The Ministry of Culture, Sport and Tourism has given the approval to the central province of Binh Thuan and Vo Viet Chung Ltd. Company to organize the 2014 Miss Vietnam Ocean pageant.

The competition, which is the first of its kind in Vietnam, is held within the framework of Blue Ocean World project launched by the company and the Vietnam’s Environmental Protection Fund to protect the ocean environment. The qualifier round will kick off this month in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City and the final round will be in Binh Thuan’s Phan Thiet City in May.

Designer Vo Viet Chung, owner of Vo Viet Chung Company, will be head of the contest’s organizing board.

Thus, 2014 will have two official national pageants: Miss Vietnam and Miss Vietnam Ocean.

In recent years, Vietnam has seen a large number of pageant contests of different scales taking place, though, most of them were organized unprofessionally. Since 2008, the culture ministry issued regulations to strictly manage beauty pageants.

The most recent infamous case was the 2013 Queen Vietnam Beach pageant scheduled to run from June 8 to 11 in Nha Trang city. The contest was cancelled minutes before it took place due to inadequate organizing, shocking its contestants who came to the coastal city from across the country.

The cancellation followed the ministry’s inspection that revealed numerous shortcomings made by the pageant’s organizer, Rong Viet Co., as well as their failure to comply with regulations on holding beauty contests including the contestants’ incomplete applications and the delay in setting up a jury.

Moreover, not only companies but local schools, from high school to universities, also joined the race, creating a messy picture and making it difficult for the public to remember, or even to know, the contests as well as their winners.