Jihan Dimack of Tanzania was crowned Miss Grand International 2026 on Saturday night at MGI Hall in Bravo BKK, Bangkok. Emma Tiglao of the Philippines placed the crown on her. It is Tanzania’s first Miss Grand International title, and the first for any African country, one year after Beatrice Alex gave the country its previous best finish as fifth runner-up.
The Philippines will not get a third straight crown. Angelica Lopez of Palawan made the Top 25 and went no further, ending a two-year run that put a Filipina in the Miss Grand International crown. She still leaves Bangkok with an award: Best National Costume, which she shared with delegates from Pakistan, Thailand and Hong Kong, for a towering piece inspired by the mangkukulam, the witch of Philippine folklore.
The Final Results
- Miss Grand International 2026: Jihan Dimack, Tanzania
- 1st runner-up: Shyare Andrade, Ecuador
- 2nd runner-up: Beau Megan Goos, Netherlands
- 3rd runner-up: Ximena Carrillo, Guatemala
- 4th runner-up: Emoura Pham, Vietnam
- 5th runners-up: Côte d’Ivoire, Cuba, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Thailand, Venezuela
- Top 25: Philippines (Angelica Lopez)
- Best National Costume (shared): Angelica Lopez, Philippines; Zara Younus, Pakistan; Patthama Jitsawat, Thailand; Xuebing Liu, Hong Kong
This year’s final cut was a Top 11. After the five finalists were named, the six semifinalists who missed the Top 5 were all declared fifth runners-up.
Tanzania’s Long Campaign Pays Off
Dimack represented Mwanza, the lakeside region on the southern shore of Lake Victoria, when she won Miss Grand Tanzania on August 8 in Dar es Salaam. She arrived in Bangkok with one of the most organized fan campaigns in the field. Going into the last week of the competition, she led both of the pageant’s major public votes: Country’s Power of the Year, at 42 percent, and the Miss Popular Vote, at 35 percent.
Fan voting can get a delegate into the semifinals at Miss Grand International. The judges decide the rest. Dimack held on to win the Miss Popular Vote, while Ecuador’s Shyare Andrade finished first in Country’s Power of the Year. Dimack then cleared the judges too, and Tanzania goes from a fifth-runner-up finish to the crown in a single year.
The Rest of the Top 5
Ecuador’s Shyare Andrade, a 22-year-old law student from Portoviejo in the coastal province of Manabí, took a fast-track spot. After the Top 25 were named, the delegate who topped a final public vote went straight into the Top 5, and that was Andrade. She came to the pageant by appointment, not a national final. Ecuador’s national pageant organization chose her after she finished in the Top 5 at Miss Universo Ecuador in August. She wears her hair short and has made the cut a signature look.
The Netherlands’ Beau Megan Goos, from the northern province of Groningen, won Miss Grand Netherlands in July in a field of nine. Her second-runner-up finish is the country’s best result at the pageant, ahead of Melissa Bottema’s fifth-runner-up placement in 2023.
Guatemala’s Ximena Carrillo won the Miss Grand Guatemala title at the Miss Guatemala contest in June. Her national costume, by designer Maximiliano Reyes, was inspired by Camazotz, the bat-like death god of the underworld in the Popol Vuh, the sacred text of the K’iche’ Maya. Guatemala’s best result is still second runner-up, by Ivana Batchelor in 2020.
Vietnam’s Emoura Pham, 26, is Vietnamese-British. She grew up in Vietnam, moved to the United States at 15, and studied at Irvine Valley College in California. She represented Ho Chi Minh City at Miss Grand Vietnam in July, where she also took the Grand Business Award for top performer in a sales challenge. Vietnam has won Miss Grand International once, with Nguyen Thuc Thuy Tien in 2021.
How Far Lopez Got
Fan support carried Lopez through the early rounds. She finished in the pre-arrival Top 10 before landing in Thailand, a run we followed ahead of the finals. Her national costume reached the Top 15 on social media points and then took a share of the Best National Costume award, alongside Pakistan, Thailand and Hong Kong. The piece was made by designer Patrick Isorena, who also designed the costumes CJ Opiaza and Emma Tiglao wore in their winning years. On the final night, Lopez made the Top 25 but not the Top 11.
The Streak That Stopped at Two
No country has won Miss Grand International three times in a row, and the Philippines came closest. Its two crowns came in different ways. Opiaza inherited the 2024 title in June 2025, after India’s Rachel Gupta resigned seven months into her reign. Tiglao won hers on coronation night last year.
Lopez also carried the weight of a franchise change. She was the first delegate sent by Reina Filipinas, the organization led by shoe designer Jojo Bragais. It took over the Philippine license this year from ALV Pageant Circle, which had sent both Opiaza and Tiglao. Tiglao stood on both sides of the night. She was the queen passing on the crown, and she is also Reina Filipinas’ national director, the person who crowned Lopez in August. The new franchise holder’s first year ends with a Top 25 finish and a shared national costume award, and both will be read as an early mark on the handover, fairly or not.
A Pageant That Changed Countries
This edition almost happened somewhere else. India was named host at last year’s final, with events planned in Jaipur, Agra and New Delhi. On September 3, Miss Grand International moved the competition to Thailand, saying the host country had failed to meet the hospitality and production standards in its contract. The pageant opened on schedule on September 18 with 78 delegates, and it ended with a crown for a country that had never come closer than fifth runner-up.