Hawkes Bay Today
  • Hawke's Bay Today home
  • Latest news
  • Sport
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
  • Video
  • Death notices
  • Classifieds

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • On The Up
  • Sport
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Residential property listings
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology

Locations

  • Napier
  • Hastings
  • Havelock North
  • Central Hawke's Bay
  • Tararua

Media

  • Video
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-Editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

Weather

  • Napier
  • Hastings
  • Dannevirke
  • Gisborne

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Hawkes Bay Today

Napier woman Harlem-Cruz Atarangi Ihaia wins Miss Universe New Zealand

Ruby Harfield
By Ruby Harfield
Hawkes Bay Today·
13 Aug, 2017 06:00 PM3 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

Harlem-Cruz Atarangi Ihaia, from Napier, was crowned Miss Universe New Zealand on Saturday. Photo/Supplied

Harlem-Cruz Atarangi Ihaia, from Napier, was crowned Miss Universe New Zealand on Saturday. Photo/Supplied

Napier's gumboot-wearing beauty queen has broken stereotypes by being herself.

Harlem-Cruz Atarangi Ihaia was crowned Miss Universe New Zealand at SkyCity Theatre on Saturday night.

The kohanga reo teacher is the first person representing Napier to have won the competition and the first Maori woman to place first since a management change and restructure in 2013.

Read more: Editorial: A step forward for beauty contestants

Miss Ihaia entered the competition to break stereotypes for Maori women but as she progressed she also wanted to change the stigma of the pageant girl and create a new perception of beauty.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

"To break the image of every young teenager wanting to be the next Kylie Jenner, I just want to prove that we can all be ourselves and to inspire, hopefully, the world," she said.

Forty family members made their way to Auckland from Napier to see the 19-year-old on stage and could not believe it when she won.

"My family, they were all on the edge of their seats, they were screaming and they were crying," she said. "When I won my nan said she couldn't move, she just started crying."

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Miss Ihaia had known that she would be in the top 10 because she had raised more for Variety - The Children's Charity than any previous entrant and, therefore, had immunity to at least 10th place but never expected to come first.

"It feels like I'm still in a dream, I still can't believe it."

The best part of becoming Miss Universe New Zealand was not winning but the fact that she has made her country proud and inspired others to be themselves.

"I feel like I've won it for everybody in New Zealand. I feel like I've won it for my culture.

"I'm really happy that I've made my whole country proud, my community proud and become an inspiration for young women to not just dream about something, to make it happen."

She will now have to prepare for the global final of Miss Universe which will take place in a yet-to-be announced location on November 26.

Her main goal for this is not to win but to show the world New Zealand and Maori culture.

Miss Universe New Zealand executive and national director Nigel Godfrey said Miss Ihaia was a worthy winner and would make a difference to the competition.

"She addresses an area with young women that few wish to. She identifies that some young people have the wrong role models.

"People looking up to Kylie Jenner and the Kardashians is not where she comes from.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

"She wants to use the platform to push being yourself and being proud of yourself."

Her support base from Napier was also the biggest organisers had seen since they took over management, he said.

"We're overjoyed that she is from Napier. Having a winner from a small city in New Zealand is nice."

This year's judges were Teuila Blakely, Frankie Stevens, Samala Robinson, Anna Jobsz, Evana Patterson and Areena Deshpande.

Save

    Share this article

Latest from Hawkes Bay Today

Hawkes Bay Today
|Updated

Motorist dies after four crashes in 40 minutes in Hawke's Bay

Hawkes Bay Today

'We have you surrounded': Police stood down after Hawke's Bay stand-off, search continues

Premium
Hawkes Bay Today

Black Ferns: Tui pair on the big bird for matches in South Africa


Sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Hawkes Bay Today

Motorist dies after four crashes in 40 minutes in Hawke's Bay
Hawkes Bay Today
|Updated

Motorist dies after four crashes in 40 minutes in Hawke's Bay

Some roads remained blocked.

17 Jul 06:02 AM
'We have you surrounded': Police stood down after Hawke's Bay stand-off, search continues
Hawkes Bay Today

'We have you surrounded': Police stood down after Hawke's Bay stand-off, search continues

17 Jul 04:06 AM
Premium
Premium
Black Ferns: Tui pair on the big bird for matches in South Africa
Hawkes Bay Today

Black Ferns: Tui pair on the big bird for matches in South Africa

17 Jul 04:00 AM


Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky
Sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

06 Jul 09:47 PM
NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • Hawke's Bay Today e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to the Hawke's Bay Today
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • NZME Events
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP