Top 40 Secured! Tamunosoye Karibi George Wins African Top Model Title at Miss World

Miss World 2026 continental Top Model winners celebrating their automatic qualification for the Top 40 quarter-finals. Photo Credit: Miss World/Instagram 

Nigeria’s Tamunosoye Karibi George has just given the country another reason to keep an eye on the Miss World stage.

Competing at the Vietnam Beauty Fashion Fest XVII, the beauty queen claimed the Top Model title for Africa, earning an automatic place in the Top 40 quarter-finals of Miss World 2026. It is a major step in her journey at the competition and puts her among the contestants to watch as the pageant heads towards its final stage.

Tamunosoye, fondly known as Soye, is representing Nigeria at the 73rd Miss World festival in Vietnam after winning the national crown in Lagos earlier this year. A communications professional, fashion model and social advocate, she brings more than pageantry to the international stage, with her work also extending to advocacy and social inclusion.

Through her Beyond Labels project, Soye focuses on advocacy and education for neurodivergent children and children with special needs, making her Miss World journey about more than the crown itself.

Tamunosoye Karibi George performing on stage during the talent segment of the 73rd Miss World festival in Vietnam. Photo Credit: Miss World/Instagram 

But on the runway in Vietnam, it was her modelling that did the talking.

The Miss World Top Model fast-track event challenged contestants to show their ability to work the runway, present haute couture and command the camera, with only the strongest performers moving forward. Soye emerged ahead of contestants from Botswana, Equatorial Guinea, Kenya and South Africa to take the African Top Model title and secure one of the continent’s 10 spots in the Top 40.

For the winning showcase, she brought plenty of drama to the runway in a bright…