Wednesday, August 20, 2008

Hoi An hosts final round of Miss Viet Nam beauty pageant

The final round of Miss Viet Nam 2008 started yesterday in the ancient town of Hoi An.

Thirty contestants who were selected out of 2,500, will take part in different competitions including costume, swim suit and question and answer rounds over the next two weeks.

Those who performed the best in these competitions will be decided when Miss Viet Nam 2008 is crowned on August 31. The crowning ceremony will be held on a floating stage on the Hoai River and it will be broadcast live on VTV1 at 8pm, organisers said. Television audiences can vote for their favourite contestants on the Internet.

Other than wearing the prized crown, contestants also have a chance to be named Miss Photogenic, Miss Friendly, Miss Ocean and Miss Earth of Viet Nam.

Miss Viet Nam 2008 will be awarded VND150 million (US$9,500), a trip to Europe and free flights with Pacific Airlines for two years. Two runners up will be awarded VND80 million and 60 million, respectively.

This year’s Miss Viet Nam will be the first to wear a special crown made to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Miss Viet Nam Peagant.

The crown for this year’s winner is made of VND300 million worth of gold by the SJC Jewel Company, and will be the official crown for Miss Viet Nam from now on.

The first Miss Viet Nam Peagant after the country’s reunification in 1975 was held in 1988 by the Tien Phong newspaper. Its success has resulted in a biennial event to pick Miss Viet Nam, as well as similar competitions at escalating scales, such as Miss Viet Nam World in 2007 and Miss Universe 2008 last month.

"That beauty peagants have attracted many fans is evidence that Vietnamese people are interested in this new cultural event," said the editor-in-chief of Tien Phong, Duong Xuan Nam. "The success of beauty contests both locally and internationally in Viet Nam has helped put Vietnamese beauties on the world’s beauties map."

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