Tania Dawson crowned Miss Universe New Zealand 2016

Tania Dawson crowned Miss Universe New Zealand 2016 at sold-out audience

Auckland, September 4 (JY&A Media) Secondary school drama and music studies’ teacher Tania Dawson, 23, was crowned Miss Universe New Zealand 2016 Saturday night at Skycity Theatre, taking home prizes including a stay at Plantation Bay Resort & Spa in Cebu and the use of a Honda Jazz RS Sport Limited for the duration of her reign.

Dawson, who is of half-Filipina extraction, was also the crowd favourite, with a large group of supporters in the live theatre audience.

The event proved to be a Filipina one-two, with Seresa Lapaz, who was born in the Philippines but is a naturalized New Zealander, coming runner-up.

Both ladies live in Auckland, with second runner-up Larissa Allen coming from Tauranga.
The sold-out audience enjoyed entertainment from special guest performers Stan Walker, Frankie Stevens, and Ali Walker, as well as the cast of Oh What a Night!, who appeared in a recorded segment filmed earlier on Saturday.

The destination for Dawson, as well as the other national titleholders, is uncertain, but there have been suggestions it could be the Philippines, and already Lapaz has vowed to support her former competitor should she venture there.

All the 2016 finalists have been to the Philippines. The 20 have already experienced an international retreat in the Philippines, where they got to stay in luxury accommodation at Plantation Bay Resort & Spa in Cebu, and the Novotel Manila Araneta Center, and meet the friendly local people. For Dawson it was a chance to explore her roots, while Lapaz revelled in the opportunity to speak her mother tongue and visit parts of her birth country that she had not been to before.

Dawson says she sees herself as an advocate for education, and entered the competition because she wanted to practise what she preached: to challenge herself and overcome any self-doubt.

About Miss Universe New Zealand
The Miss New Zealand Consortium Ltd. is the licensee for Miss Universe in New Zealand, and took over the franchise in 2013. Three of the rebranded, reformed and re-invigorated Miss Universe New Zealand competitions have taken place, in front of a live audience at Skycity Theatre, with the second and third broadcasts both via the SKY TV platform and streamed over the internet worldwide. Social media reach exceeded 600,000 per week during the 2015 competition. It has raised over $100,000 for Variety, the Children's Charity, with the turnaround described as one of the most extraordinary witnessed by the Miss Universe Organization in 25 years.

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