Maria da Gloria Carvalho is the only delegate from Brazil who has won the Miss International title. Map of Miss International-winning countries as of 2005. ...

She placed second runner-up in the Miss Brasil pageant, as the representative of Guanabara, in 1968, hence, earning the ticket for Maria to compete in the Miss International pageant in the latter part of the year, when it was held for the first time in Tokyo, Japan. Her knowledge of the Japanese language helped her win over the crowd and judges. The Miss Brasil Pageant is a beauty contest that has been held every year since 1954 between winners of the Brazilian state pageants. ... A beauty contest, or beauty pageant, is a competition between people, based largely, though not always entirely, on the beauty of their physical appearance. ... The State of Guanabara (in Portuguese: Estado da Guanabara), was the name given to the municipality of Rio de Janeiro (now the city with the same name), after the moving of the national capital to Brasília in 1960. ... Tokyo , literally Eastern capital)   is the capital and one of the forty-seven prefectures of Japan. ... Japanese (日本語,  ) is a language spoken by over 130 million people, mainly in Japan, but also by Japanese emigrant communities around the world. ...

Her victory came in the same year that Martha Vasconcellos, winner of the Miss Brasil pageant, won the Miss Universe title. Martha Vasconcellos (born c. ... Logo of the Miss Universe event. ...