How did poet Duong Ky Anh organize the first beauty contest?

Poet Duong Ky Anh breathed his last at 8:30 a.m. on February 25, at the age of 77. Besides his achievements in journalism and literature, he was known as the pioneer in initiating a beauty contest for Vietnamese women through the Miss Tien Phong Newspaper contest (later Miss Vietnam), the newspaper for which he was editor-in-chief for many years.

This was the first beauty pageant in the unified Vietnam. After that, many other beauty pageants were born and flourished. Therefore, poet Duong Ky Anh is called the "father" of Miss Vietnam pageants. He held the role of Head of the Organizing Committee and Chairman of the Jury of Miss Vietnam pageants from 1988 to 2008.

10 years to have enough determination to organize a beauty pageant

During his lifetime, the poet once said that it took him nearly 10 years to muster enough determination to organize the first beauty contest. In 1970, while working as a reporter for Tien Phong newspaper, during a business trip to Sapa, he met a beautiful girl, the youngest of two sisters, who had moved with her parents from the lowlands to Sapa to live.

"In the evenings I stayed at her house, I often sat by the fire, chatting and reading poems to her. When we parted, she cried because we had feelings for each other. She gave me a sealed letter, telling me to open it when I got back to Hanoi. At that time, I was very nervous because I thought it was a love letter. When I opened it, I only saw two lines: 'You are like a cinnamon tree in the forest / Who knows how fragrant, who knows how fragrant'. The folk song was like the feelings of that girl, so beautiful but no one knew. Even after that, I was still haunted by that letter.

Another time, around 77-78, I visited Bao Dai Palace in Da Lat. I came across a beautiful photo of Queen Nam Phuong, with the caption Miss Nam Ky Luc Tinh underneath. At that moment, I suddenly wondered, was that the first Miss of Vietnam? And the idea of ​​a beauty pageant began to flash in my mind.", he said.

In 1988, the first time an Asian girl from Thailand named Phon Thit was crowned Miss World, this idea flared up strongly. The Prime Minister of Thailand at that time went to the airport to welcome the new beauty queen and said a sentence that poet Duong Ky Anh remembered forever:“I have welcomed many important guests, including kings and queens of many countries, but why don't I feel as nervous as when I welcomed Miss Phon Thit back to my homeland?”

When he reviewed the videotape of that competition, he wondered:“Why doesn’t Vietnam organize a beauty pageant? Why doesn’t Tien Phong Newspaper try to organize a beauty pageant?”Therefore, after agreeing to organize the 35th anniversary of Tien Phong Newspaper Festival at the Children's Cultural Palace for 3 days, the Organizing Committee decided that in the program there would be a beauty contest called "Miss Tien Phong Newspaper Festival 1988".

At that time, poet Duong Ky Anh affirmed that the purpose of the beauty contest was to orient young people about beauty, to honor beauty, to honor people...

In 1988, the first Miss Vietnam pageant was held, with Bui Bich Phuong winning the title. Poet Duong Ky Anh recounted:"The beauty queen's prize was a Mipha bicycle with shiny paint. At that time, Phuong's house was still on Ba Trieu street, with only one large room on the second floor. The bicycle was then a fortune. After 3 months of admiring it, everyone told Phuong to take the bicycle out to practice riding. One day, coming home late from school, feeling tired, Phuong left the bicycle at the foot of the stairs and carefully locked the chain. But the next morning, when she woke up and ran down, the bicycle was gone."

After decades, when asked"Which beauty queen do you think represents Vietnamese beauty queens?"Poet Duong Ky Anh always affirmed that it was the first beauty queen of unified Vietnam - Bui Bich Phuong.

Since 2008, poet Duong Ky Anh has no longer held the role of Head of the Organizing Committee of Miss Vietnam. Sharing his feelings about this, he said he breathed a sigh of relief:"As a father, raising a child to adulthood and stepping out into the world, I should be happy, not sad. Now thinking back, if I had to give birth and raise a child for another 20 years, I would be embarrassed."

Memories of the first Miss Bui Bich Phuong

Sharing with VTC News, Bui Bich Phuong said the last time she met poet Duong Ky Anh was in July 2024, when he was still fresh and healthy. On that occasion, the poet visited her house and expressed his desire to write an article about her for the Tet edition of Tien Phong Newspaper. The beauty queen had not yet had a chance to meet him again to receive the Tet edition when he suddenly passed away.

"Every time I met him, Nam advised me to take care of my health and eat more nutritious food. During the Lunar New Year 2025, Nam said he had to go to the hospital for a few days but did not reveal his illness. The last time we met, he was still healthy. So when I heard the news of his death, I was shocked and bewildered.", Miss Vietnam 1988 confided.

According to Bui Bich Phuong, her coronation as Miss at that time caused "a terrible echo". Therefore, after the contest, she and poet Duong Ky Anh had many memories together:"I still remember how he treated everyone from the security guard, the driver to the members of the Miss Vietnam crew. To us, he always considered us his little sisters. Every time we came to his house, we were welcomed very warmly and sincerely."

Talking about the Miss Vietnam contest, Bui Bich Phuong feels that poet Duong Ky Anh always has absolute responsibility for this "child" of his. With the crowned beauties, he always reminds them to live beautifully, take practical actions to contribute to the community, and spread the comprehensive beauty of Vietnamese women. Those confidences are not rigid or dogmatic, but just like the advice of an older brother.

"When I was first crowned, Mr. Nam was the one who guided me, taught me how to live, develop and perfect myself to be worthy of the title of Miss. Thanks to his teachings, there is a Miss Bui Bich Phuong like today. I am sure that the generations of Miss Vietnam after that will have the same feeling when interacting with him.", Bui Bich Phuong confided.

Having been a judge in several beauty pageants with journalist Duong Ky Anh, Miss Vietnam 1988 realized one thing about him that she really respected, which was his impartiality: "With potential and promising faces, he analyzes and dissects them bit by bit, while also respecting the opinions of each member. Even though he is the head of the organizing committee and head of the judging panel, he always respects the opinions of all members.".

Bui Bich Phuong said that the audience can only see the surface of the beauty pageant, but inside there are thousands of tasks that need to be handled and arranged thoroughly. Without courage and ingenuity, it is impossible to build the Miss Vietnam brand to such a brilliant and complete success.

The beauty queen said that whenever she had problems in life, poet Duong Ky Anh was always the first person she called to confide in: "You will always be the teacher, the older brother that I will never forget in this life."

Poet and journalist Duong Ky Anh, whose real name is Duong Xuan Nam, was born in 1948 in Xuyen Cam (now Tran Phu village), Ky Xuan commune, Ky Anh district, Ha Tinh province. He was formerly Editor-in-Chief of Tien Phong Newspaper and a member of the Vietnam Writers Association.

In 1972, after graduating from the University of Literature, he joined the Vietnam People's Army as a missile control officer. In 1975, he worked at Tien Phong Newspaper until his retirement. He is one of the rare Vietnamese poets and journalists whose name is listed in the dictionary "World Cultural Celebrities" (Asia-Pacific Region).

Poet Duong Ky Anh won several awards in literature and art: Award of the Army Literature Magazine 1988, Award of Good Poems selected by Nhan Dan Newspaper 1988, Special Prize - Nguyen Du Literature and Art Award for the novelXuyen Cam2005.