The Russia's Beauty National Beauty Contest passed in the capital of Karelia

On July 25 final show of the National Beauty Contest Russia's Beauty - 2008 passed on the Onego quay of Petrozavodsk. For the first time in the history of one of the oldest domestic beauty contests (exists since 1995) in which the best beauties of the country participate was held in one of the regions of Russia.

The Russia's Beauty - 2008 organizers have chosen Karelia on purpose, because the last year's second winner of the 13th Russia's Beauty contest held in Moscow was a native of Petrozavodsk, the Petrozavodsk State University student Valentina Kozhevnikova, who conceded the main crown to Moscowite Natalia Andreeva. Before her in 2002 title of the Russia's Beauty was won by Ekaterina Filimonova of Petrozavodsk. According to the Russia's Beauty contest director Tatyana Andreeva, it is very likely, that the show will adopt a new tradition to hold it in that region of the country represented by the winner of the previous competition. "Last year the winner was a girl from Karelia, and, under the offer of the government of the republic, our general partner, we have decided to hold the competition here. We want the contests to be held in regions further on the same way, as it is a good opportunity for Russian spectators to get acquainted with the most interesting places of our native land," she has told.

During the preliminary selection of 120 participants it has been selected 67, and 63 have taken part in the finals. Preparation of participants for the competition was held in the Chernye Kamni (Black Stones) tourist complex in Sortavala. Then the rehearsal period proceeded in Petrozavodsk. The very first winner of the beauty contest Miss Moscow-88 held in the USSR in 1988, and nowadays the yoga coach Maria Kalinina supervised the rehearsal stage.

In 2008 the contest is held within the Year of the Family officially declared the year of development of family priorities, mother spirituality and feminine beauty as national property. Therefore, the same days there passed charitable actions at participation of the contest members. They have visited the republican veterans' home and Petrozavodsk children's home, talked to veterans. Contenders to the title of the Russia's Beauty presented articles of child care and home appliances to the children's home, and a new refrigerator to the veterans' home.

The Russia's Beauty - 2008 contest winner became the 20-years-old student of Siberian State University of Railway Communication Sofia Larina, who was representing the Kemerovo region. She will represent Russia at the Miss Universe international contest. Among the three prize-winners there are: the I Vice Miss Ekaterina Kopylova (Tver), the II Vice Miss Zhanna Vlasevskaya, native of the Kemerovo region, as well as the winner, althouth this time she's been represdenting Kuzbas, and the III Vice Miss Anna Vishnevskaya (St.-Petersburg).

Organizers and winners of the contest were cordially greeted by the Head of the Republic Sergey Katanandov. We are glad, that on the Year of the Family Karelia became the first region of the country which has the honour to receive a relay race from Moscow to hold this contest, he has told. Its motto says: To the prosperity of Russia through harmony and beauty!» These qualities have always featured Karelia's nature praised by famous poets, writers and artists.»

Unlike similar Moscow shows (last year's competition passed in the Kremlin), citizens of Petrozavodsk could see it free of charge. Equipment for the show was delivered to Petrozavodsk from Moscow. The leading Russian news media covered the contest. During the show citizens of Petrozavodsk enjoyed performances of the Russian stage stars. The TV vision of the contest is coming soon on the NTV channel. Spectators will see there both the contest members and unique nature of Karelia.

Slighted Miss Vietnam walks out in a huff from 2008 Beauty Contest

When asked about her surprise exit from the event in the central province of Quang Nam, Thuy told Thanh Nien she did not intend to appear in the grand final event on August 31.

“I am planning to complete some scheduled appointments in Ho Chi Minh City by September 6,” she said.

According to the contest organizing committee, Thuy was asked to stand apart from the other contestants at a charity event at Quang Nam Center for Orphans and Disadvantaged Children early on Saturday.

Organizers said the appearance of Thuy alongside the contestants would have confused the judges.

A “sad” Thuy flew back to her hometown of Hanoi after completing her scheduled events on Saturday, which included a party in the evening hosted by the organizers.

Head of the organizing committee, Duong Xuan Nam, said the absence of Thuy on the final night was “no big deal.”

“During previous contests, the new beauty queen was granted the crown from the organizers and not from the previous winner,” he said.

From Noses to Hips, Rwandans start to Redefine Beauty

Sandra Uwimbabazi knows runways she's modeled for years, but she stumbled on a recent Saturday here. A tall, slender young law student, Uwimbabazi was one of eight women vying to win Rwanda's most high-profile beauty competition.

On her second lap around the stage, she misstepped in her high heels but didn't fall. The graceful save as much as her beauty may have won her the title. Poise, some observers said afterward, is now more important than being pretty.

