Miss America

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Miss America contestants visit Andrews Air Force Base in 2003
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Miss America contestants visit Andrews Air Force Base in 2003
For the two Golden Age patriotically-themed comic book superheroines, see Miss America (comics).

The Miss America pageant (different from the Miss USA pageant) is a long-standing competition which awards scholarships to young women from the fifty states plus two territories of the United States of America. The first-prize winner of the national pageant is awarded the title of "Miss America" for one year.

The Pageant originated as a beauty contest in 1921, but now prefers to avoid such terms since beauty is no longer the primary criterion used to judge contestants. The pageant originated in Atlantic City, New Jersey and was held there each year in September through 2004 (except for the year 2000, when it was held on October 14). In 2006, the pageant moved to its new home and time in Las Vegas, Nevada in January, and this corresponded to a new swing toward sexiness among the contestants[citation needed]. Some involved with the organization say that "other pageants are looking for a model, but Miss America is looking for a role model". The pageant still presents itself as a "scholarship pageant," and the primary prizes for the winner and her runners-up are scholarships to the institution of her choice. Since most of the contestants are college graduates already, or on the verge of graduating, most of their prize money is devoted to graduate school or professional school.

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[edit] Competition

Miss America 2002, Katie Harman signs a USO poster, while performing her community service work
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Miss America 2002, Katie Harman signs a USO poster, while performing her community service work

Miss America is connected to various subsidiary programs throughout the U.S.A. Local contests select local representatives (e.g., "Miss Mobile, Alabama") who go on to participate in state pageants (e.g., for "Miss Alabama"). The winners of the various state pageants (plus pageants for "Miss District of Columbia" and "Miss Virgin Islands") go on to compete for the title of "Miss America" at an annual national competition. Miss Virgin Islands competed for the first time in the 2004 pageant. Thus far, there has not been a "Miss Puerto Rico" or a "Miss Guam" representing.

Contestants for Miss America and the various state and local pageants are selected by panels of judges based on a set of four competitions:

Yolande Betbeze, Miss America 1951
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Yolande Betbeze, Miss America 1951
1) Interview Each contestant converses with the judges on a variety of topics, from frivolous trivia to serious political and social issues. The contestant is awarded points for being well spoken, polite, articulate, and confident. This competition is less known by the general public than other aspects of the pageant, since unlike the other three, it does not take place on a theater stage, nor is it usually televised.
2) Talent The contestant performs on stage before the judges and an audience. The most common talents are singing or dancing, but a variety of other talents may be exhibited at the contestant's choosing; some have demonstrated juggling, playing musical instruments, ventriloquism, quick-draw painting; one even chose to demonstrate the proper way to pack a suitcase.
3) Swimsuit In the famous swimsuit competition contestants walk on the stage in swimsuits and high-heeled shoes. The Miss America pageant regulates certain minimum standards of modesty the swimwear must comply with. Judging for this portion of the competition focuses on overall physical fitness, poise and posture. Until recently, the contestants were required to wear identical, somewhat dated, one-piece suits. Recently, the organization has allowed contestants to choose their own more revealing two-piece suits, bikinis, or more modern one-piece suits.
4) Evening gown Similar to the swimsuit competition, but the contestants walk slowly in formal evening gowns.

A casual wear section was added to the Miss America competition in 2003, and is filtering down to state and local competitions; however, the "casual wear" section was canceled indefinitely beginning in 2006.

A community service platform became a requirement of Miss America contestants beginning with the 1989 pageant. Platforms promoted by previous Miss Americas have included AIDS awareness and prevention, diabetes awareness, outreach for homeless veterans, domestic violence awareness and support for terminal breast cancer patients.

Prizes are given at local, state, and national level, consisting most commonly of scholarships for use in higher education, sometimes supplemented with money and merchandise donated by sponsors.

[edit] History

Margaret Gorman was the very first Miss America Pageant winner in 1921.
Margaret Gorman was the very first Miss America Pageant winner in 1921.

The Miss America competition originated on September 7, 1921, as a two-day beauty contest in Atlantic City, New Jersey. The event that year was still called the Atlantic City Pageant, and the winner of the grand prize, the 3-foot Golden Mermaid trophy, wasn't even called "Miss America" until 1922, when she re-entered the pageant. The pageant was initiated in an attempt to keep tourists in Atlantic City after Labor Day weekend.

In 1935, Talent was added to the competition.

Starting in 1950, the winner's title reflected to the following year (Miss America 1951). So there was never a Miss America 1950.

