QUITO, ECUADOR: THREE LADIES for the Caribbean were in the top 10 of the 80-participant Miss Universe contest which was won here Tuesday night by Miss Australia Jennifer Hawkins. Hawkins takes over the reign from Dominican beauty Amelia Vega who won the contest last year. There was a good showing once again from the ladies of the Caribbean in this year's event. Miss Puerto Rico, Alba Reyes, who eventually placed third and Miss Trinidad and Tobago Danielle James, who came in fifth, both survived the preliminary, quarter final and semi final rounds to make it to the final five. Jamaica's Christine Staw had joined them in the top 10. Reyes also won the top award of Miss Photogenic. In a pre-final night event both Reyes and Jones were also voted among the top 10 in the national costume segment. Hawkins smiled as the outgoing titleholder, Amelia Vega slipped the crown on her head at a convention center on the northern outskirts of Quito following a two-hour finale broadcast to a live audience around the world. Miss USA, Shandi Finnessey, was first runner-up. Vega, the 2003 winner, a 19-year-old from Santo Domingo, the Dominican Republic, plans to launch a career as a singer, following in the footsteps of her uncle, Juan Luis Guerra, Latin America's king of merengue music. Cuban-born American Gloria Estefan performed at the show, and among the judges was Trinidadian Wendy Fitzwilliam, herself a former Miss Universe. SOURCE: CARIBUPDATE.COM