The Miss Hawaii USA competition, previously known as Miss Hawaii Universe, is a

beauty pageant A beauty pageant is a competition that has traditionally focused on judging and ranking the physical attributes of the contestants. Pageants have now evolved to include inner beauty, with criteria covering judging of personality, intelligence, ...

that selects the representative for the state of

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only stat ...

in the Miss USA pageant. Kiana Yamat of

Honolulu Honolulu (; ) is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Hawaii, which is in the Pacific Ocean. It is an unincorporated county seat of the consolidated City and County of Honolulu, situated along the southeast coast of the island ...

was crowned Miss Hawaii USA 2022 on February 19, 2022 at Hawaii Convention Center in Honolulu. She represented Hawaii for the title of Miss USA 2022.

History

Hawaii is the most recent state to participate in Miss USA, first competing in 1962. Prior to being admitted to full statehood in 1959, it sent delegates to

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 ...

. Despite the late start, it has been one of the most successful: Hawaii's first Miss Hawaii USA,

Macel Wilson Macel Patricia Leilani Wilson (born May 5, 1943) is the first Asian American to win the Miss USA beauty pageant (which happened in 1962), a film editor for the Danish Broadcasting Corporation, and a visual artist. Miss USA 1962 In 1962, she bec ...

, won the Miss USA title. Four Miss USA winners came from Hawaii, one of four states with four titles (only second to

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

and

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

). Though many Miss USA winners and semifinalists came from Hawaii, relatively few have placed as runners-up. Two previously competed at Miss Teen USA. Kelly Hu,

Miss Teen USA 1985 Miss Teen USA 1985, the 3rd Miss Teen USA pageant, was televised live from the James L. Knight International Center Arena in Miami, Florida on 22 January 1985. At the conclusion of the final competition, Kelly Hu of Hawaii was crowned by outgo ...

, became the first

Miss Teen USA Miss Teen USA is a beauty pageant formerly run, since 1983, by the Miss Universe Organization for girls aged 14–19. Unlike its sister pageants Miss Universe, which currently broadcasts on Fox and Miss USA, this pageant is webcast on the Mis ...

winner to win a Miss title, in 1993. Many Miss Hawaii USA titleholders competed at a number of international pageants. Similar to Miss South Carolina USA, there was one Miss Hawaii USA that competed at

Miss World Miss World is the oldest existing international beauty pageant. It was created in the United Kingdom by Eric Morley in 1951. Since his death in 2000, Morley's widow, Julia Morley, has co-chaired the pageant. Along with Miss Universe, Miss Int ...

. Another one competed at

Miss International Miss International (''Miss International Beauty'' or ''The International Beauty Pageant'') is a Japan-based international beauty pageant organized by the International Culture Association. First held in 1960, it is the fourth largest pageant i ...

. Four of the winners competed at

, after winning Miss USA. Six titleholders represented the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

at major international pageants, with Miss Hawaii USA 1997, Brook Lee, winning the title of

Miss USA 1997 Miss USA 1997 was the 46th Miss USA pageant, held at Shreveport, Louisiana in January and February, 1997. Delegates arrived in the city on January 19, the preliminary competition was held on February 2, 1997 and the final competition on Februar ...

and capturing the crown of Miss Universe 1997, one of only 8 Miss USA winners to become

in the history of the pageant.

Gallery of titleholders

File:TeriAnnLinn in 2009.jpg,

Teri Ann Linn Teri Ann Linn (born April 7, 1961) is an American actress and singer who also worked in Finland and Italy. She originated the role of Kristen Forrester Dominguez on ''The Bold and the Beautiful'', appearing regularly from 1987 to 1990, briefly ...

, Miss Hawaii USA 1981 at her

Punahou School Punahou School (known as Oahu College until 1934) is a private, co-educational, college preparatory school in Honolulu, Hawaii. More than 3,700 students attend the school from kindergarten through twelfth grade, 12th grade. Protestant missionar ...

reunion in June 2009 File:Miss Hawaii USA 1990 parade.jpg, Leimomi Bacalso, Miss Hawaii USA 1990 in the 1989 Mililani Town Christmas Parade File:KellyHu.jpg, Kelly Hu, Miss Hawaii USA 1993 and

, at a public event File:Brook Lee.JPG, Brook Lee, Miss Hawaii USA 1997,

and Miss Universe 1997 File:Chelsea Hardin King Kamehameha Parade 2016 cropped.jpg,

Chelsea Hardin Chelsea Keolani Hardin (born September 5, 1991) is an American model, public speaker, and beauty pageant titleholder who was crowned Miss Hawaii USA 2016. She was the first runner-up to Deshauna Barber of District of Columbia at Miss USA 2016. E ...

, Miss Hawaii USA 2016

Results summary

Placements

*Miss USAs:

(1962), Tanya Wilson (1972),

Judi Andersen Judi Andersen Harrison ( née Andersen; born October 11, 1958) is an American actress, model, and beauty pageant titleholder from Hawaii who was crowned Miss USA 1978. Andersen was born in Honolulu, and attended Punahou School before moving ...

(1978), Brook Lee (1997) *1st runner-up:

(2016) *2nd runner-up: Blanche Leialoha Maa (1979) *4th runner-up:

(1981) *Top 6: Kelly Hu (1993) *Top 8/10/11/12: Lois Wise (1975), Cely De Castro (1977), Vanessa Dubois (1982),

Tina Machado Tina Marie Machado, formerly Placourakis, (born 1960) is an Arizona businesswoman, former model, actress, karate champion, and Miss Hawaii USA. Hawaii Tina Marie Machado was born in Hawaii in 1960, one of four children of Marie and Harold Macha ...

(1985), Kym Digman (1991), Nadine Tanega (1994), Alicia Michioka (2003), Chanel Wise (2007), Angela Byrd (2011), Emma Wo (2015), Samantha Neyland (2020) *Top 15: Elithe Aguiar (1965), Judith Wolski (1966), Carol Seymour (1968), Stephanie Quintana (1969), Lacie Choy (2019) Hawaii holds a record of 24 placements at Miss USA.

Awards

*Miss Congeniality: Ku'ualoha Taylor (1996), Michelle Kaplan (2000) *Miss Photogenic: Kelly Hu (1993) *Style Award: Lynn Vesnefski (1995)

Winners

;Color key ;Notes to table

References

External links

Miss Hawaii USA official webpage
{{Miss Universe countries and territories

Hawaii culture Women in Hawaii