There she is. But where she is — that's the real story.

For the third consecutive time, a Miss New York has won the Miss America pageant.

Kira Kazantsev, 23, a daughter of Russian immigrants whose ambition is to be a diplomat and whose pageant platform promotes domestic violence awareness, took the title tonight at Boardwalk Hall. Kazantsev said she plans to use her $50,000 in scholarship money from the win to help pay for law school — she deferred from the University of Notre Dame.

Both Miss America 2014, Nina Davuluri, and Miss America 2013, Mallory Hagan, also won as Miss New York.

"It's definitely monumental," Kazantsev told New Jersey Advance Media, still wearing her striking white evening gown during a post-crowning press conference. "This is the first time in the organization's history, I believe, that a state has won three years in a row."

What is it about New York that has produced so many winners lately?

"The thing about New York, especially being Miss New York, is that you have to make it," Kazantsev continued. "You have to bust your little tushy to get to where you want to go, and that creates somebody that's very independent, very self-serving — or, not self-serving ... um — very able to ... to do things on their own." And yes, she said, if you can make it in New York, you can make it anywhere. Especially, it seems, at Miss America.

In a pageant where shiny gowns and bright swimsuits are the norm, what was perhaps most different about Kazantsev was her talent. Singing Pharrell's "Happy," she sat cross-legged on the floor, using a single red cup to tap the stage in rhythm with the song. She later said the prop was inspired by an Anna Kendrick scene in the movie "Pitch Perfect" (see video below).

Miss New York, Kira Kazantsev, sings and performs a cup-tapping routine to Pharrell's 'Happy' in the 2015 Miss America competition at Boardwalk Hall. (Alex Remnick | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com)

Kazantsev's pageant platform, "Love Shouldn't Hurt: Protecting Women Against Domestic Violence," is inspired by personal experience, she said, though she maintained its mission isn't about her alone.

Celebrity judge Gary Vaynerchuk, the social media branding expert whose family came to Edison from Belarus, said the fact that another American of Russian heritage won proved especially poignant for him.

Great day for red solo cups ! pic.twitter.com/Jbnsgr7jYy — Bob Hitchen (@BobSandyBeach) September 15, 2014

"I kind of find that enlightening," he said, though the fact that Kazantsev prefers the Giants to the Jets absolutely crushed him at the outset.

"I think a lot of us started to fall in love with her during the very first interview," said another of the judges, "Desperate Housewives" creator Marc Cherry. In response to a question about Ray Rice and domestic violence from New Jersey Advance Media earlier this week, Kazantsev, a graduate of Hofstra University, was firm.

"In the United States, the justice system is driving the getaway car for abusers," she said.

The first runner-up was Courtney Garrett, Miss Virginia; the second runner-up was Ashton Campbell, Miss Arkansas; the third runner-up was Victoria Cowen, Miss Florida; and the fourth runner-up was Lauren Kuhn, Miss Massachusetts.

'Back to relevance' in Atlantic City

As the Miss America pageant got ready to crown its 2015 queen tonight in a flurry of bright lights under the barrel vault ceiling of Boardwalk Hall, the message was clear. Even if Atlantic City's casino giants had taken a significant hit, the pageant, a city tradition steeped in almost a century of history, had managed to stay alive.

The competition, which last year returned to Atlantic City from Las Vegas, arrived in the resort town this month during a period of ongoing loss. Trump Plaza Hotel and Casino will on Tuesday become the latest casino to shut its doors, while — following Trump Entertainment Resorts' filing for bankruptcy protection last week — Trump Taj Mahal could close in November.

Yet Atlantic City, its seems, has saved the pageant. The city's Casino Reinvestment Development Authority, starting in 2013, has provided millions of dollars in subsidies — to the tune of $2.1 million each year — to underwrite production costs, in a kind of pageant bailout.

Sam Haskell, the CEO of the Miss America Organization, said the pageant is 'back to relevance' ... and 'solvency.' (Alex Remnick | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com)

Though Miss America's three-year contract with the CRDA is up after next year's pageant, Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno appeared on stage during Miss America preliminaries and vowed that the state would continue to support the pageant.

Sam Haskell, CEO of the Linwood-based Miss America Organization, glowed about how the pageant had been lifted from her dark days following 2004, when the competition left its Jersey Shore home for Las Vegas. The show was bumped from ABC and landed on cable networks, where the pageant broadcast saw record-low ratings. Returning to ABC — and then, in 2013, Atlantic City — Miss America saw its 2004 ratings restored.

Tonight's pageant final followed a high-powered speech from Haskell earlier in the week, one that reflected pageant officials' desire to cast Miss America as a forum for female power brokers on the rise, instead of a purveyor of bathing suit and evening gown competitions (though it is that, too). Haskell called contestants "the future leaders of our country," lamenting the pageant's bad days, when scholarship money, he said, was being used to pay office expenses. (In addition to the winner, runners-up and preliminary competition winners receive scholarships, along with all of the 53 contestants.) "Miss America is back to relevance," Haskell proclaimed. "Miss America is back to solvency." He pointed to a recent deal with Dick Clark Productions — from which the pageant will receive marketing support starting next year — as an assurance that Miss America would be on TV for years to come.

"The Miss America rocket ship is blasting off into a bright tomorrow," he said, not sparing any bluster. The Mississippi native — husband to Miss Mississippi 1977 — almost assumed the guise of a preacher as he called on a higher power to emphasize the the pageant's perceived comeback.

