A beauty pageant is a competition that has traditionally focused on judging and ranking the physical attributes of the contestants. Pageants have now evolved to include inner beauty, with criteria covering judging of personality, intelligence, talent, character, and charitable involvement, through private interviews with judges and answers to public on-stage questions. The term beauty pageant refers originally to the Big Four international beauty pageants.
Miss America is an annual competition that is open to women from the United States between the ages of 18 and 28. Originating in 1921 as a "bathing beauty revue", the contest is now judged on these competition segments with the following scoring percentages: Private Interview (30%) – a 10-minute press conference-style interview with a panel of judges, On Stage Question (10%) – answering of a judge's question while onstage, Talent or HERstory (20%) – a performance talent or 90 second speech, Health and Fitness (20%) – contestants demonstrate physical fitness onstage while dressed in athletic wear, and Evening Gown (20%) – contestants model evening-wear onstage.
A swimsuit competition, more commonly now called a bikini contest, is a beauty contest which is judged and ranked while contestants wear a swimsuit, typically a bikini. One of the judging criteria is the physical attractiveness of the contestants. The Big Four international beauty pageants have included examples of such a competition.
The Miss California competition selects the representative for the state of California in the Miss America competition.
The Miss New York scholarship competition selects the representative for the state of New York in the Miss America scholarship competition.
The Miss Indiana competition is the pageant that selects the representative for the state of Indiana in the Miss America Pageant.
The Miss Massachusetts competition is a scholarship pageant put on annually by the Miss Massachusetts Scholarship Foundation, Inc. The winner of the pageant receives the title of Miss Massachusetts and represents the state of Massachusetts at the Miss America pageant in Atlantic City, New Jersey.
Lauren Paige Nelson is a beauty queen from Lawton, Oklahoma who holds the Miss America 2007 title. Nelson is the second consecutive Miss America and sixth in the history of Miss America to hail from this state.
Miss America 2008, the 81st Miss America pageant, was held on the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada, on Saturday, January 26, 2008.
The most frequently presented Miss America awards are for preliminary talent and swimsuit. The talent award was introduced in 1936, and the swimsuit award in 1940. In the 2000s, preliminary awards for evening gown and interview were briefly introduced but were discontinued after two years as it was felt that they made the semi-finalists too predictable.
Katie R. Stam Irk is an American beauty queen from Seymour, Indiana, who was crowned Miss America 2009.
Miss USA 2010 was the 59th Miss USA pageant, held at the Theatre for the Performing Arts in Planet Hollywood Resort and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada on May 16, 2010 which was broadcast live on NBC. Kristen Dalton of North Carolina, crowned her successor, Rima Fakih of Michigan as Miss USA 2010 at the end of this event. This was Michigan's third Miss USA title and the first title in 17 years. Fakih became the first Arab American to win the Miss USA title. This was also the first pageant since 1986 taking place in the month of May.
Alayna Westcom is an American beauty pageant titleholder from Bakersfield, Vermont, who was crowned Miss Vermont 2015. She competed for the Miss America 2016 title in September 2015. Westcom placed outside the Top 15 but was awarded a Non-Finalist Talent scholarship.
Kalie Kathleen Wright is an American beauty pageant titleholder from Twin Falls, Idaho who was crowned Miss National Sweetheart 2014 and Miss Idaho 2015. She competed for the Miss America 2016 title in September 2015. In 2017, she was crowned Miss Minnesota USA 2018 and represented Minnesota at Miss USA 2018.
Mary Katherine Fechtel is an American titleholder from Leesburg, Florida, who was crowned Miss Florida 2015. She competed for the Miss America 2016 title in September 2015 live on ABC and placed in the top 10.
Bree Morse is an American beauty pageant titleholder from Garden Grove, California, who was crowned Miss California 2015. She competed for the Miss America 2016 title in September 2015.
Daja Breyon Davidson is an American beauty pageant titleholder from Spartanburg, South Carolina, who was crowned Miss South Carolina 2015. She competed for the Miss America 2016 title in September 2015 and was a Top 7 finalist. She is the third African American to be crowned Miss South Carolina.
CC Barber is an American beauty pageant titleholder from Scappoose, Oregon, who was crowned Miss Oregon 2009. She competed for the Miss America 2010 title in January 2010 and placed in the Top 15 semi-finalists.
Marisa Therese Buchheit is an American soprano and beauty pageant titleholder from Chicago, Illinois, who was crowned Miss Illinois 2014 in June 2014. She competed in the nationally televised Miss America 2015 competition in September 2014.
The Miss America 2019 pageant/competition was the 92nd Miss America pageant, though the Miss America Organization celebrated its 98th anniversary in 2018. This discrepancy is due to national pageants not being held from 1928–1932 or in 1934 because of financial problems associated with the Great Depression. The 2019 competition was held in Atlantic City, New Jersey. On May 23, 2018, it was announced that the pageant would air live on ABC on Sunday, September 9, 2018. This was the last Miss America to be aired on ABC before would be moving to NBC beginning from 2020 pageant.
