Washington, December 01, 2009: An Indian-origin girl from California has been crowned as the 28th Miss Indian American, beating contestants from 25 cities across the USA.

The beauty pageant, open for Indian-origin people was hosted on November 21 in Tampa, Florida. Priyanka was crowned as the Miss Indian American by Bollywood actor Neha Dhupia in a glittering ceremony last weekend. Earlier last month, Priyanka won the title of Miss India Northern California.

She will represent the US in Miss India World Pageant, to be held on March 27, 2010 at Durban, South Africa.

Shivali Vyas, a resident of Tampa and a student at the University of South Florida was the first runner-up. Illinois-based Disha Patel was the second-runner up.