As for the girl crowned Miss America nearly one year ago, well, it has been one hell of a ride so far. 20-year-old Kirsten Haglund ends her reign tonight, just as soon as she crowns a new Miss America at 8 p.m. on TLC cable network.

 

The 20-year-old beauty spent the whole year travelling 20,000 miles a month to a total of about 40 states during her tour in which she had spoken to Congress and countless service men and women about eating disorders and had also posed for pictures.

 

Haglung plans to move to Los Angeles in order to pursue an acting career and a business university degree which is supposed to help her launch the nonprofit Kirsten Haglund Foundation for Eating Disorders, problems she faced herself as a teenager. Miss America reportedly struggled with anorexia when she was in high school.

The 2009 Miss America Pageant promises to be an exciting event especially due to the strikingly diverse panel of national judges. This year's panel of seven esteemed judges includes a Broadway star, a renowned denim designer, a Miss America-turned-philanthropist, an Olympic gold medalist, a casting genius, a celebrated entertainment news reporter and anchor, and the hottest hairdresser in Hollywood. They will be responsible for evaluating the contestants from the preliminaries through the final night of the competition.