Beauty queen with Maori roots wins Miss Switzerland
A 19-year old Aargau woman with Maori origins has won this year's Miss Switzerland contest. Mahara McKay, whose father is from New Zealand, was chosen from a field of 16 finalists on Saturday evening in Geneva.
McKay, a decorator by profession, lives in Untersiggenthal, in canton Aargau, but grew up in Auckland. Some 120,000 people called the Miss Switzerland hotline to vote for her.
The brunette takes over the crown from Miss Switzerland 1999, Anita Buri from Thurgau. Runner-up in this year’s competition was Berne’s 19-year old Masha Santschi. Geneva’s Alexandra Coulet placed third.
McKay will represent Switzerland at the next Miss World and Miss Universe contests in Britain and Puerto Rico, respectively.
swissinfo with agencies
In compliance with the JTI standards
More: SWI swissinfo.ch certified by the Journalism Trust Initiative
You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here . Please join us!
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.