Miss USA Olivia Culpo crowned Miss Universe
Posted December 20, 2012 7:53 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
A 20-year-old beauty queen from Rhode Island is the new Miss Universe.
Olivia Culpo beat out women from 89 other countries for the crown, awarded Wednesday night at the competition in Las Vegas.
The Boston University sophomore will now spend the next year traveling the world championing for her cause alliances, namely HIV/AIDS prevention.
Culpo, a cellist and breast cancer research advocate, is the first American to take the Miss Universe title since 1997.
Miss Philippines, 23 year-old Janine Tugonon, was the runner-up and Miss Venezuela, Irene Sofia Esser Quintero, came in third after the top five answered brief questions posed by the judges.
Culpo, from Rhode Island, takes the place of last year’s winner Leila Lopes, who was the first ever Miss Universe from Angola.
Miss Guatemala, Laura Godoy, was chosen Miss Congeniality after the two-hour pageant that saw live performances by U.S. pop group Train and Nigerian-born Australian singer and dancer Timomatic.
Contestants must be aged between 18 and 27, unmarried and with no children.
The contest was broadcast live on U.S. television from the Planet Hollywood hotel and casino in Las Vegas , and seen by an estimated 1 billion viewers on TV and online in 190 countries, organizers said.
The contest, owned jointly by businessman Donald Trump and the NBC network, held a moment of silence for the 20 children and six staff gunned down at an elementary school in Newtown, Conn., on Dec. 14.
