Miss Ethiopia is the name of a beauty contest in Ethiopia that no recent organisation or individual owns uncontested rights to. The official Miss Ethiopia contest used to be organised during the reign of Emperor Haile Selassie, but the contest was ended during the Derg regime.
In 2003 Miss Ethiopia World, the first national contest in Ethiopia where the winners went to international beauty contests, was organized for the first time in many years in Ethiopia; prior to that the largest contest was the Miss Addis Ababa contest which the winner did not attend any international pageant. Since the Miss Ethiopia World contest began in 2003 many individuals in Ethiopia have tried to emulate this idea and organize various beauty pageants in Ethiopia and thus falsely claim exclusive ownership of the name Miss Ethiopia. As a result the name Miss Ethiopia has become generic, and refers to any girl representing Ethiopia at an international beauty pageant.
The Miss Ethiopia World beauty pageant started in 2003 was the most recognised and pioneering national pageant in Ethiopia with a clear objective; it is owned and organized by London-based Ethiopian Life Foundation, which is the largest producer of beauty pageants in Ethiopia which aimed to use Miss Ethiopia World to promote community-based outreach programmes in Ethiopia dealing with HIV/Aids; however it did not get support from any of the NGO or government organisations in Ethiopia, nevertheless Miss Ethiopia World 2003 was the first Ethiopian beauty queen to participate in Miss International 2003 and Miss Tourism of the Globe 2003.
Following that 2003 event, beauty pageants have flourished in Ethiopia.
The official government license issued to conduct Miss Ethiopia is owned by Wossenne Hailu, the last Miss Ethiopia to be crowned in Emperor Haile Selassie's reign.
Ethiopian Village Adventure, a travel company based in Addis Ababa, recently claimed that it is the organizer and was responsible for the Miss Ethiopia pageant, but failed to provide any independent or verifiable information regarding its claims to ownership, thus its status validity and ownership is challenged by many individuals in Ethiopia.
This version of Miss Ethiopia also lacks the national and traditional international recognition and legitimacy associated with national Miss pageants, as she does not represent Ethiopia at any international beauty pageant, the first edition of this version of the pageant was held in January 2008 In Addis Ababa. Chunna Okok Ujulu was crowned in a pageant that was seen by many in Ethiopia as lacking transparency and meeting established standards of quality due to the strong criticism and resentment by the public that the eventual winner did not appear to be the most beautiful girl on the night. Her duties and responsibility remain undefined.
Just as in most countries, several local and national beauty pageants are organised every year in Ethiopia, some for the purpose of sending delegates to the many international beauty pageants and most carry different permutations of Miss Ethiopia.
