Miss and Mr Hong Kong 2016 crowned

University of Hong Kong graduate Crystal Fung was crowned Miss Hong Kong in the annual TVB pageant final on Sunday night after securing more than 36,000 votes.

The Miss Hong Kong Pageant, or Miss HK for short, is a beauty pageant organised by the leading Hong Kong television station, TVB. In 2012, for the first time, every HK citizen with valid HK identity card was allowed to vote for who gets which position given the shortlisted three finalists. Nevertheless, this had to be abandoned at the last minute supposedly due to a server breakdown.

Hong Kong residents were invited to use a TVB mobile phone app to vote for their favourite from among four finalists, who were chosen from 10 contestants by a jury panel.

Fung, 22, said she aspires to become a nutritionist to help people nurture healthy dietary patterns and find the right ways to live.

University student Tiffany Lau, 19, clinched the first runner-up spot, along with the Miss Photogenic title. Her ambition is to help the needy and to influence others with her optimistic personality, she said.

Second runner-up Bonnie Chan, 26, runs an online fashion business and wants to become a TVB actress and host. She was also first runner-up in the 2013 Miss Chinese Toronto pageant.

Jackson Lai, winner of Mr Hong Kong 2016, and Crystal Fung, winner of Miss Hong Kong 2016, pose for a photo in Hong Kong, Sept. 11, 2016. Photo: Xinhua

The new Mr Hong Kong was also crowned, in the first such crossover final.

Jackson Lai, a 30-year-old married model and actor said to bear a resemblance to actor Louis Koo Tin-lok, failed to hold back tears after he was offered the honour.

He secured more than 44,000 votes from the public.

The first runner-up place went to university student Karl Ting, 19, followed by the second runner-up school teacher Freeyon Chung, 27.

The 2016 Miss Hong Kong Pageant and Mr Hong Kong Contest finals were held together, a first in the pageants' histories.

(APD)