Tamar Kaprelian is Eurovision’s Next Top Model 2015

When the team from wiwibloggs launched our search for Eurovision’s Next Top Model 2015, we could feel temperatures rising. The 29 women who entered the competition on March 27 worked more looks than a model at New York Fashion Week. Some were daring. The Netherlands’ Trijntje paired spilling cleavage with a widow’s veil, while the UK’s Bianca wore an LED dress — and a boxy battery pack. Others got physical. Greece’s Maria Elena Kyriakou battled a wind machine (and won), while Spain’s Edurne ripped off her Jose Fuentes cape and trusted a male dancer to spin her around his neck. All of them remembered their camera angles—and how much they wanted to win ENTM — the premier online modeling contest for the women competing at the Eurovision Song Contest.

In the end one woman proved that she, more than anyone else, has what it takes to succeed as an international superstar after the Eurovision glory fades. After counting 81,730 votes during the semi finals and 60,923 votes in the final, we are pleased to announce that Armenia’s Tamar Kaprelian is Eurovision’s Next Top Model 2015.

Below we celebrate Tamar’s achievement. But she is not the only woman we’re honouring today. Spain’s Edurne and Iceland’s Maria Olafs, our first and second runner-up, will join Tamar in the Top Model Hall of Fame. They join a storied list of women who have gone on to grace magazine covers, star in movies, and front major international beauty campaigns.

Tamar’s victory has already made headlines in Armenia — and for good reason. For the winner of Eurovision’s Next Top Model 2015, things just got real.

EUROVISION’S NEXT TOP MODEL 2015 RESULTS

1. Armenia: Tamar Kaprelian (Genealogy) 16.06% (9,784 votes)
2. Spain: Edurne 11.38% (6,936 votes)
3. Iceland: María Ólafs 9.86% (6,007 votes)
4. Ireland: Molly Sterling 9.81% (5,976 votes)
5. Switzerland: Mélanie René 9.61% (5,852 votes)
6. Georgia: Nina Sublatti 9.45% (5,757 votes)
7. Armenia: Stephanie Topalian (Genealogy) 7.31% (4,454 votes)
8. Russia: Polina Gagarina 6.73% (4,101 votes)
9. Armenia: Inga Arshakyan (Genealogy) 6.31% (3,846 votes)
10. Armenia: Mary-Jean O’Doherty (Genealogy) 5.71% (3,478 votes)
11. Norway: Debrah Scarlett 1.46% (892 votes)
12. Malta: Amber Bondin 1.42% (867 votes)
13. Greece: Maria-Elena Kyriakou 1.36% (828 votes)
14. Estonia: Elina Born 1.2% (733 votes)
15. Lithuania: Monika Linkyte 1.19% (724 votes)
16. Albania: Elhaida Dani 1.13% (688 votes)

Total Votes: 60,923

The Winner: Tamar Kaprelian

Tamar Kaprelian’s beauty transcends borders — and so does she. Her Armenian parents met in the UK, and eventually moved to Scottsdale, Arizona where they raised Tamar and her brother before moving to Atlanta. She may be a child of sunny climes, but she obviously wore sunscreen: Her skin is as smooth as silk.

Tamar was already a winner before she stepped into the Top Model House. Her debut single “New Day” charted on the US Adult Top 40 and was featured in the hit MTV series The Hills (and on the episode where breakout star Lauren Conrad left the show). The music video for that single shows Tamar’s modeling potential. She’s in touch with her emotions and can convey them on demand. Throw her in a mammoth white dress? She’s gonna werk. In a forest, in a field, on the piano, on her back — she’s still gonna werk.

That early success didn’t go to her head. Tamar — a singer of the people — welcomed one of our New York correspondents into her apartment months ahead of Eurovision. A student at Columbia University, she served casual chic student realness with a smile.

In Vienna she was never far from the five other artists of Genealogy. Yet we all knew who the star was. Tamar has the X Factor and attracts attention simply by breathing. When she exhales, we just want to inhale.

She also brings people together. In Vienna she spearheaded the Eurovision collaboration of the year, bringing together Estonia’s Elina Born, Greece’s Maria-Elena Kyriakou, Albania’s Elhaida Dani and Armenia’s Stephanie Topalian and Mary-Jean O’Doherty for a to-be-released single.

The girl next door has gone high fashion, and she’s ready to tear a path from catalogue to cat walk. Tamar: Thank you for all that you’ve done and all that you will do. Now take your ENTM crown, go into the world and make us proud!

ENTM 2015: Winner’s Portfolio

First Runner-Up: Edurne

When we think Edurne, we think expensive. A true top model, she knows that you need to have a look for every occasion. Behold the stunning Jose Fuentes gown she wore on the red carpet. Looking like a sequined black and white cheetah, she served hour-glass-figure animalistic realness — all topped off with delicious strawberry blonde locks and a perfectly sized necklace. This wasn’t Eurovision red carpet. It was Academy Awards red carpet.

But Edurne doesn’t hide behind expensive gowns. She’s just as comfortable rocking a casual look. In Vienna she staged a flashmob and wore a simple crop top and skirt with a denim button down. And you know what? She still looked lush.

But what we love most about Edurne isn’t her golden jewelry or her golden stage dress — it’s her golden heart. She is perhaps the biggest and most commercially successful of all the acts who sang at Eurovision this year. Yet she was also one of the most down-to-earth. From modeling to music, long may she shine!

Second Runner-Up: Maria Olafs

Maria Olafs may have crashed out during the semi finals of Eurovision, but just like her Eurovision 2015 song, she remains “Unbroken” to us. Raised in one of the world’s most beautiful countries, where the air remains pure and where the gunk in the Blue Lagoon is known for its restorative properties, Maria had one of the most even complexions in Vienna. You can’t buy her beauty. You’ve got to be born into it.

She wowed us on the red carpet with her purple and red mesh dress, which she told us symbolises freedom. But she also wowed us with her work ethic. Maria works at fast fashion retailer Zara when she isn’t singing. She’s working hard to pay her bills — and looking fabulous every step of the way.

Bubbly and ebullient, she is easy, breezy, beautiful — a true Cover Girl.

Countdown to the Crown: The Top 16

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