Miss Venezuela Stefania Fernandez Becomes Miss Universe 2009

For two years in succession, the Miss Universe crown has gone to Venezuela. After a tight competition, Miss Venezuela Stefania Fernandez lifted the crown while Miss Dominican Republic finished second and Miss Kosovo came in third.

The fourth and fifth spots went to Miss Australia and Miss Puerto Rico respectively.

Earlier, Miss India Ekta Choudhary had failed to make it to the top 15 in the Miss Universe 2009 pageant that began at The Islands in the Bahamas on early Monday morning.

Billy Bush and Claudia Jordan hosted the event.

After the Evening Gown round, the following five participants were selected for the final round.

1. Dominican Republic
2. Australia
3. Puerto Rico
4. Venezuela
5. Kosovo

Earlier, out of 83 contestants, the chosen top 15 participated in the bikini round, after which only 10 were chosen to compete in the Evening Gown round.

Top 10 are as follows:

1. Australia
2. Venezuela
3. South Africa
4. Dominican Republic
5. Kosovo
6. Czech Republic
7. Switzerland
8. Puerto Rico
9. USA
10. France

The top 15 contestants, who took part in the swimsuit round are as follows:

1. Puerto Rico
2. Iceland
3. Albania
4. Czech Republic
5. Belgium
6. Dominican Republic
7. Sweden
8. Kosovo
9. Australia
10. France
11. Switzerland
12. South Africa
13. USA
14. Croatia
15. Venezuela

Some other titles were also announced at the event. Miss Congeniality 2009 was won by Miss China while Miss Photogenic went to Miss Thailand.