Charlise Hammond from Hamilton was crowned Miss Earth New Zealand 2020 by her predecessor Miss Earth New Zealand 2019 Tashan Kapene as she became the official representative of New Zealand at Miss Earth 2020. Miss Earth New Zealand 2020 held its coronation night on 7th March 2020 at the Pumphouse Theatre.

Charlise is just 18 years of age as she gave a stunning performance at the national contest. She took to her official social media to reveal her emotions on being crowned in a post captioned, “I am so humbled and honoured to announce that on Saturday night after much hard work and dedication, I won the title of Miss Earth New Zealand 2020. Miss Earth was an experience I will never forget, I made 5 new wonderful friends in the other contestants, I met 3 past Miss Earth New Zealand queens who I am hugely inspired by and will continue looking up to and I grew as a person. Not only did I gain confidence, but I also learnt a lot about self love and believing in myself.”

She also thanked Namphon Benett who organized the whole show as she wrote, “I would like to start by thanking Namphon for being the biggest support to all the contestants. You put on an amazing show and we all felt so welcome by you. Thank you for always putting in 110% and helping us be the best pageant queens we can! I cannot wait to work with you throughout this year. You are so talented.”

She then went on to thank the judges, her mother and nan for their endless support and all her fans, her best friend and everyone else who made her journey an interesting one. She also acknowledged the past three queens who inspired her so much. Last but not the least, she thanked her fellow beauty queens who inspired her to do better and become a better person.

Last year, Tashan Kapene represented New Zealand at Miss Earth 2019 and with her stunning performance she placed in the Top 10 at the competition. The country is yet to win its first Miss Earth crown.