Miss Iraq

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OFFICIAL NAME IN ARABIC: ملكة جمال العراق

Titles awarded in the pageant (Arabic)

ملكة الجمال-1

2- فاتنة العراق

3- ملكة الحسن

4- فاتنة سن المراهقة

5- اميرة الجمال

And a special award of Audience favorite is called محبوبة الجماهير in Arabic.

In the mid 1930’s, an Iraqi Photoshop by the name of ARSHAK started handpicking annually the photo of the fairest women in Baghdad and labeling them beauty queens of the year, when more and more women started to take snap shots at this very special photo lab, the owner started offering a small entry slip which women had to fill out with their names and ages to compete for a beauty title.

In 1934 the very first MISS BAGHDAD was elected, the following year similar events took place in Basra and Nineveh.

In December 1947 the very first MISS IRAQ was crowned, Renee Dangoor was elected as the new and first ever Iraq’s Beauty Queen, she also held the title of Baghdad’s Beauty Queen which she had won earlier in April.

In the early years married women were allowed to compete, and in 1957 new regulations stipulated that single women only are allowed to enter the contest.

In 1958 scholarships were offered to the winners, however these scholarships didn’t last for long and were stopped in 1963, and beauty was the main characteristic in judging the entrants, they usually appeared in spring festivals and parades and later in the 1970’s the winners were offered jobs in Television and some advertised beauty products on Iraqi Television.

In 1972 the semi finals were introduced. In the early years, all participants were judged in swimsuit, interview and evening gowns and then 7 finalists were named and eventually the runners up and winners were crowned.

The number of entrants was between 15-30 contestants and in 1990 a new policy began of admitting only 20 contestants for the pageant.

In 1990 a system similar to the Miss Israel pageant was introduced, the winner still called Iraq’s Beauty Queen, other titles were introduced so instead of a first, second , third , fourth and fifth runners up, there were Iraq’s Maiden of Beauty, Iraq’s Queen of Grace , Iraq’s Teen Queen, and Iraq’s Princess of Beauty.

The title of Princess of Beauty is not always handed out( This title returned in 2007), and in the year 2000 the title of Audience favorite was introduced, this is a title handed out by allowing the audience attending the show to submit the name of their favorite contestant, and also in 2004 for the first time ever, Internet viewers could also vote for the holder of this special honor.

The semi finals were removed from the pageants that were held between 2002 -2005.

In 1988 EDITH NOURI, a French entrepreneur , married to an Iraqi citizen and an Iraqi citizen herself purchased the MISS IRAQ title from the IRAQI STATE ORGANIZATION FOR TOURISM who has been organizing the pageant since 1950 (after having purchased the right from ARSHAK).

Mrs. Nouri set up the MISS IRAQ COMMITTEE in 1988 and redefined the pageant adding a sense of philanthropic side to the title, unlike previous winners who only attended gala events and parades, the new winners had a contract that stipulates fund raisers and other charitable events that helped the community.

In 1998, the committee introduced the Super Model of Iraq search and the Elite Model look –Iraq model search in an effort to encourage young women to enter the modeling industry and help Iraqi fashion designers, stylists and jewelers to display their creations during these events.

In 1999 the MISTER IRAQ pageant started its debut.

In 2002 Edith Nouri started the MARDUK ENTERTAINMENT COMPANY in an effort to turn these events into annual TV productions and she wanted to add the EUROVISION IRAQ SONG CONTEST, which proved to be an unsuccessful venture, so in 2003 she stared a new company called MISS IRAQ ORGANIZATION, then when some business partners pulled out, Edith was not torn by the down falls that almost brought these events to a halt, she started IRAQ MODEL MANAGEMENT in November 2003.

After the American Invasion of Iraq, Edith decided to leave Iraq and to return to her native France, she still organized the events, however this time they were moved to Kenya, just like the 1991 MISS IRAQ pageant that was moved to New York City, she then decided to sell the company to the holder of the 2005 MISTER IRAQ Title, Mr. Ahmed T. Kadret who bought the company in July 2005, Edith was involved in the organization of the 2006 Mister and Miss Iraq pageants and then left to France.

The 2006 events were organized under the new company name TALAT MODEL MANAGEMENT.a subsidiary of the Talat Organization.

Talat Model Management, producers of the MISS IRAQ®, MR. IRAQ® and IRAQ’S SUPER MODEL OF IRAQ® Competitions. As of 2008 TALAT PAGEANTS LLC will be producing these contests. The Pageants were never turned into Television shows, but the Talat Organizations seeks to obtain a Viacom license for MTV and start MTV Iraq which aims to turn these events into Live Television Broadcasts.

[edit] Past Winners

Year	Miss Iraq	Comments
2007	Anais Catala
2006	Silva Sahagian	DID NOT COMPETE Intended for Miss Universe 2006
2005	Payal Tilvawala	DID NOT COMPETE - Intended for Miss World 2005
2004	Christian Steves	Runner Up at the 2004 Miss Meditterranean pageant
2003	Gwen Cripps	DNC -Intended for Miss World 2003
2002	Anisa Abdi	DNC-Intended for Miss Universe 2002
2001	Yeala Segman
2000	Daniela Lednicer
1999	Mays El Qaraguli
1998	Ban Kadret	DNC-Denied entry into Miss World 1998 because of sanctios on Iraq, This is the year where the organizers obtained the License for Miss World
1997	Dina Ramel
1996	Alaa Abdul Hadi
1995	Nibras Al Hadithi
1994	Daniela Tchervenkova
1993	Ivana Kohut
1992	Iman Zorlak
1991	Emira Hajaj
1990	Nurdan Peker
1989	Boran Ahmed
1988	Alia Yacoub
1987	Lamya Kadret
1986	Helen Dawood
1985	Sally Nouman
1984	Souad Yaco
1983	Tara Hikmet
1982	Suzanne Barak
1981	Narjis Sameer
1980	Kareema Salman
1979	Niveen Ahmed
1978	Sivan Najeeb
1977	Somar Abdul Wahid
1976	Layla Al Sheikhly
1975	Silvia Al Sayegh
1974	Rusul Barak
1973	Khouloud Murad El Sheikh
1972	Wijdan Burham El Deen Sulyman	competed at the 1972 Miss Universe Pageant
1971	Nazik Al Shali
1970	Shehinaz Bakir
1969	Wahida Yousif
1968	Badeea Jamal
1967	Fawziya Chechan
1966	Aida Al Askari
1965	Kholuoud Saleh
1964	Rania Al Damirci
1963	Ekbal Neshaat
1962	Madeeha Saeed
1961	Nawal Talat
1960	Da'ad Mousa
1959	Sabeeha Mahmoud
1958	Ghaniya Hikmet
1957	Sabreeya Hussein
1956	Shakeeba Saleh
1955	Mavra Ramos
1954	Saleema Al Iraqiya
1953	Saleema Dijla
1952	Baheeja Mansour
1951	Noureeya Mutee
1950	Camilla Barak
1949	Marie Konke
1948	Sabeeha Amer
1947	Renee Dangoor