- Miss Venezuela Dayana Mendoza was crowned Miss Universe 2008 at the Crown Convention Center in Nha Trang, Vietnam, Monday.

The 22-year-old Miss Venezuela edged a fellow Latina, Miss Colombia Taliana Vargas, who won 1st runner-up.

The second, third and fourth runners-up were Miss Dominican Republic, Miss Russia and Miss Mexico, respectively.

Miss Venezuela is the new Miss Universe 2008!

Before the special announcement, Miss Venezuela, who is into interior design and learning new languages, was among the crowd favorites.

She wore a beautiful yellow night gown when given the 18K white and yellow gold crown, which was valued at $120,000. She is the 57th Miss Universe.

The crown was given to her by Miss Universe 2007 Riyo Mori of Japan.

Earlier, the Miss Congeniality category was awarded to Rebeca Moreno of El Salvador and the Best National Costume award was handed to Miss Thailand Gavintra Photijak.

Complete results:

1) Venezuela - Diana Mendoza
2) Colombia - Taliana Vargas
3) Dominican Republic - Marianne Cruz
4) Russia - Vera Krasova
5) Mexico - Elisa Najera

Semi-finalists:

6) Kosovo - Zana Krasniqi
7) Spain - Claudia Moro
8) USA - Crystle Stewart
9) Italy - Claudia Ferraris
10) Australia - Laura Dundovic

Quarter-finalists:

11) Czech Republic - Eliška Bučková
12) Hungary - Jazmin Dammak
13) South Africa - Tansey Coetzee
14) Japan - Hiroko Mima
15) Vietnam - Lam Thuy Nguyen