Miss Universe 1959

Miss Universe 1959
Miss Universe 1959 Akiko Kojima
Date	24 July 1959
Presenters	Byron Palmer
Venue	Long Beach Municipal Auditorium, Long Beach, California, United States
Broadcaster	KTTV
Entrants	34
Placements	15
Debuts	Bolivia Burma Luxembourg
Withdrawals	Alaska Australia British Guiana Chile Paraguay Singapore Suriname Venezuela West Indies
Returns	Austria Iceland Thailand Turkey
Winner	Akiko Kojima Japan
Congeniality	Sodsai Vanijvadhana Thailand
Photogenic	Pamela Anne Searle England

Miss Universe 1959, the 8th Miss Universe pageant, was held on 24 July 1959 at Long Beach Municipal Auditorium in Long Beach, California, United States. 34 contestants competed and in the end Akiko Kojima of Japan won the competition, becoming the first Asian woman to win the title. She was crowned by Luz Marina Zuluaga from Colombia. This was the last year that the pageant was held in Long Beach before it moved to Miami Beach, Florida in 1960, before the establishment of the Miss International pageant.

Results

Miss Universe 1959 participating nations and results

Placements

Final results	Contestant
Miss Universe 1959	Japan – Akiko Kojima
1st Runner-up	Norway – Jorunn Kristjansen
2nd Runner-up	United States – Terry Lynn Huntingdon
3rd Runner-up	England – Pamela Anne Searle
4th Runner-up	Brazil – Vera Regina Ribeiro
Top 15	Belgium – Hélène Savigny Colombia – Olga Pumarejo Korkor France – Françoise Saint-Laurent Germany – Carmela Künzel Greece – Zoitsa Kouroukli † Iceland – Sigríður Þorvaldsdóttir Israel – Rina Issacov Korea – Oh Hyun-joo Poland – Zuzanna Cembrowska Sweden – Marie Louise Ekström

Contestants

• Argentina - Liana Cortijo
• Austria - Christine Spatzier
• Belgium - Hélène Savigny
• Bolivia - Corina Taborga
• Brazil - Vera Regina Ribeiro
• Burma - Than Than Aye
• Canada - Eileen Butter
• Colombia - Olga Pumajero Korkor
• Costa Rica - Zianne Monturiol
• Cuba - Irma Buesa Mas
• Denmark - Lisa Stolberg
• Ecuador - Carlota Elena Ayala
• England - Pamela Anne Searle
• France - Françoise Saint-Laurent
• Germany - Carmela Künzel
• Greece - Zoitsa Kouroukli †
• Guatemala - Rogelia Cruz Martínez †
• Hawaii - Patricia Visser
• Holland - Peggy Erwich
• Iceland - Sigríður Þorvaldsdóttir
• Israel - Rina Issacov
• Italy - Maria Grazia Buccella
• Japan - Akiko Kojima
• Korea - Oh Hyun-joo
• Luxembourg - Josée Pundel
• Mexico - Mirna García Dávila
• Norway - Jorunn Kristjansen
• Peru - Guadalupe Mariátegui Hawkins
• Poland - Zuzanna Cembrzowska
• Sweden - Marie Louise Ekström
• Thailand - Sodsai Vanijvadhana
• Turkey - Ecel Olcay
• Uruguay - Claudia Bernat
• United States - Terry Lynn Huntingdon

Notes

Debuts

• Bolivia
• Burma
• Luxembourg

Designation

• Thailand - Sodsai Vanijvadhana was appointed by the pageant organizers in that time with the coordinations from the Royal Thai Consulate in Los Angeles. Sodsai was an exchange student in UCLA at the time before she competed in the pageant.

Did not compete

• New Zealand - Arlenne Nesgitt
• Philippines - Christine Matias
• United Arab Republic - Nawal Ramli

Awards

• Thailand - Miss Friendship (Sodsai Vanijvadhana)
• England - Miss Photogenic (Pamela Anne Searle)
• Korea - Most Popular Girl (Oh Hyun-joo)