Mallory Hytes Hagan Crowned Miss America 2013

They danced, twirled, flashed their pearly whites and strutted their best stuff in a quest for the tiara — and the scholarship cash.

And in the end … Miss New York, Mallory Hytes Hagan, 23, was named Miss America 2013 having defeated Miss South Carolina Ali Rogers, who took second, and Miss Oklahoma Alicia Clifton, who finished third.

She was tops with the judges in the swimsuit competition during Saturday night’s show, and she performed a mean tap dance to James Brown’s Get Up Offa That Thing. The judges and audience were also impressed with her after deftly dealing with a question about armed guards in schools and raising the issue of child sexual abuse in her contestant platform.

Hagan wins a $50,000 college scholarship and a year as an instant celebrity and role model to many girls. Her platform, the issue she will promote during her reign, is fighting child sexual abuse. Her hometown is Brooklyn and she attended the Fashion Institute of Technology. She plans to obtain a degree in cosmetics and fragrance marketing, according to her bio, with an eye toward a career in global cosmetics marketing.

Congratulations Miss Hagan; enjoy your tenure to the fullest.