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Vietnamese Community (Qld) Ms Queensland Pageant.

On Saturday night, the 25^th November, the Vietnamese Community of Queensland held a contest to determine Ms Queensland (Vietnamese) for 2017. Applications were received from 16 beautiful ladies and I was asked to be one of the judges. I had to think seriously about that for about a milli-second before deciding to lend my expertise…

The contest was organised by Thai and Diamond Dang, both talented musicians and was held at the 7 Palace restaurant at Inala. To Thai and Diamond's credit, all funds raised were donated to the RTFV-35Sqn Association and to the Vietnam Veterans Association. Thai and Diamond and the Vietnamese Community (Qld) as a whole, regularly organise events or provide their time as a way of saying “Thank you” to Australians for coming to the aid of South Vietnam during the war back in the 60’s, early 70’s.

A wonderful and most generous initiative.

The judging panel for the night were (L-R):  Trev Benneworth,  Dr Ngoc Ong – Owner/publisher of Viet Tide magazine in California,  Darryl Shipp – Ex RAAF ADG and now General Secretary of the Vietnam Vets of Australia (Qld) Assoc,   Nid Shipp – Thai beauty Queen.

Ngoc and Bao Tran, the MC for the night (right), were flown out from California on the Thursday prior to the event and left again for home on the following Monday. Invited guests far exceeded the number of tables available and unfortunately, many people had to be declined admission. Guests paid for the privilege and as well as being present at the inaugural Ms Queensland contest, also enjoyed a wonderful meal provided by the restaurant.

Thai and Diamond’s band provided the entertainment for the evening and many took the opportunity to hit the dance floor.

Part of the crowd of people who enjoyed the evening.

Proceedings commenced at about 5.30pm with the playing of the Australian and Vietnamese National Anthems, followed by a welcoming speech from Thai and Diamond. The first of many dishes was then delivered to tables and at 6.30pm, the 16 ladies, the youngest of whom was 50, the eldest 69, (none of whom looked older than 30) were escorted onto the centre of the room, dressed in Vietnamese Traditional Dress – Áo Dài.

The ladies were escorted in one at a time, spent a few minutes walking passed the judges table then amongst the audience, then formed up on the stage.

After the 16 ladies had presented themselves and formed up on stage, they were escorted back to the change rooms from whence they were to re-appear, some time later, this time dressed in evening gowns.

The judges went into a huddle, the band played and everyone danced.   More food!!

A bit after 7.00pm, the ladies once again were escorted one by one to the judges table, this time dressed in beautiful evening wear, they then walked amongst the audience, before forming up in order, on the stage.

The judges returned to the huddle.

From this group of 16 beautiful ladies, the judges had to select 10 who would go onto the next judging stage.

After much soul-searching, the 10 semi-finalists were chosen, were escorted back into the room and formed up on the stage.

It was then the judge’s job to select an all-but final number of 5. These 5 were given a paddle with their contestant’s number on it and it was then the job of the audience to select the eventual winner.

Paper and pencils were distributed to every table and the audience was asked to select one winner by writing that contestant’s number on the slip of paper. These were then collected and delivered to the judges who were the tellers for the night. While this was taking place, the lovely Thanh Pham, (below) who provided such enjoyable entrainment for RTFV-35Sqn and 9 Sqn people last Anzac Day with a wonderful rendition of “Uc-da-loi Cheap Charlie” sang up a storm.

Eventually the winner and runner up were selected and chief judge Darryl Shipp presented the names to the MC, Boa.

And the winners are:

Thien-Khuong NGUYEN (runner up) and Tuyet-Van PHAM (winner).

Being the kind and generous man that I am, I had to personally congratulate the winners - only took me half an hour!!!

For their selfless work in organising the event, Thai and Diamond were presented with a “Thank you” by Darryl Shipp. Ngoc Ong and MC Bao Tran had organised the presentation and brought it with them from California and asked Darryl to present it for them.

Nhat-Minh NGUYEN, a spritely 68 year old, was awarded the Ms Elegance 2017 title. She was presented with a lovely pearl necklace.

With the winners crowned and presented with their generous cash prizes and adorned with bunches of flowers, it was time to call time. Rumour has it Thai and Diamond are planning another contest sometime early in the New Year, though this time it will be open to young ladies in the mid 20's and 30's, and as it will be held in the summer months, when it's hot, rumour also has it that a swim-suit category will also be held.

I told Thai if that's the truth he'd have to book Suncorp Stadium to hold everyone who would want to come - and Darryl and I would like to cement our spots as two of the judges.

Boy!  Some jobs are hard!!