Vientiane Times, July 5 Vol: 11 No: 128

Xayxana Leukai

AN 18-YEAR-OLD university student has been chosen as the country's representative at the Miss International Beauty Pageant 2004, to be held in China in October.
Miss Chandaly Sitphaxay, a Vientiane-born student at the National University of Laos won the Miss Lux 2004 contest on Saturday night at the National Culture Hall.
"If I were Miss Lux, I would dedicate myself to showing Lao customs and culture to foreigners," said Chandaly, a promise that won her the title.

Twenty young women competed in the final round of the contest. The judges, senior figures in the Lao and international community, chose five women to answer the question, "If you were Miss Lux, what would you do for Laos?" They selected one as Miss Lux.
Miss Chandaly will represent Laos at the world-renowned Miss International Beauty Pageant 2004, one of the three major titles together with Miss World and Miss Universe, which have been organised for over 40 years.

This is the first time a Lao woman has been given the opportunity to attend an international beauty contest.
Along with her new position as national beauty, Chandaly Sitphaxay also received a prize of 10.7 million kip. Second place in the contest went to Miss Soudaphone Phakonkham who won 5 million kip and third place was won by Miss Yat-aloun Mounda who won 3 million kip.
All of them are from Vientiane.

A beautiful hair award went to Miss Pavina Norsavanh and the friendship prize was won by Miss Phouvilay Sengakhom. All 20 participants in the final round of the contest received one million kip.

"I chose her because she answered the question correctly and fluently and is also really beautiful," said Ms Boualone Vongdalasene, one of 10 judges of the final round.
"I have no doubt this will add further momentum to the Lao Government's effort in promoting Laos as the destination for tourism, culture, business and investment opportunities," said Mr Maks Mukudan, General Manager of Unilever Thai Trading's Indochina operation. Unilever is the distributor of Lux soap products in Laos and the key sponsor of the event.