Miss New York Kira Kazantsev is Miss America 2015. This is the third time in a row that the winner came from New York, Huffington Post reported.
Did the "Happy Red Cup" performance make her win the crown?
Kazantsev did her rendition of Pharrell Williams' "Happy" as she sat cross-legged on the stage and banged red plastic cup on the floor - a la Anna Kendrick. People found it so ordinary (or unusual?) that it gained different reactions from the social media. One Twitter user even compared her performance to that of Gracie Lou Freebush, played by Sandra Bullock from the movie "Miss Congeniality".
"The reason why I chose to do that talent is I wanted every single little girl in America to be able to see that you can do that talent - you can do whatever talent you want on national television - even with a red cup - and still be Miss America and have the time of your life," Kazantsev said in an AP report.
What she showed onstage may have irked some people, but surely, this is not the primary (or the only) reason she won the judges' nod. It was her wit that made her the Miss America winner.
When asked by Lee Meriwhether what she would want women U.S. senators to address, she said that "I really believe that sexual assault in our military is an issue these women have got to fight for..."
Kazantsev won scholarship worth $50,000. She expressed her plans to attend law school. Chicago Tribune wrote that Kazantsev hopes to support projects that protect women from domestic violence.
Other crowned beauties aside from the Miss America winner: Miss Virginia Courtney Paige Garrett bagged the first runner-up honor. Rounding up the top five finalists were Miss Arkansas Ashton Jo Campbell, Miss Florida Victoria Cowen, and Miss Massachusetts Lauren Kuhn. The Miss North Dakota Jacky Amess got the Miss Congeniality award.
