HÀ NỘI — Miss Việt Nam Đỗ Mỹ Linh won the Beauty with a Purpose award at the Miss World 2017 beauty pageant, held in China last weekend.

Miss India Manushi Chhillar was crowned Miss World 2017. The first and second runners up were Miss Mexico Andrea Meza and Miss England Sephanie Hill, respectively.

This year, the Beauty with a Purpose award was given to five contestants – Miss Việt Nam, Miss Indonesia, Miss India, Miss Philippines and Miss South Africa.

“Being named among the Beauties with a Purpose is my happiest moment. The most rewarding thing in this competition for me is the valuable experience, the cross-border friendship and the support from the local audience,” Linh, who was among the top 40 at Miss World this year, said.

Beauty with a Purpose is an event established in 2001, which is celebrated during the activities organised before the Miss World pageant. It awards the contestant with the most relevant and important charity project in her nation.

Under this category, Linh introduced a 10-minute video titled Lighting up the Darkness on the charity project she carried out after being crowned Miss Việt Nam 2016.

Linh visited Cu Vai, a remote village in the northern mountainous province of Yên Bái, stayed with local ethnic people, experienced difficulties the locals faced and helped in finding ways to bring electricity to them. The locality was besieged by heavy rain, floods and landslides at the time Linh was implementing the project.

On November 11, just eight days before her departure to China to compete at the Miss World, Linh was still stuck in Yên Bái as floods and landslides had isolated the locality.

Đỗ Mỹ Linh, born in 1996, is pursuing her Bachelor’s Degree in Business Management at Hà Nội Foreign Trade University. She was crowned Miss Việt Nam in 2016.

Miss World 2017, held in China, attracted 118 contestants from countries and territories across the world.

This is the first time Miss Việt Nam has won an award at the Miss World beauty pageant. Earlier, Miss Việt Nam Lan Khuê was among the top 11 finalists at Miss World 2015, while Mai Phương Thúy was among the top 17 in 2006 and Nguyễn Thị Huyền was among the top 15 in 2004. — VNS