LAS VEGAS — A 22-year-old aspiring teacher from Oklahoma was crowned Miss America Saturday night, the first woman ever to win the title outside Atlantic City, N.J.
Jennifer Berry, a student at the University of Oklahoma, outlasted 51 other women to become Miss America 2006, earning a $30,000 college scholarship and a yearlong speaking tour.
Miss Georgia, Monica Pang, was first runner-up, and Miss Alabama, Alexa Jones, second runner-up. Miss Virginia, Kristi Lauren Glakas, and Miss District of Columbia, Shannon Schambeau, rounded out the top five. Miss Hawaii, Malika Dudley, won Miss Congeniality.
Berry, an advocate for preventing drunken driving, danced ballet for her talent routine, wowing the judges to win the right to succeed Miss America 2005, Deidre Downs.
Downs, who put off medical school to compete in the last pageant, ended up serving 16 months because this year's pageant was postponed by four months.
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An Atlantic City institution for 85 years, the pageant traded the Boardwalk for the Strip this year in a bid to revive interest, airing on Country Music Television. It was the first time since 1954 a major network didn't carry the crowning.
The telecast, which dabbled in reality TV-style gimmicks in recent years as it tried to lure viewers back, struck a more old-fashioned theme this time out, despite the move to Sin City.
Video clips from old pageants were aired on the telecast, and for the first time since the late 1980s, the women wore sashes naming their states and elected a Miss Congeniality, another throwback last seen in the mid-'80s.
High stakes for the pageant
For problem-plagued Miss America, the proceedings at the Aladdin Resort & Casino were a high-stakes affair.
Spurned by network television because of declining ratings, the pageant announced plans last summer to move out of Atlantic City.
Normally held in September, the event was postponed as organizers scrambled for a new TV outlet, ultimately settling on Country Music Television, a cable outlet with 79 million subscribers.
Women with big ambitions have paraded at the pageant — wearing swimsuits and smiles — since a 16-year-old girl from Washington, D.C., won an eight-way bathing beauty revue in 1921.
The hokey seaside publicity stunt blossomed into an American icon, its Cinderella trappings and girl-next-door appeal becoming a television staple.
But its luster has been fading for years, the result of fragmented viewership and its airing on Saturday nights, historically a date-night dead zone for television.
