Miss Venezuela wins Miss Universe 2009 crown

Miss Venezuela has been named winner of the 2009 Miss Universe pageant in the Bahamas. Stefania Fernandez was crowned Sunday night. Miss Dominican Republic, Ada Aimee de la Cruz, was the runner up. The televised event included musical performances by Flo Rida, Heidi Montag, David Guetta and Kelly Rowland. Hosts were Billy Bush, co-anchor of "Access Hollywood," and Claudia Jordan, former Miss Rhode Island USA who has appeared on several TV shows. Judges include actor Dean Cain and supermodel Valeria Mazza. Miss China, Wang Jingyao, was named Miss Congeniality and Miss Thailand, Chutima Durongdej, won Miss Photogenic while In a disappointing performance, Miss India 2009, Ekta Chowdhry has failed to make it to the top 15 for the Miss Universe 2009 contest.

Miss Universe is an annual international beauty contest run by the Miss Universe Organization. The contest was founded in 1952 by California clothing company named Pacific Mills. The pageant became part of Kayser-Roth and then Gulf and Western Industries, before being acquired by Donald Trump in 1996. Along with its rival contests , Miss World and Miss Earth, this pageant is one of the most publicized beauty contests in the world.