"Miss America is a way of life," Haskell continued. "We don't exploit, we empower."

Though Miss New Jersey didn't make the semifinal and a Miss New Jersey hasn't been crowned Miss America in 30 years, this year's titleholder, Cierra Kaler-Jones, entered the pageant with undeniable local pull.

At right, Miss New Jersey, Cierra Kaler-Jones, explains her platform, Empowering Today's Youth Through Arts Education, to host Dena Blizzard on the second day of the Miss America preliminaries at Boardwalk Hall. Kaler-Jones did not make the pageant semifinal. (Alex Remnick | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com)

A social work major at Rutgers University who makes her home in New Brunswick, Kaler-Jones, 21 grew up in nearby Galloway. Her parents both work at Harrah's Resort Atlantic City, one of the casinos that has evaded the recent closures.

Ever since Miss America contestants arrived for the 2015 contest just after Labor Day, she's banged the drum for the pageant, saying its presence brought "life and energy back to Atlantic City." Kaler-Jones, who aspires to become the U.S. Secretary of Education, said Miss America had been successful in "counteracting everything that's going on," whether it be a casino operator filing for bankruptcy or city employees losing their jobs.

Hours before the pageant final was set to kickoff at Boardwalk Hall, next door, at Trump Plaza's 24 Central Cafe, a handwritten sign was posted where the menu would normally be displayed.

The restaurant was closed, and the sign thanked "our customers for standing by us through the years." Underneath, staff signed their names, along with how long they had worked at the casino — 18 years. 19 years. And 30 years — since 1984, when the casino had its grand opening.

Pageant action

Contestants surround Miss Rhode Island, Ivy DePew, after she collapsed during the first day of the Miss America preliminaries. She later said pressure from a sinus infection caused her to lose consciousness. (Alex Remnick | New Jersey Advance Media for NJ.com)

In its second year back at the Boardwalk, Miss America provided a bit of the unexpected. Starting in June, there was already drama surrounding the state pageants, since two had crowned the wrong winners — it was revealed Miss Delaware was too old to compete and there had been a miscount in Florida.

On Tuesday, with all the correct titleholders on stage, Ivy DePew, 23, Miss Rhode Island, collapsed just as Lt. Gov. Guadagno was at the microphone. Her peers in the pageant joined hands to form a ring around her as paramedics arrived. DePew, who was taken to the hospital during preliminary competition, had eaten dinner, but later found out the fall — which pageant officials said the result of overheating — was really the result of a sinus infection. She returned the following evening to play "The Devil Went Down to Georgia" on her flute and piccolo.

During tonight's televised pageant pre-show, hosted by stand-up comedian Dena Blizzard — Miss New Jersey 1995 — a "hot dads" contest brought pageant fathers into the mix. And as part of the pageant final, some contestants posted live pictures to Instagram, in a bit of choreographed social media outreach.

Celebrity judges, including Donald Driver, formerly of the Green Bay Packers, Miss America 1955 Lee Meriwether, model-turned-businesswoman Kathy Ireland and Gary Vaynerchuk, a CEO and branding expert who built his name in social media at The Wine Library — his father's Springfield wine store — were not only present for the broadcast final, but also the pageant preliminary.

And, as last year proved, the judges often appreciate anything that livens up the contest. In September of 2013, future Miss America Nina Davuluri, the first contestant of Indian heritage to win, brought a classical Bollywood fusion dance to the pageant stage.

Adding some interest to the preliminaries — each night included a long, slow procession of evening gowns set to the plaintive Coldplay song "A Sky Full of Stars" — Mackenzie Bart, 22 — Miss Ohio — was the only contestant to use a ventriloquist's dummy for her talent performance, winning the category on Tuesday.

The next night's talent winner was bluegrass fiddler Ramsey Carpenter, 23 — Miss Kentucky — whose had been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis after experiencing problems playing her instrument. On Thursday, Amanda Fallon Smith, 21 — Miss Pennsylvania — a musical theater student at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, won judges over with her vocal performance from "The Phantom of the Opera."

Miss Idaho, Sierra Sandison, a type 1 diabetic, said she was proud to spread diabetes awareness by showing her insulin pump, which was clipped to her evening gown and swimsuit during competition. She was propelled into the semifinal by an 'America's Choice' vote. (Alex Remnick | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com)

Meanwhile, Miss Idaho, 20-year-old Sierra Sandison, a type 1 diabetic, brought some awareness of the disease to the swimsuit competition when she walked the runaway with an insulin pump clipped to her bikini.

Sandison was the winner of an "America's Choice" vote, which secured her a spot in the semifinal. Miss North Dakota, Jacky Arness — who won Miss Congeniality — was added in by the judges during a commercial break.

On Saturday, the pageant's traditional Show Us Your Shoes Parade defied a rainy Boardwalk. Pageant queens from each state rode on top of convertibles, holding umbrellas or staying inside the cars to shield their intricately designed footwear and costumes from the weather. Along the parade route, while dampened seats remained empty, standing spectators shouted support for Miss New Jersey. Outfitted in a flowing red, Rutgers-inspired Scarlet Knights ensemble with an "R" on her chest, she stretched her tall silver gladiator heels out for the crowd.

Amy Kuperinsky may be reached at akuperinsky@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @AmyKup. Find our entertainment coverage and NJ.com on Facebook

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