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.
Miss USA is an American beauty pageant that has been held annually since 1952 to select the entrant from United States in the Miss Universe pageant. The Miss Universe Organization operated both pageants, as well as Miss Teen USA, until 2020, when the organization announced it was licensing operation of the Miss USA and Miss Teen USA pageants to Crystle Stewart, Miss USA for 2008 prior to her suspension in October 2022, thus returning the said pageants to the Miss Universe Organization.
Susie Castillo is an American actress, TV host, model and beauty pageant titleholder who held the Miss USA title and competed in the Miss Teen USA and Miss Universe pageants. She pursued a career in the media, making various television appearances and hosting shows such as MTV's Total Request Live as a VJ.
Carol Ann Laverne Morris is an American actress, model, and beauty queen who was the second Miss USA to win the Miss Universe title in the pageant's fifth edition in 1956. She was crowned by Hillevi Rombin, Miss Universe 1955, of Sweden.
Janel Bishop is an American beauty queen who won the 1991 Miss Teen USA title. She is the first African-American winner of this pageant.
The Miss Nebraska competition is the pageant that selects the representative for the state of Nebraska in the Miss America pageant.
The Miss New Hampshire is the scholarship program that selects the representative for the state of New Hampshire in the Miss America competition.
Miss USA 1994 was the 43rd Miss USA pageant, televised live from the South Padre Island Convention Centre on South Padre Island, Texas on February 11, 1994. At the conclusion of the final competition, Lu Parker of South Carolina was crowned by outgoing titleholder Kenya Moore of Michigan.
Crystle Danae Stewart is an American actress, host, model and beauty pageant titleholder who won Miss USA 2008. Stewart's acting career began in 2011, when she played real estate agent Leslie Morris on the OWN/TBS comedy-drama television series For Better or Worse until 2017. In 2018 she appeared in Acrimony. From 2020 until 2023, Stewart was the national director of Miss USA and Miss Teen USA. She was suspended from the position following allegations of favoritism, results rigging at Miss USA 2022 and sexual harassment at Miss USA 2021, and officially stepped down in August 2023.
Megan Lynne Talde Young-Daez is a Filipino-American actress, model, television presenter and beauty queen who won the Miss World Philippines 2013 title and was later crowned as Miss World 2013. She is the first Filipina to win the title of Miss World.
Miss USA 2011 was the 60th Anniversary of the Miss USA pageant, held on the Las Vegas Strip at the Theatre for the Performing Arts in the Planet Hollywood Resort and Casino, Paradise, Nevada on Sunday, June 19, 2011. Rima Fakih of Michigan crowned her successor, Alyssa Campanella of California, at the end of this event. This was California's sixth Miss USA title and the first title since 1992. Campanella represented the United States at the Miss Universe 2011 pageant in São Paulo, Brazil on September 12, 2011.
Miss America 2011 was the 84th Miss America pageant. Since the first Miss America pageant was held 102 years ago, in 1921, the Miss America Organization was celebrating its 90th anniversary in 2011.
Miss America 1975, the 48th Miss America pageant, was held at the Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey on September 7, 1974, and broadcast on NBC.
Danielle Wineman is an American actress and beauty pageant titleholder from Cut Bank, Montana, who was named Montana's Junior Miss 2010 and crowned Miss Montana 2015. She competed for the Miss America 2016 title in September 2015. Her younger sister, Alexis Wineman, was crowned Miss Montana 2012.
The Miss New Hampshire's Teen competition is the pageant that selects the representative for the U.S. state of New Hampshire in the Miss America's Outstanding Teen pageant. The pageant is held each February in Derry, New Hampshire.
Holly Blanchard is an American beauty pageant titleholder from Derry, New Hampshire, who was crowned Miss New Hampshire 2015. She competed for the Miss America 2016 title in September 2015.
Miss USA 2018 was the 67th Miss USA pageant. It was held on May 21, 2018 at the Hirsch Memorial Coliseum in Shreveport, Louisiana. Nick Lachey and Vanessa Lachey hosted for the first time, while Carson Kressley and Lu Sierra served as commentators and was broadcast on Fox for the third consecutive year. Additionally, it featured performances by 98 Degrees and Lee Brice. Kára McCullough of District of Columbia crowned her successor Sarah Rose Summers of Nebraska at the end of the event, becoming the first woman from her state to win the title. Summers represented the United States at the Miss Universe 2018 pageant on December 17, 2018 in Bangkok, and placed in the Top 20.
Miss America's Outstanding Teen 2008 was the 3rd Miss America's Outstanding Teen pageant held at the Linda Chapin Theater in the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, Florida on August 11, 2007. At the conclusion of the event, Maria DeSantis of Texas crowned her successor Caitlin Brunell of Virginia. The pageant was hosted by Miss America 2007 Lauren Nelson and performer Billy Flanigan.
Caelynn Marie Miller-Keyes is an American television personality, model, and beauty pageant titleholder. Miller-Keyes received national recognition after appearing as a contestant on season 23 of The Bachelor.
