the first miss estonia was elected in april 1923, her name was sinaida tamm. the competition was arranged by "estonia film" and the main aim was to find a new actress. in 1925 the competition was arranged by a major newspaper "päevaleht". in 1931, lilli silberg was the first runner up at the miss europe contest in paris. in 1932, nadezda peedi-hoffmann was elected miss estonia and she held the title for 56 years, until 1988, when heli mets was awarded the title. since then estonia has had 15 beauty queens. miss estonia has been participating in the miss universe pageant since 1993, starting with kersti tänavsuu.