Wednesday, August 19, 2009
Unnur Birna Vilhjálmsdóttir was crowned Miss World 2005 on December 10, 2005 in the Beauty Crown Theatre located in the Chinese beach city of Sanya. For the past year Unnur has been studying anthropology at the University of Iceland and next autumn she will commence her studies in law as she plans to graduate as a lawyer, as well as an anthropologist. During the summer of 2005 Unnur Birna temped as a police officer at Keflavík International Airport. She is the chairman of the college social club and teaches dance. She enjoys acting, singing, all types of dancing, snow-boarding, hiking, camping, horsemanship and has a special talent for choreography and playing the piano. Her mother, Unnur Steinsson, won the Miss Iceland pageant in 1983 and was a finalist at the 1983 Miss World pageant. Unnur's mother was 3-4 months pregnant during the 1983 pageant. This was against the pageant rules and warrants disqualification. However, this was not found out until after the pageant was over. Unnur is the third Miss World from Iceland, the former two were Linda Pétursdóttir in 1988 and Hólmfríður Karlsdóttir in 1985. Unnur's reign only lasted 9 months because the pageant was scheduled for September 2006.
1st runner-up Mexico - Dafne Molina
2nd runner-up Puerto Rico - Ingrid Marie Rivera
Finalists
Italy - Sofia Bruscoli
Korea - Oh Eun-young
Tanzania - Nancy Sumari
Semi-finalists
American Virgin Islands - Kmisha Counts
Canada - Ramona Amiri
India - Sindhura Gadde
Jamaica - Terri-Karelle Griffith
Northern Ireland - Lucy Evangelista
Philippines - Carlene Aguilar
Russia - Yulia Ivanova
South Africa - Dhiveja Sundrum
Spain - Mireia Verdú
Regional Queens
Miss World Asia Pacific: Oh Eun-young (Korea)
Miss World Northern Europe: Unnur Birna Vilhjálmsdóttir (Iceland)
Miss World Southern Europe: Sofia Bruscoli (Italy)
Miss World Caribbean: Ingrid Marie Rivera (Puerto Rico)
Miss World Americas: Dafne Molina (Mexico)
Miss World Africa: Nancy Sumari (Tanzania)
Fast Track Competitions
Beach Beauty
Winner: Russia
1st runner-up: Moldova
2nd runner-up: Mexico
Top 5 finalists: Canada, Iceland
Top 19 semifinalists: Brazil, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Hong Kong China, Italy, Jamaica, Kenya, Lebanon, New Zealand, Philippines, Slovenia, South Africa, Trinidad & Tobago, Wales
Miss Talent
Winner: American Virgin Islands
Top 5 finalists: Canada, Czech Republic, Italy, Japan
Top 16 semi-finalists:
Best Singing Act Performance: (1) American Virgin Islands, (2) Greece, (3) Slovenia
Best Original Performance: (1) Italy, (2) Korea, (3) (TIE) Costa Rica, and Uganda
Best Traditional Dance Performance: (1) Canada, (2) Scotland, (3) People's Republic of China
Best Musical Act Performance: (1) Japan, (2) Bulgaria, (3) Trinidad & Tobago
Best Dance Performance: (1) Czech Republic, (2) Jamaica, (3) Iceland
Beauty With A Purpose
Winner: Oh Eun-young (Korea)
Miss Sports
Winner: Asia Pacific
1st runner-up: Caribbean
2nd runner-up: Southern Europe
^The sports award was given to a continental group rather than an individual.
Special Award
Best World Dress Designer: Hande Subasi (Turkey)
***Philippines (Carlene Aguilar) is the first contestant from her country to compete in a previous international pageant. She was a semi-finalist in the first annual Miss Earth pageant in 2001. During Miss World, she placed in the semifinals for the fourth consecutive time. In this edition, a big sweep happened when Korea called to be one of the finalists for Miss World Asia Pacific.