In the early years of the pageant, a beauty competition of the women wearing bathing suits was the main event. When pageant officials decided to make this a less important part of the competition, swimsuit-making sponsors started their own separate pageant, Miss USA. Yolande Betbeze, Miss America 1951, refused to pose for publicity pictures while wearing a swimsuit, citing that she wanted to be recognized as a serious opera singer. Catalina swimwear, which was a Miss America sponsor, split off and created the Miss USA/Universe pageants.

In 1955, the awards were televised for the first time; that year's winner was Lee Meriwether. In 1959, Mary Ann Mobley of Brandon, Mississippi won the Miss Mississippi title and then went on to win the Miss America pageant. The next year, her successor as Miss Mississippi (Lynda Lee Mead of Natchez) also went on to win the Miss America title. As of 2006, Pennsylvania and Mississippi remain the only states to have produced Miss Americas in consecutive years.

The pageant has been nationally televised since 1954. It peaked in the early 1960s, when it was repeatedly the highest-rated program on American television. It was seen as a symbol of the United States, with Miss America often being referred to as the female equivalent of the President. The pageant stressed conservative values; contestants were not expected to have ambitions beyond being a good wife (there is also a Mrs. America pageant). It was also only open to whites; a parallel Miss Black America pageant was held for African-American contestants.

With the rise of feminism and the civil rights movement the pageant became a focus of protests each year, and its audience began to fade. In the 1970s it began to change, admitting blacks and encouraging a new type of professional woman. This was symbolized by the 1974 victory of Rebecca Ann King, an outspokenly pro-choice law student.

Still, ratings flagged. In an attempt to create a younger image, Bert Parks, the pageant's famous emcee from 1954 to 1979, was dismissed. Parks had virtually became an American icon, singing the show's signature song, "There She Is, Miss America" as the newly-crowned Miss America took her walk down the ramp at the end of each year's pageant. His dismissal prompted public criticism; in protest, Johnny Carson organized a letter-writing campaign to reinstate Parks, but it was unsuccessful.

In 1984, Vanessa Williams became the first black winner, but was forced to relinquish her title when Penthouse magazine published nude pictures of her that were taken before her contest victories; finalist Suzette Charles was crowned Miss America. Both women are now included on the canonical list of Miss America laureates; Charles is officially designated "Miss America 1984 B."

Many Miss America winners live on in relative anonymity, but Vanessa Williams has made a nationally prominent career as a singer and an actress. Others who have had prominent careers in such fields as show business include Bess Myerson, Mary Ann Mobley, Lee Meriwether, and Phyllis George. Interestingly, Myerson was the first Jewish Miss America, and she was selected in 1945, the year that all the Nazi atrocities against the Jews had been revealed.

In the 1990s, the pageant was reformed into The Miss America Organization, a not-for-profit corporation with three divisions: the Miss America Pageant, a scholarship fund, and a Miss America foundation.

Since the pageant's peak in the early 1960s, its audience has eroded significantly. In 2004, when its audience fell to fewer than 10 million viewers, its broadcaster, ABC, decided to drop the pageant. "Broadcasters show data proving that the talent show and the interviews, the pageant's answers to feminist criticism, were the least popular portions of the pageant, while the swimsuit part still had the power to bring viewers back from the kitchen. So pageant officials - who still require chaperones for contestants when they are in Atlantic City - are thinking about showing a little more." [1]

In 2005 the pageant announced a new television agreement with cable network Country Music Television (CMT), a switch in the pageant's schedule from September to January 21, 2006, and a move away from Atlantic City and Boardwalk Hall after 85 years to another city that has casinos: Las Vegas, Nevada and the Aladdin Hotel-Casino. The show was hosted by James Denton, a star of the television show Desperate Housewives. The Miss America Organization has announced it will again have its pagent at the Las Vegas Aladdin for 2007.

Due to the altered schedule, Miss America 2005, Alabama's Deidre Downs, reigned for 16 months instead of the usual 12. She was only the second longest-reigning Miss America: in the early days of the pageant, Mary Katherine Campbell served two consecutive terms (which is no longer allowed.)

In 2006, it was announced by the Miss America Organization and CMT that the latter would air the reality television series Finding Miss America in the days leading up to the January 2007 pageant. The show will have an interactive feature, with viewers casting votes for their favorites by phone and at the CMT website.

