European Friday, 1978

Since 1951 there were two Miss Europe pageants. The so called official Miss Europe and the unofficial Miss Europa. The girls who won had on their sash: Miss Europa, Miss Europe and Miss Europe International.
This pageant was held once in the Netherlands, back in 1952, when the pageant was in Amsterdam with the lovely Miss Sweden, Anita Ekberg as first runner-up. Anita would become a famous actrice and legendary is the scene from “La Dolce Vita” where she is walking through the Trevi Fountain in Rome.
The Netherlands did not always participate in this unofficial Miss Europe pageant and won this pageant only once. In 1978 it was the lovely Barbara Ann Neefs who won the crown.
Barbara participated in many national and international pageants. She was 2nd runner-up at the Miss Holland 1975 pageant and in 1976 she became 3rd runner-up. She was the dutch representative at the 1975 Miss World pageant. In 1976 she became 2nd runner-up at the Miss Teenage Intercontinental (today: Miss Intercontinental).
She was also crowned Miss Zeemeermin (Miss Mermaid, see colored picture) in 1978 and that gave her the right to participate in the unofficial Miss Europe pageant.
At this Miss Europa pageant, 22 girls participated and Miss Norway, Helena Hornfeld became 1st runner-up and Miss Turkey, Nazan Saatçi, became 2nd runner-up. Nazan became an actress and starred in over 30 movies and television series, in Turkey, Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Iran, and France. She also participated in several other smaller pageants and in 1983 she became also 2nd runner-up at the Miss Asia Quest. After participating she started to organize pageants.