Miss America 2014

After all of the preliminaries, and of course the Show Us Your Shoes parade, the Miss America 2014 pageant finally came to an end on Sunday night, September 15th, in Atlantic City, NJ. We're so exited to announce that Miss New York, Nina Davuluri, is your new Miss America!

At around 10:40 last night, the pageant dwindled down to only 5 contestants: Miss Oklahoma Kelsey Griswold, Miss Minnesota Rebecca Yeh, Miss California Crystal Lee, Miss New York Nina Davuluri, and Miss Florida Myrrhanda Jones. One of the most interesting parts of the pageant is always the interview portion, and that's what the Top 5 Contestants competed in before the final winner was chosen. All the contestants were given difficult questions, from celebrities to politics, and gave us some great insight into their beliefs.

Miss New York's question was: "Julie Chen had plastic surgery to appear less Asian. What do you think of her decision?" Nina said she opposes plastic surgery, but added, "I've always viewed Miss America as the girl next door and the girl next door is evolving." Such a great answer, and with Miss Kansas, Theresa Vail, showing off her tattoo so prominently this year, it couldn't be more true.

The final results for the Runner-Up spots ended up being: Miss Minnesota taking Fourth Runner-Up, Miss Florida taking Third Runner-Up, Miss Oklahoma taking Second Runner-Up, and Miss California taking the spot as First Runner-up.

Some other highlights from the pageant we loved: Miss Florida, Myrrhanda Jones, so proudly and confidently wearing a knee brace on stage. We especially love that the knee brace was bedazzled! Myrrhanda ended up hurting her knee during rehearsals for the pageant's last night of preliminary competition, and instead of calling it quits, she put on the brace and continued on to become the Third Runner-up! Such persistence!

We also loved Miss America 2013's farewell note that was posted on the official Miss America Organization Facebook page. She wrote, "Signing off, guys... Love you! -Miss America 2013 Mallory Hagan," and posted the above image. Too cute!

And, you have to love that Miss New York has now been crowned Miss America for two consecutive years! Former Miss New York and Miss America 2013 must have been very proud to hand over the crown to Miss New York in this year's pageant. Nina is also the first contestant of Indian heritage to win the Miss America pageant.

Congrats, Nina! We're so exited to welcome you as our Miss America 2014, and cannot wait to follow your happenings and experiences over the coming year!

Source: Associated Press, ABC

Yes, you read correctly! As New Jersey-ians ourselves (and Southern New Jersey-ians, at that!), we are so happy to be announcing that Miss America is back in Atlantic City, NJ this year! And, with that comes one of the most fun events of the pageant: the "Show Us Your Shoes" Parade on the Atlantic City Boardwalk! The parade will be on the boardwalk this Saturday, and the procession starts at 5pm.

Luckily, we don't have to wait until Saturday to get a sneak peak of all the pretty shoes that the Miss America contestants designed themselves. The Star-Ledger got the inside scoop on the parade, and they even have a sneak peak video, all on NJ.com.

Miss New Jersey's shore-inspired heels (Aristide Economopoulos/The Star-Ledger )

The heels that everyone at Rissy Roo's is dying to see? Miss New Jersey's, of course! Those are the beautifully decorated and themed shoes you're looking at in the above picture.

"Miss New Jersey, Cara McCollum, says she's going with a combined "washed ashore" and "Stronger Than the Storm" theme. Her peep-toe pumps, encrusted with starfish, oyster pearls and seashells, shimmer with a sea foam green and ocean blue, like "Wizard of Oz" went to the Shore."

-Amy Kuperinsky/The Star-Ledger

Cara could not have picked a more fitting theme for the return of the Miss America Pageant to the New Jersey beach. We can't wait to cheer her on at the parade and in the pageant!

Miss Pennsylvania's perfectly patriotic pumps
(Aristide Economopoulos/The Star-Ledger )

We're most excited to see Miss Kansas' shoes, though. The Star-Ledger revealed that she made quite an unusual and thought-provoking choice to wear a pair of work boots for the parade because she's in the state's National Guard. Talk about a statement fashion choice! There's no photos of the shoes as of yet, but you can get a glimpse of them in The Star-Ledger's video.

This fun parade started all the way back in the 1970s, when on-lookers watching contestants rehearsing for the pageant would yell, "Show us your shoes," only to see that the girls were in slippers since they were rehearsing. Well, one year, the ladies decided to give the hecklers something to look at! Now, the Show Us Your Shoes parade has become an Atlantic City tradition that we are so happy to have back this year. If you're in the area or coming down to the Shore for one last Summer weekend, make sure to stop by the AC Boardwalk to get a glimpse of all the fun, funky, and super shiny shoes. And, of course, don't forget to tune into ABC on Sunday, September 15th at 9pm to see who will be crowned Miss America 2014!