It’s a timeless question that haunted Miss International for decades: Will it finally crown a black African beauty? The pageant, however, in line with its Japanese roots, is known for its obstinacy leaving pageant observers baffled. There’s actually a lot of opportunities and reasons to crown an African winner but that is not yet happening. The closest that it came into a reality was in 2022, when Miss Cabo Verde Stephany Amado became the first runner-up.

Last year, only Côte d’Ivoire made it to the Top 15 despite strong showing from Angola, Ghana and Zimbabwe. This year, Africans will be a force to contend with. Seven African nations – Cabo Verde, Côte d’Ivoire, Ethiopia, Ghana Liberia, Nigeria, South Sudan – will be represented by beautiful, highly qualified black contestants (South Africa is sending a white candidate). According to the organization, more African countries are set to participate. However, looking at the current list, we can already see that indeed they are top notch black African contestants worthy to be crowned Miss International 2024.

Miss International is now at the crossroads and it has ran out of excuses for not crowning a black African woman. Ten years ago, for example, only two black Africans participated and none of them made it to the semis. Miss International should take advantage of the fact that more and more countries from the continent are sending delegates. It will be a shame if the question that haunted it for decades will remain unanswered.

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