Colombia's Paulina Vega crowned Miss Universe

Paulina Vega of Colombia was crowned the 63rd Miss Universe after besting a field of 88 contestants during the pageant night in Miami, Florida on Sunday (Monday morning PHL time).

The 22-year-old stunner beat out fellow finalists USA, Netherlands, Ukraine, and Jamaica to win the crown. Vega became the first Miss Universe out of Colombia since Luz Marina Zuluaga in 1958.

The Philippines' Mary Jean Lastimosa, meanwhile, fell short of her goal to become the first win the crown since 1973, failing to make it past the Top 10 of the contest.

Facebook question

Vega, a pre-tournament favorite and a crowd darling all evening long, sealed the deal with her answer to the final question, which for the first time was sourced from comments on the Miss Universe Facebook page.

Among thousands of submission, a question from user Maria Navarro Fernandez was posed to each of the final five candidates: "What is the greatest contribution of your country to the entire world?"

Vega spoke about how, despite challenges to Colombia's people, "we're world leaders in many different matters."

Filipino flavor

The evening's competition had much Filipino flavor, with ring icon Manny Pacquiao headlining the list of judges.

He had the opportunity to pose a question to USA's Nia Sanchez, asking: "If you were given 30 seconds to deliver a message to a global terrorist, what would you say?"

During the broadcast, the previous Miss Universe Gabriela Isler also talked about her recent visit to Yolanda-hit areas in the Philippines. The Miss Universe organization announced that it has raised $250,000 for relief efforts —JST, GMA News