Alice Panikian ( hy, Ալիսա Փանիկյան; bg, Алис Паникян) (born May 23, 1985) is a Bulgarian-Canadian journalist, TV host, model and beauty pageant titleholder who was crowned

Miss Universe Canada The Miss Universe Canada or "The Beauties of Canada" is a national beauty pageant in Canada, which sends its winners to the Miss Universe pageant. The Beauties of Canada Organization gained the exclusive rights to send a Canadian representativ ...

2006 and Miss Reinado Internacional del Cafe 2006. She attended

William Lyon Mackenzie Collegiate Institute , motto_translation = Merit has its own reward , city = Toronto , province = Ontario , postalcode = M3H 5R2 , country = Canada , coordinates = , school ...

in Toronto, and graduated in 2003. At 6'0" (1.83 m) she is not only the tallest major national titleholder in Canadian history, but also had earned a significant amount of attention from the world press as one of the strongest candidates to succeed to then-reigning

Miss Universe Miss Universe is an annual international beauty pageant that is run by a United States and Thailand based Miss Universe Organization.Natalie Tadena (July 2, 2015"Donald Trump's Miss USA Pageant Lands on Reelz Cable Channel". ''The Wall Stre ...

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, also from Canada. As no country has ever won the title back-to-back (later achieved by

Dayana Mendoza Dayana Sabrina Mendoza Moncada (born 1 June 1986) is a Venezuelan actress, model, film producer and director. She is also a former beauty queen, winner of the titles of Miss Venezuela 2007 and Miss Universe 2008. Dayana Mendoza, in 2012, parti ...

and

Stefanía Fernández Stefanía Fernández Krupij (born 4 September 1990) is a Venezuelan journalist, model and beauty queen who won the Miss Venezuela 2008 and Miss Universe 2009 titles. She earned a Guinness World Records by being the first Miss Universe winner w ...

in 2009, both of them from

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), Panikian had a significant historical hurdle to jump despite many pundits who argue that she was an even stronger candidate than her predecessor. Panikian did not become Miss Universe 2006 (that honour went to

Zuleyka Rivera Zuleyka Jerrís Mendoza Rivera (born October 3, 1987) is a Puerto Rican actress, TV host, dancer, model and beauty queen who won Miss Universe 2006 in Los Angeles. She was previously crowned Miss Puerto Rico Universe 2006. She made her debut as ...

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), but she did finish in sixth place. She is the last Canadian representative to place at the Miss Universe until 2016. Panikian enjoys writing short stories, and her hobbies include volleyball and yoga. Panikian is of

Bulgarian Bulgarian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the country of Bulgaria * Bulgarians, a South Slavic ethnic group * Bulgarian language, a Slavic language * Bulgarian alphabet * A citizen of Bulgaria, see Demographics of Bulgaria * Bul ...

and

Armenian Armenian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Armenia, a country in the South Caucasus region of Eurasia * Armenians, the national people of Armenia, or people of Armenian descent ** Armenian Diaspora, Armenian communities across the ...

ancestry, which comes through her paternal grandfather and accounts for her Armenian surname. She came to Canada with her parents when she was five years old. Panikian studied at

York University York University (french: Université York), also known as YorkU or simply YU, is a public university, public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is Canada's fourth-largest university, and it has approximately 55,700 students, 7,0 ...

and majored in English and Communications. She studied broadcast journalism and resides in

Toronto, Ontario Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

, and aspires to be a

journalist A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalism ...

or a TV show host. Before becoming Miss Universe Canada, Panikian represented Canada at the 2006 Reinado Internacional del Café or International Queen of Coffee pageant, held in

Manizales Manizales () is a city in central Colombia. It is the capital of the Caldas Department, Department of Caldas, and lies near the Nevado del Ruiz volcano. Currently, the city is the main center for the production of Colombian coffee and an importa ...

Colombia Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Car ...

on January 9, where she became the first Canadian winner in the history of the pageant. She also took the "Miss Photogenic" and "Best in Swimsuit" awards at the Miss Universe Canada Pageant."
Alice Panikian, New Miss Universe Canada 2006
'", Women Diary, March 31, 2006 Panikian was supposed to represent Canada and compete at

Miss International 2007 Miss International 2007, the 47th Miss International pageant, was held on October 15, 2007 at The Prince Park Tower in Tokyo, Japan. 61 contestants from all over the world competed for the crown. Miss International 2006, Daniela Di Giacomo ...

held in Tokyo, Japan, but due to schedule conflicts in university, she did not compete. Justine Stewart took her place.

References

External links

Official siteInterview with Alice
*http://www.fashionmodeldirectory.com/models/alice_panikian, Fashion model directory *http://james-valone.livejournal.com/6363.html {{DEFAULTSORT:Panikian, Alice 1985 births Living people Bulgarian emigrants to Canada Bulgarian people of Armenian descent Female models from Ontario Canadian people of Armenian descent Miss Universe 2006 contestants Miss Universe Canada winners Naturalized citizens of Canada People from Toronto Canadian beauty pageant winners