Tongan contestant Diamond Langi has won this year’s Miss Universe New Zealand contest.
Langi holds a master’s degree in styling and is studying for a bachelor’s in acting and performing arts.
The finals for the event were held Saturday night at Auckland Girls’ Grammar School.
Events included a live performance, an elimination process and an onstage question and answer segment.
The winner is decided by 50 percent vote from the judges and 50 percent from public votes.
Runner-up this year was Blenheim police officer Hannah McCabe, with Wellington-based administrator Jayda Ormsby-Northcott third.
Langi, whose family comes from Vaini, is a Sydney-based model.
Finalists in this year’s competition visited the Ihumātao protest site on Wednesday.
As a New Zealand-born Tongan she said she understood the land was sacred.
She would have come to Ihumātao regardless of the competition, because she supported the cause.
During the competition, Langi set up a fund raising page to collect money for a children’s charity. She raised $184.63 out of a goal of $5000.
In 2013, Langi was crowned Face of Beauty International 2013 in Thailand.