Miss Belarus Beauty Pageant

Miss Belarus is a beauty pageant competition among girls that has been held every two years since 1998. Winners take part in Miss Europe, Miss International, Top Model of the World, Miss Supranational. They also represent Belarus in Miss World.

The main prize is a crown made form100 grams of 585th-grade white gold and about half a thousand precious and semi-precious stones. Girls aged 18 to 24 years who have never been married and have no children can attend Miss Belarus.

Svetlana Kruk became the first Miss Belarus in 1998. Two years later, Anna Stychinskaya became the winner. In this article, we will tell you about the next ten finalists of the contest from 2002 to 2021.

Miss Belarus 2002

In 2002, Olga Nevdakh received the title of Miss Belarus. At the time of the contest, she was 21 years old.

After participating in Miss Belarus, Olga went to the World Performing Arts Championship in Los Angeles. There she became the absolute champion in the Model nomination. Olga also participated in Miss Europe 2002 and Miss World 2003.

Olga was born in the Brest region. There is little information about the girl's biography before she became Miss Belarus. In 2002, her daughter was born, so she had to stop her modeling career. In 2007, Olga graduated from the Institute of Modern Knowledge in Minsk with a degree in cultural studies. She worked in Sergei Nagorny's Fashion Studio and managed its Brest office. In 2021, Olga lived in Moscow and worked as a manager of several IT schools.

Miss Belarus 2004

Olga Antropova became Miss Belarus 2004. At the time of participation in the competition, Olga was 21 years old. Olga also participated in Miss World 2005.

Olga Antropova was born in Polotsk, the Vitebsk region. At the age of 18, she moved to Tokyo, where she worked as a contract model. Two years later, Olga returned home and decided to participate in Miss Belarus.

The victory brought Olga several contracts with American modeling agencies. For 4 years of living in America, Olga suspended her modeling career and studied at design courses. After returning to Belarus, she began working in the design field.

Now Olga is engaged in interior design in Minsk and sometimes shoots for brands.

Miss Belarus 2006

Ekaterina Litvinova became the winner of the competition in 2006. She also participated in Miss World 2006 that had been held in Warsaw.

Ekaterina was born in Mogilev. There she received an economic education at the Belarusian-Russian University. At the time of participation in Miss Belarus, she was 22 years old.

This was not Ekaterina's first modeling contest. At the age of 14, she participated in the children's competition "Supermodel of Belarus". Her mom sent photos of the girl to different agencies. The girl worked as a model and participated in small competitions. At the age of 17, an Italian company offered her a modeling contract. However, Ekaterina refused the contract and continued her studies in Mogilev.

After winning Miss Belarus 2006, Ekaterina engaged herself in modeling and moved to Minsk. At first, Ekaterina worked as the head of the marketing department of the Belarusian brand SERGE and taught fashion shows at the National Beauty School. In 2021, she became a TV presenter of the Belarusian channel and a teacher at the Belroskino acting school.

Miss Belarus 2008

The title Miss Belarus — 2008 was received by Volha Khizhynkova. She also became a participant in the Miss World 2008 pageant.

Volha Khizhynkova was born in a peasant family in 1986 in the village of Zaborovye, the Vitebsk region. Before participating in the Miss Belarus, she graduated from the College of Light Industry in Vitebsk.

After winning the contest, Volha became a model and a fashion show teacher at the National Beauty School in Minsk. For about 10 years, she was the face of the Belarusian brand "Conte Elegant".

In 2016, she graduated the Institute of Journalism of the Belarusian State University and went to work in the press services of the TV channel ONT and Belkoopsoyuza. She was also the press secretary of the Dynamo Brest football club.

In 2020, due to participation in protest actions in Minsk, Volha was convicted. She spent a total of 42 days in prison. Then she was fired from television and from the National Beauty School.

Judging by the Facebook page, at the time of writing this article, Volha is helping homeless animals.

