Valerie Hernandez Matias representing Puerto Rico poses in a swimsuit during the 54th Miss International beauty pageant in Tokyo
Valerie Hernandez Matias representing Puerto Rico poses in a swimsuit during the 54th Miss International beauty pageant in Tokyo November 11, 2014. Matias won the Miss International title. REUTERS/Thomas Peter REUTERS/Thomas Peter

The season of beauty queen pageants has kicked off with the announcement of first ever beauty queen winner of Miss International 2014 contest on Tuesday. Miss Puerto Rico Valerie Hernandez bagged the prestigious title of Miss International 2014 by beating 72 other beauty queens at a gala event held at the Grand Prince Hotel Takanawa in Tokyo, Japan on Tuesday night.

Miss Colombia Zuleika Suarez was the first runner up, Miss Thailand Punika Kulsoontornrut became the second runner up while Miss United Kingdom Victoria Tooby and Miss Finland Milla Romppanen bagged the titles of third and fourth runner-ups respectively at the event.

First runner up Miss Colombia also bagged two special awards at the event namely Miss Friendship and the Miss Best Dressed. Best National costume award went to Rappa from Indonesia while France's Aurianne Sinacola took home Miss Perfect Body award at the event night.

The new beauty queen Valerie Hernandez was crowned the winner in an emotional moment by previous year title winner Bea Santiago of Philippines at the end of the spectacular show. Hernandez could not control her tears and sobbed as she was announced the winner. See video below. Miss Brazil, Miss Colombia, Miss Mexico, Miss Panama, Miss Indonesia and Miss Argentina were the other top ten contestants who came close to winning the Miss International 2014 title.

Hernandez is a student and model from Carolina, Puerto Rico who wore gold-embellished white gown for the grand event and acknowledges to Philippines Star newspaper that the title win means "one of the hardest responsibilities" to her.

"As Miss International, I want to send a message of love, peace, and unity," added the 21-year-old to the newspaper.

According to Valerie's Facebook page, she has studied at Escuela de Bellas Artes de Carolina and lists Pizza Hut and Professional Gym as places where she has worked in the past.

Apart from the more famous contests like Miss Universe, Miss World and Miss Earth, Miss International contest is also gaining popularity in the recent years. The first ever Miss International contest was held in 1960 in Long Beach, California but was later taken over by Japan in 1968, where it is held annually and now runs in its 54th year. Meanwhile, check out the video of the crowning moment below.

Source: Youtube.com/Dmitriy Volynskiy