DIX HILLS, N.Y. -- Miss Brooklyn is this year's Miss New York. She's from Virginia -- and lives in Manhattan.

Leigh-Taylor Smith was crowned last night at the state pageant held at Five Towns College.

Miss New York Executive Director Paul Brown says Smith met one of three prerequisites needed to compete in the pageant: She had lived in the state for more than a year after graduating from the University of Virginia.

She won the Miss Brooklyn precursor pageant in spite of living in the wrong borough -- largely because there were not enough applicants from Brooklyn and organizers were forced to open it to all New Yorkers.

Smith competed in Miss Virginia in 2007 as Miss Arlington and was third runner up.

-- From Staff and Wire reports