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Posted by: admin Aug 17 2008, 05:38 AM

Stevi Lauren Perry, Miss Arkansas Teen USA, was crowned Miss Teen USA 2008 at the Atlantis Paradise Island Resort on Saturday (Aug. 16). The 18-year old winner is from Hamburg, Arkansas. "Days of Our Lives" star and former Miss Teen USA 2004 Shelley Hennig and Seth Goldman of NBC's "Entertainment Buzz" emceed the pageant.



R&B vocalist TaDa performed, and the contestants competed in three categories: swimsuit, evening gown and interview. From that the "Top Five" finalists were selected. Hilary Cruz, Miss Teen USA 2007, crowned her successor at the conclusion of this two-hour pageant. Brittany Pjetraj, from South Carolina was first runner up; Julia Dalton from North Carolina was second runner up and and Lindsey Evans from Louisiana was third runner up. They take these things seriously in the south.

Perry, who is 18 and 5’5” tall, attends Hamburg High School and is a working model and actress. She aspires to do both as a full-time career, according to her official biography. She has finished as one of 12 finalists in a CosmoGirl! national model search, been crowned her high school's homecoming queen, appeared in two music videos, and posed for Varsity apparel catalogs.

Perry takes home some swag. Her tiara was created by Mikimoto at a cost of $15,000 dollars; the New York Film Academy is giving her a two-year scholarship, worth more than $100,000 dollars, to its acting or film-making programs and she gets to keep her eveningwear gowns from Scala, designed by Sherri Hill. Of course there is a trophy (like she doesn’t have enough of those) and a four-day/ three-night vacation for two, including airfare, to the Atlantis Resort at Paradise Island.

She also gets a New York City apartment for the year of her reign including living expenses. Hopefully, she’ll be able to keep it together while she is in the Big Apple. Miss USA Tara Conner hit the city and engaged in hard-core partying, underage boozing, cocaine shorting and allegedly some promiscuous sexual activity non-stop on the club-scene. She was called on the carpet by no less than Donald Trump, who owns the pageant name with NBC. Trump forgave her for whoring on his time and Conner kept her crown.

Let's hope the judges did their job; they included: Alina Shriver, Founder of Shriver Art; Farouk Shami, Founder and Chairman Farouk Systems; Heather Kerzner of Kerzner International; Alicia Bridgewater, Bookings Editor at Cosmo Girl Magazine; Duane Gazi, Director of Scouting and Development at Trump Model Management; Eric Parrinello, founder and owner of Bacchanalia Private Dining in Overland Park, Kansas; David Dzanis, Vice President of Coca Cola Client Services at Genesco Sports Enterprises; and Seth Mayeri, Television Talent Veteran.