Miss Vietnam surprisingly fell into the top 20 of Miss Unibarse 2008. She was noted for having many common features with Miss Vietnam 2004, Nguyen Thi Huyen, and Miss Vietnam 2006, Mai Phuong Thuy.

Miss Unibarse, a special and unique online pageant for dolls around the world, has been annually co-organised by the US F&G Photography Association and Global Queen Beauty Management (GQBM) since 2005.

Its name, Miss Unibarse, is a combination of ‘Universe’ and ‘Barbie’. Doll designers in countries all over the world chose dolls, which have a traditional beauty, to be representatives in the beauty contest.

The country, whose doll is crowned Miss Unibarse this year, will become the country to host the contest the following year.

Miss Palau, crowned Miss Unibarse 2007, hosted the contest in 2008. The board of examiners comprised famous figures in the world’s beauty and fashion industries, including Tamara Almeida (Miss Brazil 2008), Jessica Trisko (Miss Earth 2007) and Priscila Perales (Miss International 2007). Candidates had to attend three events such as Fashion, Swimsuit and Behaviour.

Photos used in the Swimsuit event were copied from a series of photos from Miss Universe 2008 which was held in Vietnam. In the behaviour event, doll designers answered questions from a board of examiners.

The Top 5 beauty queens were asked the same question, “If you have the whole world listening to you and there’s one thing you could say to the world, what would you say?”

With her intelligent answer, Miss Dominican Republic, Amelia Ava Mendez-Alvarez, was crowned Miss Unibarse 2008. She said, “If the world is listening to me and there is one thing I can say to or tell the world, I would tell the world that.... It is not too late. It is not too late to make amends and promote peace. It is not too late to feed the hungry. It is not too late to shelter the homeless. It is not too late to save our planet. There is still hope. We can not all do great things but a simple act of genuine kindness is a promising miracle.”