Miss Grand Cambodia (Khmer: បវរកញ្ញាឯកដ៏អស្ចារ្យនៃកម្ពុជា) is an annual female beauty pageant in Cambodia, founded in 2015 by BKA Entertainment chaired by a Thai businessperson in Cambodia Boonkerd Angamnuaysiri (Thai: บุญเกิด อังอำนวยศิริ),[1] the finalists of the contest have been sent to participate in various international contests including its parent stage, Miss Grand International.[2] In 2020, The pageant patent was transferred to a Phnom Penh-based event organizer managed by Sophin In, Mohahang Production,[3][4] and then to a cosmetics and dietary supplement retailer, HK 7 Co., Ltd.,[5] headed by Sokunthea Im, in 2023.[5][6]
In the present, Miss Grand Cambodia has been managing by Sokunthea Im, the manager of HK7 Co., Ltd., Sarapich Som as a Vice president, and Sokpoly Voeun [km] as a project director.
During 2015-2019, the competition was aired on MYTV,[1][7][8] but later changed to the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces Television [id] (TV5) after Mohahang Production had acquired the license in 2020.[9]
Since the establishment of Miss Grand International, to date, Cambodian representatives have never won the contest. However, three placements was recorded in 2020, 2021 and 2022, when Chily Tevy, Sothida Pokimtheng and Pich Votey Saravody were placed among the Top 20 and Top 10 finalists, respectively.[10][11][12]
Background
Dy Sorakheta (left) and Lika Dy (right), the last two standing of the Miss Grand Cambodia 2018 pageant, of which, Lika Dy was named the winner.
History
After the first participation at Miss Grand International by the appointed representative Tim Srey Niet in 2014, the Cambodian licensee subsequently ran its first competition in the following year. The contest was held at Nagaworld Hotel Grand Ballroom, which functioned as the final venue of the Miss Grand Cambodia pageant from 2015 – 2019,[7][13][14][15] featuring 24 national finalists directly chosen by the national organizer, of which, a 22 years-old third-year medical student Seng Polvithavy was announced the winner,[1][16] and the pageant was held annually since then.[7][13][14][15]
BKA Entertainment lost the contest license to Mohahang Production in 2020,[4] after failing to send the 2019 titleholder, Det Sreyneat, to participate at Miss Grand International 2019 in Venezuela, as a result of insufficient time to prepare the documents for the visa application; the winner was crowned on late September, but the international pageant was launched on early October.[17] Such an incident also happened in 2016.[18]
Under the management of Mohahang Production, the pageant result was canceled in 2020, when the original winner, Seng Rotha, opted not to compete in the international pageant and renounced the title.[19][20] Furthermore, the first runner-up, Lim Sotheavy, also refused to take over the title due to the health conditions,[20][21] which causes the organizer to file a lawsuit against them for not fulfilling the agreement,[22] and subsequently appointed Chily Tevy, the second runner-up, to join the international pageant instead.[20]
In 2023, Sokunthea Im, owner of HK7 Co., Ltd, in collaboration with Sokpoly Voeun, Sarapich Som was legally licensed to host the Miss Grand Cambodia 2023, which was recognized and publicly announced by the international parent organ on January 2, 2023.[23] The contest was programmed to be directed by Sokunthea Im as a national director, Sokpoly Voeun as project director, Sarapich Som as vice president.[24]
Sokpoly Voeun, also known as a cambodian film director, writer, cinematographer, was a nominee to direct this beauty pageant show. His role covers a lot of responsibilities, such as film technical, events management, program organization, planning, production design and etcetera.[25]
4 months later, Sokpoly Voeun[26] decided to leave Miss Grand Cambodia in 2023 because of Sarapich Som's interference, dissatisfaction with her management and her financial fraud. A lot of people miss understanding behind the stage that she tries to take over, steal his credits and his entire work and also, his crew team never gets paid.
Selection of contestants
Under the management of BKA Entertainment, the national aspirants for its first five editions were directly chosen by the central organizer based in Phnom Penh.[15] However, after the pageant license was transferred to another organizer, Mohahang Production, in 2020, an attempt to distribute to the provincial organs has been observed ever since.[27] Moreover, Cambodian overseas, such as Khmer Krom, Khmer Loeu, French-Cambodians, etc., have been allowed to participate in the contest with independent sash title since 2020,[27][28][29] nevertheless, most of the candidates were still directly selected and appointed the provincial titles by the national organizer due to a lacking of regional licensees.[30]
Editions
Date and venue
The following list is the edition detail of the Miss Grand Cambodia contest, since its inception in 2015.
The main finalists of the Miss Grand Cambodia pageant have been sent to represent the country in various international contests, the following is a list of international contests, with participants from Miss Grand Cambodia as contestants based on the year the pageant was held.
Miss Grand Cambodia 2023
Miss Grand Cambodia 2022
Miss Grand Cambodia 2021
Miss Grand Cambodia 2020
Miss Grand Cambodia 2018
Miss Grand Cambodia 2017
Miss Grand Cambodia 2015
Miss Grand Cambodia 2014
.png)
