Fairfield Champion: OUR BEAUTIES ARE WINNERS

They came, they saw, they conquered - and they have the crowns to prove it. Fairfield Champion Melanie Kembrey reports.

THERE must be something in the water in Fairfield.

Our girls dominated the Miss Viet Uc 2010 beauty pageant and sashayed away with the top crowns.

Anna Vo, Serina Duong, Kelly Phuong and Thi Liu defeated 16 queen-wannabes to take out the coveted Miss Viet-Uc, first and second runner-up and Miss Congeniality crowns.

They batted their eyelashes, modelled their traditional Vietnamese dresses and talked about changing the world in front of more than 600 people.

Ms Vo, who won the beauty pageant, said it was no surprise that Fairfield girls dominated the competition.

"I honestly definitely think Fairfield has the most beautiful girls in Australia," she says.

Ms Vo, 20 of Canley Heights, isn't your run-f-the-mill beauty pageant winner.

She enjoys reading history books, wants to be a criminologist and says she's a "nerd."

"It's a bit of a struggle to go between the worlds of studying and pageant," Ms Vo said.

She won $10,000 worth of prizes - including airline tickets - and, of course, the crown.

"When they announced my name I started crying because I was so in shock," she said.

"I'm going on a trip to Vietnam and will probably save the rest of the money."

Second runner-up Serina Duong, 20, of Canley Vale, said the pageant was just like a scene from a movie.

"It was exactly like a movie but without all the drama and the figiting between the girls," Ms Duong said.

"I've never done anything like this before so it was all new to me."

"We tried to keep it real."

The young women rehearsed twice a week for more than three months to prepare for the competition.

They competed in formal wear, swimwear, ao dai (traditional Vietnamese long dress) and question-and-answer categories.

The beauties all agreed that their crowns were far too heavy to wear when they were watching television at home.

"They are really heavy and actually kind of hurt," Ms Vo said.

"We wore them to the pageant after-party and all complained afterwards."