23-year old Fabianna Granados of Guanacaste beat 9 other ladies to be proclaimed Miss Costa Rica 2013 in a glittering finals held in Marco Picado auditorium in San Jose.

She won the right to represent her country to the Miss Universe 2013 pageant in Moscow, Russia on November 9th. Her runners-up are Meribeth Duran (1st) and Alba Zuniga (2nd).

Fabianna Granados who stands 1.73 meters is a student of business management and industrial engineering. She topped all the segment competitions – swimsuit, personality test or question and answer and evening gown.

Costa Rica is not very successful in Miss Universe despite joining this pageant in 1954. It only missed one year and that was in 1961 when it did not send a representative.

In its 58 years of joining Miss Universe, only 3 made the cut. Marian Esquivel McKeown made the Top 15 in 1954 and after 50 long years in 2004, Nancy Soto Martinez entered the Top 10. The last time Costa Rica made the cut was in 2011 when Johanna Solano of Heredia entered the Top 10.

This Central American country has won two special awards; Miss Photogenic to Maribel Fernandez Garcia in 1978 and the Miss Congeniality award to Anabella Granados in 1956.