HO CHI MINH CITY, March 14 (Xinhua) -- Miss Vietnam 2018 competition, Vietnam's most long-standing and prestigious beauty pageant, started recruiting contestants nationwide on Wednesday, and the final night will take place in Ho Chi Minh City in September, its organizers announced here Wednesday.

For the first time, the final round of the biennial national pageant will be divided into two stages and held in two localities, the first from Aug.23 to Sept.16 in central Da Nang city, and the second from Sept.17-22 in Ho Chi Minh City.

The pageant's winner will receive a valuable crown and 500 million Vietnamese dong (22,100 U.S. dollars), and represent Vietnam to compete at Miss World 2018.

In the previous national beauty contest, Do My Linh, a 20-year-old foreign trade student from Hanoi, was named Miss Vietnam 2016.