In recent years, Vietnam has been ‘inundated’ with beauty pageants of different scales, most of which remain unprofessional and messily organized.

In 2008, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism ruled that no more than one national beauty pageant could be held every year.

However, beauty contests have kept mushrooming, taking advantage of loopholes in the rule by adopting ‘queen’, ‘beauty’ and ‘belle’ instead of ‘Miss’ in the titles.

Examples are Miss Auto, Queen Vietnam Beach (whose final was cancelled at the last minute a few days ago due to sloppy organization), Miss Shining Beauty and Vietnam Jewelry Queen.

Provinces, businesses and even schools also hold countless beauty contests.

The abundance of beauty contests makes it difficult for the public, and even showbiz reporters, to remember the winners of these contests.

Sloppy, amateurish organization

Most recent local beauty pageants have been organized by advertising and media companies who do everything, including seeking sponsorship, advertisements, writing scripts, recruiting contestants and giving away prizes.

Organizers may have the pageants cancelled if they are unfortunate enough to choose partners who are unforgivably sloppy. For example, Rong Viet Co. committed numerous shortcomings and failed to comply with regulations on holding beauty contests, which led to the abolition of the Queen Vietnam Beach beauty contest by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism a few days ago.

As regulated, preparation for events which recruit nationwide, feature at least three rounds, and have audiences of at least 1,000 people has to be made at least six months in advance.

However, this doesn’t happen in reality.

A local director who is known for his meticulousness was hugely frustrated after working as a stage director for a national beauty contest and said he won’t take the job again.

“I’m really sick of it. There was no coordination or consistency at all. They kept changing their minds on various issues, such as what the contestant would wear during her coronation and who would present the prizes. Also, I was given only a few days and assigned some amateurish staff to design the final round stage,” he lamented about the pageant’s organizers.

Sponsors are also responsible for the pageants’ poor organization and delays. Many promise to supply funds, but then procrastinate or fail to come through.

State management

Nguyen Dang Chuong, head of the Performing Arts Office under the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, affirmed that the ministry, as well as provincial culture departments, do play important managerial roles in beauty pageants.

For national contests, ministry officials issue licenses, serve as heads of the contests’ management boards and work closely with the provinces which host the contests, Chuong said.

For regional and provincial contests, officials of the Performing Arts Office serve as heads of the management boards, and coordinate closely with provincial leaders and culture department officials.

Chuong also confirmed that apart from advertising their trademarks, though sponsors can give away minor prizes, they can’t fix or interfere with the final results or designate someone as the winner.