Joheirry Mola of the Dominican Republic has been crowned Miss World 2026, winning the 73rd edition of the global pageant at a spectacular final held in Nha Trang, Vietnam, on Saturday.
Mola, 24, defeated 110 other contestants to claim the crown at 2 April Square, bringing the 75th-anniversary celebrations of Miss World to a close. She succeeds Thailand’s Opal Suchata Chuangsri, who crowned her successor at the end of her reign.
Elisabeth Reynés of Spain was named first runner-up, while Taanusiya Chetty of Malaysia finished second runner-up.
The victory gives the Dominican Republic its second Miss World crown, 44 years after Mariasela Álvarez became the country’s first winner in 1982.
From teacher to Miss World
Mola is not simply a pageant contestant. She is an educator, communicator and community advocate who holds a degree in Business Management and Administration from Universidad Iberoamericana in Santo Domingo.
She works as a teacher and founded Voices of Tomorrow, an initiative focused on expanding opportunities for children and young people in vulnerable communities through education, confidence-building and skills development.
Her advocacy became central to her Miss World campaign.
During the final, Mola was asked how she would develop the Beauty With a Purpose work she had already undertaken in the Dominican Republic.
Her answer focused on English-language education for children in vulnerable communities.
She argued that learning the language could give children a tool they could use throughout their lives, opening access to education and opportunities while allowing them to express themselves and engage with the wider world.
It was an answer that connected her profession as an educator to the social mission she had presented throughout the competition.
And perhaps that is what makes the victory more significant than the crown itself. Miss World has spent decades trying to answer an uncomfortable question: what is beauty supposed to do once the cameras disappear?
111 contestants, six finalists
The 2026 competition brought together 111 contestants for a four-week festival across Vietnam, combining pageant competition with cultural programmes, charity activities and the organisation’s Beauty With a Purpose projects.
The final six were: Dominican Republic — Joheirry Mola, Spain — Elisabeth Reynés, Malaysia — Taanusiya Chetty, Vietnam — Lê Nguyễn Bảo Ngọc, South Africa — Romanda Hombir and Eritrea — Snit Tewoldemedhin.
The finalists represented different routes through the competition, including continental qualification, Beauty With a Purpose and the People’s Choice vote.
Eritrea’s Snit Tewoldemedhin, for example, reached the final six after receiving strong support through the public vote. Malaysia’s Taanusiya Chetty advanced through her work under Beauty With a Purpose.
Africa was therefore strongly represented in the decisive stages, with South Africa and Eritrea joining the Dominican Republic, Spain, Malaysia and Vietnam in the final six.
A 75-year-old institution enters another chapter
The Nha Trang final was staged as part of Miss World’s 75th-anniversary celebrations, marking a milestone for an organisation that began in 1951.
Vietnam hosted the competition for the first time, with the month-long programme taking contestants through cultural events, fashion competitions, charitable activities and other challenges before the final.
The pageant’s emphasis on “Beauty With a Purpose” has increasingly attempted to shift the focus from appearance alone towards social advocacy and community work.
Mola’s victory fits neatly into that changing model: her platform is not an abstract promise but an education project she had already established before winning the crown.
The new Miss World will now take that campaign onto an international stage.
For the Dominican Republic, it is a return to the top after more than four decades.
For Mola, it is a transformation from national representative to global ambassador.