Miss Michigan Kirsten Haglund Crowned Miss America 2008

Miss Michigan Kirsten Haglund, a 19-year-old aspiring Broadway superstar, was crowned Miss America 2008 on Saturday in a lively display billed as the launching of the 87-year-old pageantry's original, hipper feel. Haglung, of Farmington Hills, Mich. , sang "Over the Rainbow" to clinch the championship. She play Miss Indiana Nicole Elizabeth Rash, the best runner up, and Miss Washington Elyse Umemoto, the second runner upward for the $50,000 scholarship and year of travelling that comes with the pennant. THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check backwards shortly for farther data. AP's early tale is below. LAS VEGAS (AP) — Sporting updated hairdos, sassy attitudes and crimson carpet-worthy style, a harvest of 52 recently made-over aspiring beauty queens was trimmed as they competed for the best tiara Saturday in the Miss America Pageant. Contestants wore dark jeans and added a piece of wit to the conventional opening amount, the exhibit of states.

"Where we regard ice fishing to be a leading conference athletics, I'm Miss Minnesota!" Jennifer Ann Hudspeth said. Producers had hoped an original sure position would indicate through on the catwalks, and Miss Utah, Jill Stevens, an Army medic who served in Afghanistan, didn't disappoint. "Home of the nation's highest birth pace — as long as the Osmonds wear't change," she announced. Miss Utah didn't take it to the closing 10, but she took the letdown with pick. When her figure was called, she dropped and gave the audience drive ups before joining the new losers. Stevens however was selected "America's Choice," based on balloting via textbook messages from viewers of a world display that was designed to have over the beauty queens and tie in a younger audience.

Among the best eight finalists: Miss Michigan Kirsten Haglund, granddaughter of Miss Michigan 1944; Miss Washington Elyse Umemoto, an aspiring lawyer from Wapato, Wash. ; Miss California Melissa Chaty, a 24-year-old opera vocalist and Miss Wisconsin Christina Thompson a violinist. The long-struggling pageantry promised an original feel for this year's beauty fight. "Entertainment Tonight" reporter Mark Steines was the professional of ceremonies of the display, which aired on wire line TLC. Clinton Kelly of TLC's strike "What Not to Wear" too helped with the hosting duties. Kelly had instructed the girls on how to update their looks during the world display. The pageantry sounded and looked distinct. A deejay spun dancing music from turntables establish upward on phase. Contestant danced and waved to the audience during commercials breaks.

Usually subdued by contemporary TV standards, the swimwear contest kicked it upward a notch. Most contestants wore dark bikinis, and some struck intriguing poses and twirled as the audience howled. Those who didn't take the cut as finalists were awarded a daughter's favourite solace award. "Carbohydrates!" Kelly yelled, as pastries were handed away on phase. The losers were seated on risers on one position of the phase, while the parents of the finalists, in dark link, were seated on the new. The crowning at the Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino on the Las Vegas Strip caps a four-week world series, "Miss America: Reality Check," which followed the contestants as they were pushed to drop the dated feel of Miss Americas past and take a hipper manner. The display was the 87-year-old pageantry's latest in a series of attempts to discover an audience with a younger demographic after much than a decade of declining ratings.

The fading foundation has struggled to discover a video house since being dropped from web video in 2004. It spent a two-year stretch on Country Music Television before being picked upward last summertime by TLC, a wire line reaching 93 million homes in the U. S. TLC added the pageantry to its reality-TV stable, and announced plans to reinvent the feel of the display and discover an "It daughter" willing for contemporary fame. The pageantry has not fared easily in the age of world video, despite a series of new experiments that have added quiz shows, viewer balloting and "original" manner. It moved to the Las Vegas Strip in 2006 and promised a back-to-basics formula that would revel in its old-school appeal. The display continued to suffer viewers. It drop to an all-time low of 2. 4 million viewers in 2007 and was dropped by CMT.

This year's world TV infusion, "Miss America: Reality Check," was noteworthy for taking a definitely profane color with the long-revered pageantry. Style experts took shots at the sincere contestants' hair, composition, gift and tight exhibit rise, and Saturday's crowning was billed as the large disclose. The success takes house a $50,000 scholarship and enter on a year of promoting the pageantry, her program matter and the Children's Miracle Network, a pageantry spouse.