# Miss Grand Nicaragua

Miss Grand Nicaragua is an annual national women's beauty pageant in Nicaragua founded by a León-based designer "Saúl Benítez" in 2020, aiming to select the country representative to compete at Miss Grand International. Formerly, throughout 2014–2017, the license of the contest belonged to Miss Mundo Nicaragua and Miss Nicaragua but the country representatives were either appointed or determined through the main contest of such organizations.
The first time ever Miss Grand Nicaragua was María Alejandra Gross Rivera from Managua. The reining Miss Grand Nicaragua is Isabella Salgado from Chinandega. She will represent Nicaragua at Miss Grand International 2024 in Cambodia and Thailand, on 25 October 2024.

## Background
### History

Nicaragua competed at Miss Grand International for the first time in 2014, by María Alejandra Gross, the appointed representative from Managua. In 2016, the Miss Nicaragua, headed by Karen Celebertti, had obtained the license for the 2016–2017, then the country representatives were elected via such a national competition. After an absence in 2018, the León-based designer Saúl Benítez later purchased the license in the following year, however, his first two affiliated titleholders – Vanessa Baldizón and Teresa Moreno – were designated without organizing the contest, both of them were the national finalists of Miss Nicaragua 2017.
In 2021, Benítez ran the first Miss Grand Nicaragua contest on 8 August at José de la Cruz Mena Municipal Theater of the León city, aiming to determine the country representative for the 2021 and 2022 editions of Miss Grand International. The contest consisted of 9 candidates from 7 departments, including Boaco, Granada, León, Managua, RACCN, RACCS, and Río San Juan, of which, both Managua and the RACCN was sending 2 delegates to take part. In the final round, Epifanía Solís of Managua together with Maycrin Jáenz of Granada were sequentially announced Miss Grand Nicaragua 2021 and 2022.
Since the debutant in 2014, to date, none of Nicaragua's representatives been qualified for the further round on the international stage. However, the 2021 candidate, Epifanía Solís, was placed among the top 10 best in a swimsuit competition, one of the sub-contests in Miss Grand International 2021 pageant.

## Editions
### Date and venue

| Year | Edition | Date | Venue | Entrants | Ref. |
| 2021 | 1st | 8 August | José de la Cruz Mena Municipal Theater, León | 9 | |
| 2023 | 2nd | 24 May | Holiday Inn Managua - Convention Center, Managua | 12 | |

### Results

| Year | Miss Grand Nicaragua | Runners-up | Runners-up | Runners-up | Runners-up | Runners-up | Runners-up | Ref. |
| Year | Miss Grand Nicaragua | 1st runner-up | 2nd runner-up | 3rd runner-up | 4th runner-up | 5th runner-up | 6th runner-up | Ref. |
| 2021 | Epifanía Solís (Managua) | Magdalena Jarquín (RACCN) | Krizzia Chang (RACCS) | Mayela Chamorro (Río San Juan) | Not awarded | Not awarded | Not awarded | |
| 2021 | Maycrin Jáenz (Granada) | Magdalena Jarquín (RACCN) | Krizzia Chang (RACCS) | Mayela Chamorro (Río San Juan) | Not awarded | Not awarded | Not awarded | |
| 2023 | Glennys Medina (Rivas) | Gabriela Saballos (Managua) | Yolaina Guillén (Madriz) | Lisseth Palacios (Masaya) | Keytel Price (RACCS) | Esther Ruiz (León) | Mayerlin Sánchez (Carazo) | |

#### Notes

* ↑ As Miss Grand Nicaragua 2021
* ↑ As Miss Grand Nicaragua 2022

## International competition

The following is a list of Nicaragua representatives at the Miss Grand International contest.

### Color key

* Declared as winner
* Ended as runner-up (top 5)
* Ended as one of the finalists (top 10)
* Ended as one of the semifinalists (top 20/21)
* Ended as special awards winner
| Year | Department | Representative | Placement | Other awards | Original national title | National director | Ref. |
| 2024 | Chinandega | Isabella Salgado | Unplaced | — | 3rd runner-up Miss Nicaragua 2022 | Saúl Benítez | |
| 2023 | Rivas | Glennys Medina | Unplaced | — | Miss Grand Nicaragua 2023 | Saúl Benítez | |
| 2022 | Granada | Maycrin Jáenz | Unplaced | — | Miss Grand Nicaragua 2022 | Saúl Benítez | |
| 2021 | Managua | Epifanía Solís | Unplaced | — | Miss Grand Nicaragua 2021 | Saúl Benítez | |
| 2020 | León | Teresa Moreno | Unplaced | — | Miss Nicaragua 2017 Finalist | Saúl Benítez | |
| 2019 | León | Vanessa Baldizón | Unplaced | — | Miss Nicaragua 2017 Finalist | Saúl Benítez | |
| 2018 | Managua | Laura Ramírez | Did not compete | Did not compete | Top 6 Miss Nicaragua 2018 | Karen Celebertti | |
| 2017 | Estelí | Martha Meza | Unplaced | — | 2nd runner-up Miss Nicaragua 2017 | Karen Celebertti | |
| 2016 | Carazo | Michelle Lacayo | Unplaced | — | Top 7 Miss Nicaragua 2016 | Karen Celebertti | |
| 2015 | No representative | No representative | No representative | No representative | No representative | No representative | No representative |
| 2014 | Managua | Alejandra Gross | Unplaced | — | Appointed | Denis Dávila | |

## Titleholder gallery

* Miss Grand Nicaragua 2024 Isabella Salgado (Chinandega)
* Miss Grand Nicaragua 2023 Glennys Medina (Rivas)
* Miss Grand Nicaragua 2022 Maycrin Jáenz (Granada)
* Miss Grand Nicaragua 2020 Teresa Moreno (León)
* Miss Grand Nicaragua 2014 Alejandra Gross (Managua)

### Regional rankings

| Department | Titles | Years |
| Managua | 3 | 201420182021 |
| León | 2 | 20192020 |
| Carazo | 1 | 2016 |
| Chinandega | 1 | 2024 |
| Estelí | 1 | 2017 |
| Granada | 1 | 2022 |
| Rivas | 1 | 2023 |