The comment reflects a tension over defining Rwandan beauty. Here the shape of one's nose, hips, or eyes are overlaid with political and historical meaning. During the 1994 genocide, "the first fact was to see the nose to tell if this is a Tutsi or this is a Hutu," says Cyrille Nshimiyimana, a second-year medical student, who was among the 3,000 people packed into the National University auditorium for the Miss Nyampinga contest.

As the nation moves beyond the tragic events of 1994, traditional standards of Rwandan beauty may be changing or at least are being challenged.

"Beauty contests are used to assert a national identity, particularly in instances where and in places where a national identity is problematic," says Maxine Leeds Craig, an associate professor of sociology at the University of California-Davis and author of "Ain't I a Beauty Queen?: Black Women, Beauty and the Politics of Race."

The pageant stage is a space Rwandans are using to serve two national objectives: advancing gender equality and fostering national unity.

"I had an agenda to promote gender another step," says John Peter Higiro, a fourth-year medical student who founded the Miss Nyampinga competition, which includes students from other major Rwandan institutes of higher learning, at the National University of Rwanda four years ago. The contest encourages women to assert their intelligence and personality, though women have downplayed such characteristics "in our tradition," he says.

Joseph Habineza, whose Ministry of Culture and Sports sponsors the competition, agrees. "They're shy," he says of Rwandan women, "but we want a new Rwandan style.... We really have to liberate them. So it's sort of an emboldening initiative."

It's also a bold step in a country where physical stereotypes have had deadly consequences.

"She must be pretty, in her face and body.... She must have small eyes," says Mr. Nshimiyimana, the medical student. "But we don't look at the nose. Here in Rwanda, we have a problem with the nose," he says, referring to how Tutsis were singled out in the 1994 genocide.

An estimated 800,000 Tutsis were murdered by Hutu militias in an event scholars say had its origins in a long history of oppression initiated by Belgian colonists and propped up by racist notions of European beauty.

"There is what was called the Hamitic hypothesis," explains Jean Leonard Buhigiro, a professor of history at the Kigali Institute of Education (KIE) in Rwanda's capital. European explorers, and then Belgian colonizers, "tried to describe Rwanda according to social classes, then identified one social class as European ... and the other social group [as] a group which is ugly."

Like most Rwandans, he won't use the words "Hutu" or "Tutsi" – usually considered ethnic groups by outsiders (the terms were legally abolished in Rwanda in 2004). But history makes Buhigiro's meaning clear.

Belgian administrative reports describe Tutsis' "high brow, thin nose, and fine lips." One colonial missionary called them "Europeans under black skin."

Most attendees at the Butare beauty contest won't discuss facial features. The definition of beauty that dominates the pageant world isn't far from what, in Rwanda, is still taboo.

"There is facially an international standard of beauty that is more European," says Professor Craig. "I don't think a woman with an exceptionally broad nose would win an international beauty contest.... On top of that ... is the hair. Can a woman with unstraightened African hair be crowned a beauty? I doubt it."

These debates are ever-present subtexts as pageants grow in popularity here. Miss Nyampinga organizers have drafted their own criteria on the minimum and maximum height and weigh requirements by averaging standards from American, British, and French competitions.

This spring, at the first Miss KIE competition, an audience debate erupted about whether a true Rwandan beauty should be light- or dark-skinned. At the National University, students argued over how curvy the winner should be.

"The more there is this kind of contention, the more aware people are that beauty is political," says Richard Wilk, co-editor of "Beauty Queens on the Global Stage." "There is no kind of absolute standard."

Minister Habineza says beauty pageants recall pre-colonial days. The king of Rwanda once held a competition to choose a wife, he says. The organizers evoked that era by naming the contest "Miss Nyampinga," a traditional word for a woman who embodies physical beauty, social grace, and compassion.

"Some people say, 'This will create division, because beautiful ladies must be tall,' " he says. "But tall doesn't mean to be a Tutsi. And also being short doesn't mean to be a Hutu."

Some students hope that being called beautiful might become as unpredictable.

Alyce Akineza, a journalism student and co-master of ceremonies at Miss Nyampinga, got a round of applause when she said one day, beautiful might not just mean thin. "In case people were wondering, Rwandan women, we look more like this," Akineza said, grabbing her thick hips, "than that," and she gestured toward the contestants, most of whom were Milan-model thin.

"Is there any way we can have a Miss like me?" she asked. "We could call it, 'Fat Almost Beautiful Girls.' Or 'Chubby Girls' Or 'Normal Women.'"