Dharamshala: Tenzin Norzom, a 23-year-old from Hunsur Tibetan settlement in South India, was crowned as the new Kingfisher Miss Tibet 2010 at the 9th Miss Tibet pageant which was held in Dharamsala last night.
A spirit of beauty and cheer was in the air as thousands of local Tibetan, foreign and Indian spectators gathered at the Tibetan Institute of Performing Arts. The show began with a short prayer for the victims of the Kyigudo earthquake which struck on April 14, killing thousands of Tibetans and leaving many more homeless.
After seven rounds of competition, including ‘swimsuit', ‘Talk and Talent', ‘Evening Gown', ‘Traditional Costume' and ‘Interview', Tenzin Norzom, who was competing against three other contestants, won the beauty queen title and received a scholarship cheque of 100,000 rupees.
The judges chose 19-year-old Yangchen Metok as the first runner-up, awarding her 50,000 rupees, and Rinchen Choden, 25, was second runner-up with a prize of 25,000 rupees.
Tenzin has completed a Shastri degree (equivalent to Bachelor of Arts degree) from the Central University of Tibetan Studies in Varanasi. She speaks Tibetan, English, and Hindi, and likes reading, dancing, badminton, and music.
The new beauty queen expressed her exhilaration at winning the pageant, and said she would use her title to promote awareness of the Tibet issue. Her first message was to urge young confident Tibetan women to participate in the Miss Tibet beauty pageant.
During the interval on the final day of the contest, local Indian children performed the Great 12 Deeds of the Prince Siddhartha Gautam, and the annual Free Spirit Award for 2010 was presented to Mahesh Yadav for his ‘blood' portraits of world leaders, which aim promote awareness of the campaign for a free Tibet.
The Kingfisher Miss Tibet 2010 contest was produced by Group Can & Able and directed by Lobsang Wangyal, a freelance photojournalist and publisher of the Tibet Sun website. Lobsan Wangyal Productions made a donation of 10,000 rupees to the victims of Kyigudo earthquake.
