Vietnam’s largest beauty pageant to include diaspora
Miss Vietnam World will showcase girls of Vietnamese origins from around the world this September.
The pageant, which will crown the most beautiful and talented of all Vietnamese girls living both at home and abroad, aims to encourage young Vietnamese expatriates to look back at their roots and contribute to the development of Vietnam
Of the 60 final contestants to be selected, 40 will be from overseas, said organizers at a press conference Thursday.
Over 1,000 girls have applied to compete since the contest was launched three months ago, said Duong Xuan Nam, the editor-in-Chief of Tien Phong newspaper, one of the event’s co-sponsors.
The group will be narrowed down to the 60 finalists by qualifying rounds abroad from now until August, and qualifiers in Vietnam in mid-August.
The Organizing Board has the three American winners of Miss Vietnam Global, a similar pageant held in the United States, to join the final round in central Vietnam’s Nha Trang City, the country’s most popular beach town.
The contest organizers are offering US$20,000 to the pageant winner, the highest cash prize for any beauty contest in the country. The queen will also win a tour of Vietnam.
The first and second runners-up will receive $8,000 and $5,000.
The pageant would also crown Miss Beach, Miss Tourism, and Miss Photogenic, each of whom will receive $1,000.
VTV will broadcast the final live on Vietnam’s Independence Day, September 2, from Nha Trang’s Vinpearl Resort.
Organized by Thanh Nien and Tien Phong newspapers, the Vietnam Television, and Vinpearl Tourism and Joint Stock Co., the Miss Vietnam World contest is opened to young women of Vietnamese origins, including those are working and residing in foreign countries.
Participants must be able to speak Vietnamese, be aged 18-27, single, without children, have a high school education at least, be over 1.6 meters, and never have had cosmetic surgery or sex change.
By Pham Ngoc - Thanh Nien - July 12, 2007.
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