Lauren Nelson Wins Miss America Crown

Miss Oklahoma, Lauren Nelson, left, reacts after she was named Miss America 2007 at the Miss America pageant at the Aladdin hotel-casino in Las Vegas, Monday, Jan. 29, 2007. Behind her is Miss America 2006 Jennifer Berry. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

Lauren Nelson, an aspiring Broadway star, was crowned Miss America on Monday night, the second year in a row that a Miss Oklahoma has won the crown

Nelson, 20, of Lawton, Okla., is a student at the University of Central Oklahoma and wants to get her master’s degree in musical theater.

Shilah Phillips, the first black Miss Texas, was first runner-up, and Miss Georgia, Amanda Kozak, was second runner-up. Viewers voted Miss Alabama, Melinda Toole, as Miss Congeniality.

Nelson was crowned by last year’s winner, Jennifer Berry. Nelson, a blonde who told judges she wishes she was taller, sang “You’ll Be In My Heart” in the talent competition and plans to promote protecting children online during her yearlong reign as Miss America.

She gets a $50,000 scholarship with the crown and stands to make thousands more in appearance fees.

The pageant tossed in a few reality-TV twists on the way toward selecting its ideal woman in a new time slot on the Las Vegas Strip.

Mario Lopez, of “Dancing with the Stars” and “Saved by the Bell,” hosted the show, its second year at the Aladdin Resort & Casino on the Las Vegas Strip. The pageant moved from Atlantic City, N.J., last year in an attempt breathe new life into an institution that had fallen far from the forefront of American pop culture.
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