Tshokey Tshomo crowned Miss Bhutan (Entertainment)

Thimphu, October 11: The first crown of Bhutanese beauty pageant has been conferred to 24-year-old Tshokey Tshomo Karchung in a final contest Friday night in Thimphu.

The Miss Bhutan 2008 also grabbed the titles of Miss Talented and Miss Photogenic.

Beside receiving cash prize of Nu 100,000, Tshomo will represent Bhutan in Miss Earth 2008 in Philippines, Miss Young International in Taiwan and Miss Safari 2008 in Kenya later this year.

The grand finale had seven judges, five Bhutanese and two international celebrities – Kelly Dorji and former Miss Thailand and actress Onwarin Osathanond.

“The reason we had more Bhutanese judges is to make sure that the contestants are judged more on inner beauty than on physical beauty. In most of the international pageants, they have only one round on inner beauty, the Q & A round and that’s it,” said Karma Tshering, Director of Miss Bhutan Organization that hosted the event.

Miss Bhutan 2008 was crowned by Osthanond.

The finals had five rounds – traditional dress round, evening gown round (using Bhutanese textiles), express yourself round, talent round and Q&A round but no swimsuit round.

Held for the first time, 77 contestants from across the country registered for Miss Bhutan 2008 and 20 were short listed for the main event through the preliminary round. Bhutan News Service