The “Miss Alabama 2009″ crown was placed on the head of 20 year old Miss Liz Cochran. She succeeded the crown from last year’s winner Amanda Tapley. The event was held on the night of June 6th.

Liz Cochran will next be competing for the “Miss America 2009″ crown. The win of the coveted crown has brought home for Cochran a $ 10,000 scholarship, beside the title and the crown. She had competed on three previous occasions for the competition. Cochran had entered the competition as Miss Hoover. On Friday evening, she had won the swimsuit preliminary.

The beauty queen is a dance and pre-med major and studies at the Birmingham Southern College. The names of her parents are Phil and Laura Cochran. On the win, post ceremony, the newly crowned Cochran said that it was impossible for her to believe that the dream she has harbored since she was 12, has finally come true.

A total of $ 98,000 has been given away in the event in form of scholarships. The Top 9 finalists won a scholarship in the range of $ 1,000 to $3, 500. The first runner up was Miss North Jefferson County Colene Burns, second runner up was Miss Talladega County Susannah Higgins, third runner up was Miss Chattahoochee Valley Courtney Porter and the fourth runner up was Miss Point Mallard Haley Arrington.

The Miss Alabama pageant is held every year in the month of June in Birmingham. The competition chooses a finalist to represent Alabama in the national beauty pageant of Miss America. Each year the finalists are awarded cash college scholarships for studies.