TORONTO, May 16, 2009 – Mariana Valente, a 23-year old student of languages at York University, was crowned Miss Universe Canada 2009 during an event held at the John Bassett Theatre in Toronto on May 16th.
Valente -who was born in Brazil and moved to Canada at age 12- stands 1.75 m tall. She will represent Canada at the Miss Universe pageant in the Bahamas on August 23rd.
The 1st runner-up was model Ylenia Aurucci (26), who had been a contestant in Canada's Next Top Model; 2nd runner-up was Ksenia Mezenina, 3rd runner-up was Neda Derakhshan and the 4th runner-up was Isabelle Grastin.
TingJia Lorogiano won the People's Choice Award, while Chanel Beckenlehner won the Miss Elegance and Audience Favorite prizes; Xiao Sun was awarded Best Runway, and Christina Heslenfeld won the Best in Swimwear award.
(Thank you and credits to
http://www.globalbeauties.com and all sources for the information and pictures)