[edit] The winners

Ericka Dunlap holds the Miss America crown she won in 2004
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Ericka Dunlap holds the Miss America crown she won in 2004
Miss America 2005 Deidre Downs
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Miss America 2005 Deidre Downs
Miss America 2006 Jennifer Berry
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Miss America 2006 Jennifer Berry
Year Miss America From
1921 Margaret Gorman Washington, D.C.
1922 Mary Campbell Columbus, Ohio
1923 Mary Campbell Columbus, Ohio
1924 Ruth Malcolmson Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
1925 Fay Lanphier Oakland, California
1926 Norma Smallwood Tulsa, Oklahoma
1927 Lois Delaner Joliet, Illinois
1932 Dorothy Hann Camden, New Jersey
1933 Marian Bergeron West Haven, Connecticut
1935 Henrietta Leaver Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
1936 Rose Coyle Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
1937 Bette Cooper Bertrand Island, New Jersey
1938 Marilyn Meseke Marion, Ohio
1939 Patricia Donnelly Detroit, Michigan
1940 Frances Marie Burke Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
1941 Rosemary LaPlanche Los Angeles, California
1942 Jo-Carroll Dennison Tyler, Texas
1943 Jean Bartel Los Angeles, California
1944 Venus Ramey Washington, D.C.
1945 Bess Myerson New York, New York
1946 Marilyn Buferd Los Angeles, California
1947 Barbara Walker Memphis, Tennessee
1948 BeBe Shopp Hopkins, Minnesota
1949 Jacque Mercer Litchfield Park, Arizona
1951 Yolande Betbeze Mobile, Alabama
1952 Coleen Kay Hutchins Salt Lake City, Utah
1953 Neva Jane Langley Macon, Georgia
1954 Evelyn Margaret Ay Ephrata, Pennsylvania
1955 Lee Meriwether San Francisco, California
1956 Sharon Ritchie Denver, Colorado
1957 Marian McKnight Manning, South Carolina
1958 Marilyn Van Derbur Denver, Colorado
1959 Mary Ann Mobley Brandon, Mississippi
1960 Lynda Lee Mead Natchez, Mississippi
1961 Nancy Fleming Montague, Michigan
1962 Maria Fletcher Asheville, North Carolina
1963 Jacquelyn Mayer Sandusky, Ohio
1964 Donna Axum El Dorado, Arkansas
1965 Vonda Kay Van Dyke Phoenix, Arizona
1966 Deborah Irene Bryant Overland Park, Kansas
1967 Jane Anne Jayroe Laverne, Oklahoma
1968 Debra Dene Barnes Moran, Kansas
1969 Judith Anne Ford Belvidere, Illinois
1970 Pamela Anne Eldred Birmingham, Michigan
1971 Phyllis Ann George Denton, Texas
1972 Laurie Lea Schaefer Columbus, Ohio
1973 Terry Anne Meeuwsen De Pere, Wisconsin
1974 Rebecca Ann King Denver, Colorado
1975 Shirley Cothran Fort Worth, Texas
1976 Tawny Elaine Godin Yonkers, New York
1977 Dorothy Kathleen Benham Edina, Minnesota
1978 Susan Perkins Columbus, Ohio
1979 Kylene Barker Galax, Virginia
1980 Cheryl Prewitt Ackerman, Mississippi
1981 Susan Powell Elk City, Oklahoma
1982 Elizabeth Ward Russellville, Arkansas
1983 Debra Maffett Anaheim, California
1984 Vanessa Williams Millwood, New York
Suzette Charles Mays Landing, New Jersey
1985 Sharlene Wells Salt Lake City, Utah
1986 Susan Akin Meridian, Mississippi
1987 Kellye Cash Memphis, Tennessee
1988 Kaye Lani Rae Rafko Monroe, Michigan
1989 Gretchen Carlson Anoka, Minnesota
1990 Debbye Turner Mexico, Missouri
1991 Marjorie Judith Vincent Oak Park, Illinois
1992 Carolyn Suzanne Sapp Kona, Hawaii
1993 Leanza Cornett Jacksonville, Florida
1994 Kimberly Clarice Aiken Columbia, South Carolina
1995 Heather Whitestone Birmingham, Alabama
1996 Shawntel Smith Muldrow, Oklahoma
1997 Tara Dawn Holland Overland Park, Kansas
1998 Katherine Shindle Evanston, Illinois
1999 Nicole Johnson Roanoke, Virginia
2000 Heather French Augusta, Kentucky
2001 Angela Perez Baraquio Honolulu, Hawaii
2002 Katie Harman Gresham, Oregon
2003 Erika Harold Urbana, Illinois
2004 Ericka Dunlap Orlando, Florida
2005 Deidre Downs Birmingham, Alabama
2006 Jennifer Berry Tulsa, Oklahoma
2007 TBD TBD

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

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