Contestants audition for Pingtan's Sand Sculpture Festival beauty contest. Winners of the contest will attend the 2012 Miss International Tourism Beauty Contest this November in Beijing.

Contestants audition for Pingtan's Sand Sculpture Festival beauty contest. Winners of the contest will attend the 2012 Miss International Tourism Beauty Contest this November in Beijing.

On the night of July 21, first-round auditions were held for this year's Pingtan Sand Sculpture Festival beauty contest. The contest was held in the city's sand sculpture park and attracted a large number of tourists and onlookers. A group of public judges were also on hand to give their professional comments on the contestants.

The 31 contestants posed for photos, engaged in bikini catwalk shows, and gave self-introductions. Fifteen of them will be qualified for the second-round competition to be held on the night of August 4.

The final contest will be held on August 18. There will be a first-prize, second-prize and third-prize winner. In addition, awards will be given out in the categories of Miss Photogenic, Miss Energetic, Miss Popular (according to an online poll), Miss Graceful, Miss Figure and Miss Potential.

The first-prize winner will win a trip for two persons to 10 European nations. Second-prize receives a 10-day romantic trip for two to Greece's Aegean Sea and third-prize winners will win a summer trip for two to Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand. Other award winners will win five-day trips to Taiwan.

The winners will proceed to the finals of the 2012 Miss International Tourism Beauty Contest to be held this November in Beijing.

Edited by Chen Zhilin and Michael Thai