The second Miss Vietnam World contest has select 30 candidates for the title, finishing a month of preliminary rounds in central and southern Vietnam.

Judges at the selection rounds in Hue, Can Tho and HCM City selected 28 ladies from a short list of thousands of applicants.

Two beauty pageant winners from the Mekong Delta, Le Huynh Thuy Ngan and Phan Thi Mo, qualified automatically.

Twenty-four of the ladies are from HCM City or neighbouring provinces, while two each were selected from the delta, and central and Central Highlands areas.

The successful candidates will join international Vietnamese finalists and the still-to-be-decided qualifiers from the North to compete in the final round at Vinpearl Land in Nha Trang in August.

The organizing board will continue the preliminary rounds for domestic applicants from northern mountainous provinces in Tuyen Quang Province on July 8 and northern delta provinces in Hanoi on July 12.

The finalists will gather in Hanoi and HCM City for training before the main Miss Vietnam World event is held. Vietnam Television and Vinpearl Land Tourism Joint Stock Co are the organisers.

The first pageant was held in 2007 and received positive feedback from the public because it was respectful to women and created links with overseas Vietnamese all over the world.

The pageant finals will be held from August 10-21 at Vinpearl Land. The proceeds collected at the crowning ceremony will go to charity./.