Miss Universe Colombia 2020

Miss Universe Colombia 2020 was the first Miss Universe Colombia pageant, held at the Pabellón de Cristal in Barranquilla, Colombia, on November 16, 2020.^[1]

Miss Universe Colombia 2020
Date	16 November 2020
Presenters	Sebastián Carvajal Valerie Domínguez Susy Mora Diego Pascuas
Entertainment	Maía Felipe Peláez Mr. Black Bemba Colorá Gaiteros de Pueblo Santo
Venue	Pabellón de Cristal, Barranquilla, Colombia
Broadcaster	RCN Televisión
Entrants	30
Placements	16
Winner	Laura Olascuaga  Bolívar
2021 →

At the end of the event, Natalie Ackermann director of the Miss Universe Colombia organization crowned Laura Olascuaga of Bolívar as Miss Universe Colombia 2020. She represented Colombia at Miss Universe 2020.^[2]

Results

Placements

Placement	Contestant
Miss Universe Colombia 2020	Bolívar – Laura Victoria Olascuaga Pinto
1st Runner-Up	Norte de Santander – Jenifer Pulgarín Candelo
2nd Runner-Up	Santander – Laura Juliana Lamus Vargas
Top 6	Cabildo Encanto Amazonas – Dayana Cárdenas Mestra  Cauca – Bárbara Rodríguez Nazarith  Quindío – Yeraldin Grajales Arias §
Top 16	Antioquia – Carolina Londoño Mejia  Atlántico – María Alejandra Castillo Schoonewolff  Caldas – Juliana Aristizábal Bríñez  Cartagena – Marelis Salas Julio  Casanare – Gina Paola Cazarán Bohórquez  Cesar – Mary Trini Araque Díaz  Huila – María José Vargas Fierro  Meta – María Juliana Franco Ramos  Nariño – Dahiara García  Valle del Cauca – Angie Patricia Cuero Reina

§ Voted into Top 16 by viewers.

Pageant

Background

Initially, Miss Colombia held the Colombian license for Miss Universe, and had selected María Fernanda Aristizábal as the Colombian representative for Miss Universe 2020 through Miss Colombia 2019.^{[3][4][5][6][7]} However, in June 2020, the license was purchased by Natalie Ackermann, who announced that she would be forming her own organization to select a new Colombian representative for Miss Universe 2020, which meant that Aristizábal would not be competing.^[8]

Selection of contestants

From September to October 2020, castings were held in Bogotá, Bucaramanga, Neiva, Cali, Medellín, and Barranquilla for prospective contestants to audition for a spot in the competition.^[9][10] The official contestants who were selected to compete were released in batches throughout October 2020, following each casting.^[11][12] In order to represent a department, contestants had to either be from the department or have a parent from the department.^[13]

Josseidy Escalona was originally to represent Providencia and Santa Catalina Islands, while Valeria Ayos was to represent San Andrés.^[14] Escalona resigned from the competition amidst controversy regarding one department receiving two representatives; Ayos was to represent the full department of San Andrés, Providencia and Santa Catalina, but later tested positive for COVID-19 and had to resign from the competition.^[15][16] Luisa Fernanda Urango, the original representative for Córdoba Department, was disqualified after lying about her age; she was replaced by Carolina Guerra.^[17] Due to controversy within Amazonas Department over a woman not from the department being their representative, Dayana Cárdenas, the former representative of Amazonas, was changed to represent the city of Valledupar instead.^[18] Cárdenas later had her sash changed "Cabildo Encanto Amazonas", referring to the indigenous cabildo of El Encanto in Amazonas Department, which had expressed support for Cárdenas amidst the controversy.^[19]

Judges

• Natalia Barulích – American model and singer^[20]
• Catriona Gray – Miss Universe 2018 from the Philippines^[21]
• Pilar Guzmán Lizarazo – Public relations officer^[22]
• Luz Elena Restrepo – Miss Colombia 1967 from Atlántico^[22]
• Amalin de Hasbún – Fashion designer^[22]

Contestants

30 delegates have been selected:^[23]

Department	Delegate	Age[a]	Hometown	Placement
Antioquia	Carolina Londoño Mejia	27	Bello	Top 16
Arauca	Génesis Andrea Quintero Pérez	28	Arauca
Atlántico	María Alejandra Castillo Schoonewolff	24	Barranquilla	Top 16
Bogotá	María del Mar Meza Sánchez	28	Bogotá
Bolívar	Laura Victoria Olascuaga Pinto	25	Cartagena	Miss Universe Colombia 2020
Boyacá	Laura Michelle Montañez Medina	24	Sogamoso
Cabildo Encanto Amazonas	Dayana Cárdenas Mestra	22	Valledupar	Top 6
Caldas	Juliana Aristizábal Bríñez	24	Armenia	Top 16
Caquetá	Luisa Fernanda Ardila Quiñones	23	El Doncello
Cartagena	Marelis Salas Julio	25	María La Baja	Top 16
Casanare	Gina Paola Cazarán Bohórquez	25	Villanueva	Top 16
Cauca	Bárbara Rodríguez Nazarith	28	Buenos Aires	Top 6
Cesar	Mary Trini Araque Díaz	21	Valledupar	Top 16
Chocó	Yuri Vanessa Copete Mosquera	28	Quibdó
Córdoba	Carolina Guerra Agámez	23	Medellín
Cundinamarca	Daniela Valentina Mejía Forero	20	Soacha
Guaviare	Xiomara Alfonso	26	El Retorno
Huila	María José Vargas Fierro	20	Neiva	Top 16
La Guajira	María Victoria Martínez Daza	27	Bogotá
Magdalena	Natalia Garizabal Vera	18	Santa Marta
Meta	María Juliana Franco Ramos	27	Villavicencio	Top 16
Nariño	Dahiara García	23	Yumbo	Top 16
Norte de Santander	Jenifer Pulgarín Candelo	25	Pereira	1st Runner-Up
Putumayo	Ximena Cataleya Candelo Hurtado	24	Puerto Tejada
Quindío	Yeraldin Grajales Arias	27	Montenegro	Top 6
Risaralda	Alejandra Buitrago Carrasquilla	23	Pereira
Santander	Laura Juliana Lamus Vargas	23	Bucaramanga	2nd Runner-Up
Tolima	Juanita Sánchez González	18	Bogotá
Valle del Cauca	Angie Patricia Cuero Reina	18	Buenaventura	Top 16
Vichada	Vanessa Saavedra Vega	26	Armenia

Notes

1. Ages at the time of the pageant