Teresa Scanlan, Miss Nebraska (Photos, Video)

Miss America 2011 Winner: Teresa Scanlan, Miss Nebraska (Photos, Video)

Miss Nebraska, Teresa Scanlan is the Miss America 2011 Winner; photos and video are below. She was crowned on Sat. Jan. 15, at the 90th annual pageant at Planet Hollywood Resort and Casino in Las Vegas and chosen from the 53 contestants. The program hots were Chris Harrison of The Bachelor and Brooke Burke of Dancing With the Stars.

Details, pictures, and video are below after the jump.
Miss America 2010 Caressa Cameron (Miss Virginia) relinquished her crown to the 2011 winner. According to her official biography, Teresa Scanlan is 17 years old, and is from Gering, Nebraska. She is the youngest contestant in the pageant’s history to win. She graduated from Scottsbluff High School and will attend Patrick Henry College in the fall of 2011. For her talent competition she performed on piano. During her year long tenure, her issue of focus will be “Eating disorders: A generation at risk.”

For more on the winner see: Gering teenager crowned Miss Nebraska

More photos, video and high quality images of all of the winners and finalists can be seen here: Miss America 2011 Winner and Finalists, including evening gown, swim-suit competition pictures.

Here is the full list of the Miss America 2011 Finalists

Winner: Miss Nebraska – Teresa Scanlan
1st Runner Up: Miss Arkansas – Alyse Eady
2nd Runner Up: Miss Hawaii – Jalee Fuselier
3rd Runner Up: Miss Washington – Jacquie Brown
4th runner up: Miss Oklahoma – Emoly West

Semi-Finalists

***Judges’ Choice

Miss Oklahoma – Emoly West
Miss Nebraska – Teresa Scanlan
Miss Texas – Ashley Melnick
Miss Rhode Island – Deborah Saint-Vil
Miss Utah – Christina Lowe
Miss Washington – Jacquie Brown
Miss Arizona – Kathryn Bulkley
Miss Hawaii – Jalee Fuselier
Miss Virginia – Caitlin Uze
Miss Arkansas – Alyse Eady
Miss California – Arianna Afsar

***America’s Choice
Miss New York – Claire Buffie
Miss Delaware – Kayla Martell

***Contestants’ Choice
Miss Kentucky – Djuan Trent
Miss Oregon – Stephenie Steers

Preliminary Winners

Night One
Miss Hawaii – Jalee Fuselier, Lifestyle & Fitness
Miss North Carolina – Adrienne Core, Talent

Night Two
Miss Rhode Island – Deborah Saint-Vil, Talent
Miss Alabama – Ashley Davis, Lifestyle & Fitness

Night Three
Miss Nebraska – Teresa Scanlan, Talent
Miss Oklahoma – Emoly West, Lifestyle & Fitness

For more images as well as complete list of competitors see: Miss America 2011 Contestants

Watch video below.

There were 53 contestants representing the 50 states, Puerto Rico, the District of Colombia and the Virgin Islands who were whittled down to 15 semi-finalists and 7 finalists. The 2011 judges were Joy Behar, Dr. Debbye Turner Bell (Miss America 1990); Marc Cherry, Tony Dovolani, Marilu Henner,Taryn Rose and Mark Wills.

The duties of the newly crowned winner, according to the Miss America Organization’s Web site, are spend the year on a national speaking tour, traveling some 20,000 per month, to a different city every other day, as an advocate for her chosen issue, or platform, as it is officially known. Platforms which previous winners have advocated include homelessness, domestic violence, and literacy.

The beauty pageant sponsored yearly by the Miss America Organization is comprised of talent competition, swimsuit and evening gown competition. Every year, the organization awards more than $45 million in scholarships at local, state and national levels, making it, internationally, the largest provider of scholarship assistance exclusively for young women.