In a convention-breaking turn of events, Kevin Lilliana of Indonesia was crowned Miss International 2017 on November 14 at the Tokyo Dome City Hall in Tokyo, Japan. The 21-year-old model from Bandung, West Java bested 68 other international candidates and was crowned by incumbent titleholder, Kylie Verzosa of the Philippines.
Both her 1st and 2nd Runners-Up improved their showings in their previous respective pageant stints. 1st Runner-Up was Curacao‘s Chanelle de Lau, who competed in the 65th Miss Universe Pageant last January in Manila and 2nd Runner-Up was Venezuela‘s Diana Croce, who competed in Miss World 2016. 3rd Runner-Up was Amber Dew of Australia and 4th Runner-Up was host delegate Natsuki Tsutsui of Japan.
It was the first time the pageant made another cut after announcing the semi-finalists. Rounding up the Top 8 and participating in the Speech Round were Ashley Powell of the United Kingdom, Jocelyn Mieles of Ecuador, and Phounesup Phonnyotha from first-time participant Laos.
Completing the Top 15 (in alphabetical order by country) were: Pihla Koivuniemi of Finland, Abigail Martey of Ghana, Vanessa Villars of Honduras, Dareyls Santos of Panama, Petra Valiarová of Slovakia, Tayla Skye Robinson of South Africa, and Ratiyaporn Chookeaw of Thailand. This marks Slovakia’s first placement since 2000, South Africa’s first since 1965, and Ghana’s first-ever since debuting last year.
The “Continental Queen” Awardees were:
Miss International-Africa: Ghana-Abigail Martey
Miss International-Americas: Bolivia-Carla Maldonado
Miss International-Asia: Korea- Seung-Yoo Nam
Miss International-Europe: United Kingdom-Ashley Powell
Miss International-New Zealand: New Zealand-Michelle Isemonger
While the special awardees, all from the eventual Top 5, were:
Best National Costume: Japan-Natsuki Tsutsui
Miss Perfect Body: Australia-Amber Dew
Best Dresser: Indonesia-Kevin Lilliana
Complete review coming soon! For now, congratulations, Kevin and to her entire country, Indonesia!