Miss Belarus 2010

Lyudmila Yakimovich was born in Grodno and graduated from the Belarusian Institute of Jurisprudence with a degree in Legal Psychology. At the age of 23, she became the winner of Miss Belarus 2010, despite the fact that her height (172 cm) was less than the required 175 cm.

Before participating in the contest, Lyudmila did not attend modeling schools and was far from modeling business. However, after the victory, she participated also in Miss World 2010 and Miss Supranational 2012. At Miss Supranational 2012, Lyudmila Yakimovich became the first vice-miss.

In 2012, she got married and moved first to Latvia, and then to New York. Now Lyudmila is a model at Q Models Management NYC.

Miss Belarus 2012

One of the youngest winners of the contest was Julia Skalkovich. She received the title of Miss Belarus at the age of 20, where she represented Brest. At the time of participation in the competition, the girl studied at the Brest State Technical University as an architect.

After the victory, many modeling agencies wanted to sign a contract with Miss Belarus, but Julia chose China. After the contract ended, she returned to Brest, started her own business and began baking cakes.

Miss Belarus 2014

Victoria Miganovich received the title of Miss Belarus at the age of 21, representing the city of Smorgon. Like most of the winners, she also participated in Miss World.

After the victory, Victoria graduated from the Minsk Medical College and worked as a dental assistant. At that time, she got married and had a baby. Later, she also graduated from the Faculty of Law.

At the time of writing this article, Victoria is working as a cosmetologist, and conducting art therapy.

Miss Belarus 2016

The first winner of the contest from Minsk —Polina Borodacheva. She became Miss Belarus at the age of 23, after which she also participated in Miss World.

In her interviews, the girl says that she is half Russian and half Belarusian. Another interesting fact about Polina: she donated to charity a car that she won.

At the time of writing this article, Polina is living in Nice with her daughter, traveling and shooting as a model.

Miss Belarus 2018

The second Miss Belarus from Minsk was Maria Vasilevich. She was born in 1997. In 2014, she entered the BSU Faculty of Public Administration, Management and Economics.

After winning Miss Belarus, Maria also received the title of Miss World Europe 2018 and took 5th place in Miss World 2018.

The girl did not continue her modeling career. In 2019, she became an editor at Belteleradiocompany and got a job as a presenter on the Belarus 1 TV channel. In the same year, the President of Belarus awarded her "For Spiritual Rebirth" — "for her significant contribution to the development of international cultural cooperation and active charity work".

In the fall of 2019, Maria became a candidate for deputy and entered Parliament, becoming the youngest deputy of the House of Representatives. She stands for the improvement of the education system, systematization and updating of existing normative legal acts to meet modern realities.

Now Maria continues her political career. The girl is also a member of the Permanent Commission on Human Rights, National Relations and the Media. She is also a member of the National Assembly's groups for cooperation with the parliaments of Belgium, Brunei, India, Poland and Saudi Arabia.

Miss Belarus 2021

Daria Goncharevich became the winner of Miss Belarus at the age of 18. This is the second youngest finalist. The first youngest Miss Belarus was Anna Stychinskaya aging 16.

Daria was born in Minsk and still lives there. She started her modeling career before participating in Miss Belarus, at the age of 12. She also has a specialized education: she graduated from the Minsk Linguistic and Humanitarian College.

Now Daria works as a model and teacher at the National Beauty School. The girl also cooperates with Belarusian brands and creates clothes for herself.

Interesting facts about Miss Belarus

Eight of the eleven winners are brown-haired women.
Among the winners, the most common name is Olga.
The height of the tallest Miss Belarus, Olga Khizhynkova, is 186 cm.
In addition to the precious crown, special prizes are awarded to the winners. For example, the first Miss Belarus 1998, Svetlana Kruk, received $300 and an electric kettle. These were great gifts for that time.
Miss Belarus Maria Vasilevich entered the TOP 5 of the most prestigious Miss World beauty pageant and won the Miss World Europe title. This is the best result for Belarusians.

Photo: mod-no.com