Miss Angola Leila Lopes, a business student from the town of Benguela in her home country, was crowned Miss Universe on Monday after dazzling a panel of judges with her beauty and impressing them with her brain.
Lopes, 25, laughed and smiled as she hugged runner-up Miss Ukraine Olesia Stefanko, then felt a crown placed carefully on her head at the pageant held in Sao Paulo, Brazil.
Earlier in the contest, Lopes had been asked what she might change about her physical characteristics if she could, but Lopes said she was satisfied with who she was.
"I consider myself a woman endowed with inner beauty," she told the judges and the audience. "I have acquired many wonderful principles from my family, and I plan to follow those through the rest of my life."
Lopes takes her place as the winner of the 60th annual Miss Universe pageant.
It is an annual event watched by millions of people around the world on TV who cheer for the young women competing in categories ranging from swimsuits to evening gowns. They also must answer the critical question that tells the judges a bit about them.
Lopes had worn a bright bikini, then paraded around the stage with poise in a form-fitting evening gown coloured in gold and silver sequins and feathers.
In fan voting, Lopes tallied only a 3.6 score for the swimsuit but earned a 7.2 for her evening gown. Fan voting, however, did not count in the final tallies from nine judges.
The panellists, who ranged from race car driver Helio Castroneves to actress Vivica A. Fox and journalist Connie Chung, scored the women on each contest, narrowing from a group of 16 down to a final five that included women from China, the Philippines and the home country, Brazil. In all, 89 women competed for the title.
The show was hosted by US television personalities Andy Cohen and Natalie Morales.
The contest was narrowed to 10 women on Monday night, including surprise choice Miss Portugal, who only made the first cut because of winning an online fan vote.
Miss USA and a host of Latin American candidates did not make the cut, with only Miss Costa Rica and Miss Panama advancing.
Learn samba
Contestants from 89 nations on six continents spent the past three weeks in Sao Paulo, trying to learn samba dance steps, visiting impoverished children and kicking a football around for cameras as the globe's biggest beauty contest was held in Brazil for the first time.
Before the contest began, judges offered little insight into who they thought might win.
"I know my job and I'll be tough, but fair," said pageant judge and journalist Connie Chung. "You have to keep in mind that these women are not objects just to be looked at. They're to be taken seriously. I want to choose somebody I take seriously and the world takes seriously, too."
Miss Universe 2010 Ximena Navarrete arrived at the Credicard Centre in a royal blue, full length, one shoulder gown.
She said the best part of being Miss Universe for the past year was "representing my country, Mexico, and working for different causes. But the main cause of Miss Universe is working with people with HIV. I also like just travelling and knowing about cultures and different things".
Paula Shugart, president of the Miss Universe organisation, was hyped for the night.
"It's our 60th anniversary, it's a very big show," she said. "We're anticipating close to a billion viewers from around the world."
Shugart said it was fitting the globe's biggest beauty pageant be held in Brazil at this time, as the nation prepares to host some major events in the coming years.
"I don't think there is any doubt in the rest of the world's mind that Brazil is the place, between hosting the Olympics and hosting the World Cup," she said. "I love the fact we're going to kick it off. I always say we're the ‘World Cup' of beauty."
The contestants must never have been married or had children and must be at least 18 years of age and under 27 years of age by February 1 of the competition year.
