male fashion model.
• Elvis Stojko – Canadian figure skating world champion.

Contestants

Angola - Emilia Guardano  Argentina - Marcela Brane  Aruba - Wendy Lacle  Australia - Renee Henderson  Bahamas - Juliette Sargent  Belgium - Sandrine Corman  Belize - Elvia Vega  Bolivia - Veronica Larrieu  Bonaire - Uzmin Everts  Brazil - Michella Marchi  British Virgin Islands - Kaida Donovan  Bulgaria - Natalia Gourkova  Canada - Juliana Thiessen  Chile - Claudia Arnello  Colombia - Silvia Ortiz  Costa Rica - Kisha Alvarado  Croatia - Ivana Grzetić  Curaçao - Natacha Bloem  Cyprus - Daniella Iordanova  Czech Republic - Kristina Fridvalská  Dominican Republic - Selines Méndez  Ecuador - Soraya Hogonaga  Egypt - Karine Fahmy  El Salvador - María Gabriela Jovel  Estonia - Mari Lawrens  Finland - Jonna Kauppila  France - Sophie Thalmann  Germany - Katharina Mainka  Ghana - Francisca Awuah  Great Britain - Leilani Dowding  Greece - Dimitra Eginiti  Guam - Joylyn Munoz  Guatemala - Astrid Ramírez  Honduras - Dania Prince  Hong Kong - Virginia Yung  Hungary - Agnes Nagy  India - Lymaraina D'Souza  Ireland - Andrea Roche  Israel - Hagit Raz  Italy - Claudia Trieste  Jamaica - Shani McGraham

Japan - Nana Okumura  Korea - Kim Ji-yeon  Lebanon - Nina Kadis  Malaysia - Sherine Wong  Malta - Carol Cassar  Mauritius - Leena Ramphul  Mexico - Katty Fuentes  Namibia - Retha Reinders  Netherlands - Jacqueline Rotteveel  New Zealand - Rosemary Rassell  Nicaragua - Claudia Alaniz  Nigeria - Chika Chikezie  Northern Marianas - Helene Yum Lizama  Norway - Stine Bergsvand  Panama - Tanisha Drummond  Paraguay - Luz Marina González  Peru - Karim Bernal  Philippines - Jewel May Lobaton  Poland - Sylwia Kupiec  Portugal - Icilia Berenguel  Puerto Rico - Joyce Giraud  Romania - Juliana Elena Verdes  Russia - Anna Malova  Singapore - Alice Lim  Slovak Republic - Vladimíra Hreňovčíková  South Africa - Kerishnie Naicker  Spain - María José Besora  Sweden - Jessica Olérs  Switzerland - Tanja Gutmann  Taiwan, R.O.C. - Annie Tsai  Thailand - Chalida Thaochalee  Trinidad & Tobago - Wendy Fitzwilliam  Turkey - Asuman Krause  Ukraine - Olena Spirina  Uruguay - Virginia Russo  USA - Shawnae Jebbia  U.S. Virgin Islands - Leah Webster  Venezuela - Veruska Ramírez  Yugoslavia - Jelena Trninić  Zimbabwe - Selina Stuart

Notes

• In 1998, Miss Universe changed its name from Miss Universe, Inc. to Miss Universe Organization. Donald Trump brought in a new team of professionals to the contest headed by its new CEO, Molly Miles, and president Maureen Reidy. Miles coined the slogan "Redefined for Today" for promotion of the pageants. That year, the new Miss Universe logo was born: The Woman with the Stars, which is still used today.
• The MUO headquarters moved from Los Angeles to New York that year.
• Trump also brought in a new team for the TV production, which was a joint venture with CBS back then. They completely redesigned the format of the contest, getting rid of national costumes, preliminary scores and voiced introductions.
• A clip of the pageant was briefly shown in the 2000 movie The Next Best Thing starring Madonna and Rupert Everett.

• Wendy Fitzwilliam (Trinidad & Tobago) is the third black winner of the Miss Universe Pageant after Janelle Commissiong, also from Trinidad & Tobago in 1977 and Chelsi Smith who competed as Miss USA in 1995.
• Dania Prince (Honduras) would later go on to win the Miss Earth 2003 title.
• Selines Méndez (Dominican Republic) was Top Model of the World 1996
• Joyce Giraud (Puerto Rico) and Miss Russia (Anna Malova) competed together in Miss World 1994. Both were unplaced.
• Andrea Roche (Ireland) competed in Miss World 1997 and went on to become the director of the Miss Universe Ireland contest.

International Broadcasters

These are some of the networks outside the United States (telecasted on CBS at the time) that showed the 1998 Miss Universe pageant live (or recorded earlier) in their respective countries and territories:

Albania: RTV21  Australia: Seven Network  Austria: TW1  Argentina: América 2  Bahamas: ZNS-TV  Bermuda: ZBM-TV  Belgium: Star!  Bolivia: Unitel  Brazil: SBT  Bulgaria: BNT 1  Canada: CBC Television  China: CCTV-1  Colombia: Caracol TV  Costa Rica: Teletica  Cyprus: Cyprus Broadcasting Corporation  Denmark: Star! Scandinavia and Showtime Scandinavia  Dominican Republic: Color Vision  Ecuador: Gama TV (Spanish)  Egypt: MBC3  El Salvador: TCS  Estonia: Star! and Viasat Baltics  Finland: MTV3, Star! Scandinavia and Showtime Scandinavia  France: Paris Première  Germany: Das Vierte (German)  Greece: ANT1  Honduras: Canal 11  Hong Kong: TVB Pearl and STAR World  Hungary: m1  Iceland: Star! Scandinavia and Showtime Scandinavia  India: DD National and STAR World  Indonesia: Indosiar (Indonesian) and STAR World  Ireland: RTE One  Israel: Arutz 2  Italy: Stream  Jamaica: Ination TV  Japan: NHK

South Korea: KBS1  Latvia: Star! and Viasat Baltics  Lebanon: LBC and MBC3  Malaysia: TV1  Malta: TVM  Mexico: Televisa  Myanmar: TV Myanmar  Namibia: NBC  Netherlands: Star!  Nicaragua: Televicentro  Norway: TV2  Panama: Telemetro  Peru: ATV  Philippines: ABC-5 and STAR World  Poland: TVP2  Portugal: RTP1  Puerto Rico: Tele Once  Romania: TVR1  Russia: C1R (Russian)  Singapore: Television Corporation of Singapore and STAR World  Spain: TVE1  Serbia: RTS  Sweden: Star! Scandinavia and Showtime Scandinavia  Switzerland: SF 1  Taiwan: CTS and STAR World  Thailand: Channel 7 (Thailand) (Thai) and STAR World  Trinidad and Tobago: CCN TV6  Turkey: NTV  United Arab Emirates: MBC3  United Kingdom: BBC One  Ukraine: UT1  USA (host country): CBS  Venezuela: Venevisión  Vietnam: VTV1 (Vietnamese) and STAR World

External links

• Miss Universe official website