A medical student from South Africa has been awarded the world's most coveted beauty title.

Rolene Strauss has been crowned Miss World 2014 at a glittering ceremony in London on Sunday (December 14), the city where the first original contest was staged in 1951.

The 22-year-old beat 120 other contestants, including runner-up Edina Kulcsar from Hungary and Elizabeth Safrit from the United States who came in third.