Carnival Queens of the last Twenty Years

Carnival Queen 2020 Sara Cruz Teja

The Election of the Carnival Queen should have taken place today, Wednesday 10 February 2021, but, of course, because of the COVID pandemic, carnival will not be taking place. It has, however, been announced that Guardians of the Sceptre until Carnival 2022 will be chosen this year from among 12 adult, three junior and five senior queens. 

This year virtual carnival events take place between 17 February and 7 March, culminating in a television gala, ‘Santa Cruz, Corazón del Carnaval’ (Santa Cruz, Heart of Carnival) on March 7, which replaces the Carnival Queen Gala. Twelve of the queens of the last 20 years, highlighted, will appear in this year's virtual carnival gala, chosen to accommodate the twelve designers who have presented at least two adult fantasies in the last three years. 

Designers: Juan Pedro Quintero, Miguel Ángel Castilla and Saliarca Creativos have all had one winning design in 2001, 2002 and 2013, respectively. With two wins under their belts are Daniel Pagés in 2014 and 2016 and Sedomir Rodríguez de la Sierra in 2019 and 2020. With three wins each are Santi Castro in 2003, 2008 and 2012, Juan Carlos Armas with three consecutive wins in 2004, 2005 and 2006 and Jorge González Santana in 2015, 2017 and 2018. But, the designer with the most winning designs over the last 20 years is Leo Martínez with four wins, first in 2007 and then three consecutive wins in 2009, 2010 and 2011. After that he was asked to bow out in order to give someone else a chance.

Seven queens change designer, which tells us that they will all be parading in new costumes, which we're told are of reduced dimensions and will range between 2.5 and 3.5 meters (in the last edition, they were up to 6 meters) and be without wheels. The great absentee from the show, once more, will be Leo Martínez, by his own decision.

Here's a list of the carnival queens 2001-2020 Could you pick a favourite? 

Year	Queen	Costume	Designer	Sponsor(s)
2001	Silvia González Rodríguez	"Talismán" (Talisman)	Juan Pedro Quintero	Almacenes El Kilo
2002	Lorena Díaz García	"Alta temperatura" (High temperature)	Miguel Ángel Castilla	Centro Comercial del Mueble
2003	Natalia Díaz Mesa	"Láquesis" (Lachesis)	Santi Castro	Centro Comercial Carrefour
2004	Natalia Acosta Jorge	"Miércoles de luna llena" (Full Moon Wednesday)	Juan Carlos Armas	Bingo Colombófilo
2005	Ana María Pérez Meneses	"Rozando la piel del cielo" (Touching the skin of the sky)	Juan Carlos Armas	Centro Comercial Alcampo
2006	Neólida Hernández Martín	"El Carro de la Gloria" (The Chariot of Glory)	Juan Carlos Armas	Bingo Colombófilo
2007	Elizabet García	"Miss Dior"	Leo Martínez	El Día
2008	Nauzet Celeste Cruz Melo	"La Edad de Oro" (The Golden Age)	Santi Castro	Carrefour
2009	Ana María Tavárez Mata	"Embrujada" (Bewitched)	Leo Martínez	El Día
2010	Alicia San Juan McNulty	"En el País de las Maravillas" (In Wonderland)	Leo Martínez	El Día
2011	Naomi Cabrera Pulido	"Cien años de historia" (One Hundred Years of History)	Leo Martínez	El Día
2012	Carmen Gil González	"Imperio" (Empire)	Santi Castro	Zona Comercial Tranvía
2013	Soraya Rodríguez Castro	"Volare" (Fly)	Saliarca Creativos	Centro Comercial Carrefour – Meridiano
2014	Amanda Perdomo San Juan	“Poderosa Amazona” (Powerful Amazon)	Daniel Pagés	McDonald´s and La Opinión de Tenerife
2015	Adtemexi Cruz Hernández	"Aurea” (Golden)	Jorge González Santana	FuenteAlta and Tu Santa Cruz
2016	Cecilia Navarro Arteaga	"Arena blanca del desierto" (White Desert Sand)	Daniel Pagés	McDonald´s and La Opinión de Tenerife
2017	Judit López García	"Madame Soleil" (Madam Sun)	Jorge González Santana	FuenteAlta
2018	Carmen Laura Lourido Pérez	"Renacida" (Reborn)	Jorge González Santana	FuenteAlta
2019	Priscila Medina Quintero	"La Nuit" (The Night)	Sedomir Rodríguez de la Sierra	Autoinsular Citroën
2020	Sara Cruz Teja	"Sentir" (Feel)	Sedomir Rodríguez de la Sierra	Centro Comercial Alcampo La Laguna

Instead, we bring you coverage of this event from last year. This is one in a series of posts that aim to keep the spirit of carnival alive. Or keep the flame burning, so the torch can be passed to the next carnival, whenever we can get back to gathering normally.

Gala de la Reina del Carnaval de Santa Cruz de Tenerife 2020