| Miss America 1953 | |
|---|---|
| Date | September 6, 1952 |
| Venue | Boardwalk Hall, Atlantic City, New Jersey |
| Entrants | 52 |
| Placements | 10 |
| Winner | Neva Jane Langley  Georgia |
Miss America 1953, the 26th Miss America pageant, was held at the Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey on September 6, 1952. [1]
Neva Jane Langley became the first Miss Georgia to win the crown.
| Placement | Contestant |
|---|---|
| Miss America 1953 | |
| 1st Runner-Up |
|
| 2nd Runner-Up |
|
| 3rd Runner-Up |
|
| 4th Runner-Up |
|
| Top 10 |
|
| Awards | Contestant |
|---|---|
| Lifestyle and Fitness |
|
| Talent |
|
| Awards | Contestant |
|---|---|
| Miss Congeniality |
|
| Non-finalist Talent |
|
| State | Name | Hometown | Age | Talent | Placement | Awards | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Alabama | Gwen Harmon | Birmingham | 19 | Vocal, "A Heart That's Free" | 3rd Runner-up | Preliminary Lifestyle & Fitness Award | |
 Arkansas | Bonnie Nicksic | Hot Springs | Vocal/Dance, "Life Upon the Wicked Stage" from Show Boat | ||||
 California | Jeanne Shores | Azusa | Dramatic Monologue | 2nd Runner-up | Preliminary Lifestyle & Fitness Award | ||
 Canada | Marilyn "Thelma" Delores Reddick | Agincourt | |||||
 Chicago | Jo Hoppe | Chicago | Tap Dance | 4th Runner-up | Preliminary Lifestyle & Fitness Award | ||
 Colorado | Chardelle Hayward | Fort Collins | Piano | ||||
 Connecticut | Joyce Yeske | West Hartford | Ballroom Dance | ||||
 Delaware | Helen Blackwell | Wilmington | Classical Vocal | ||||
 District of Columbia | Iris Fitch | Washington D.C. | 19 | Vocal, "With a Song in my Heart" | Miss Congeniality
| ||
 Florida | Marcia Crane | Orlando | Piano, "Gershwin Prelude" | ||||
 Georgia | Neva Jane Langley | Macon | 19 | Classical Piano, "Toccata" | Winner | Preliminary Lifestyle & Fitness Award
| |
 Greater Philadelphia | Patricia Hunt | Philadelphia | Drama | Top 10 | |||
 Hawaii | Beverly Kathleen Rivera | Honolulu | Hula | Top 10 | |||
 Idaho | ZoeAnn Warberg | Twin Falls | 18 | Speech, "The Sacred Duty of the American to Vote" | First female judge in Idaho's 5th Judicial District and appeared on the 1985 Miss America telecast. ZoeAnn Warberg Shaub died at 83 on Sept. 13, 2017 as result of a car accident in rural Jackpot, Nevada. | ||
 Illinois | Glenna Marie Pohly | Rock Falls | Flute | ||||
 Indiana | Ann Garnier | Indianapolis | Classical Vocal, "Il Baciò" by Luigi Arditi | 1st Runner-up | |||
 Iowa | Carolyn Hill | Cedar Falls | 19 | Vocal, "You're My Everything" | |||
 Kansas | Kay Ann Goforth | McPherson | Vocal/Dance | ||||
 Kentucky | Joy Williams | Lexington | Dance | ||||
 Louisiana | Barbara Barker | Monroe | Drama, "The Fog" | Top 10 | |||
 Maine | Norma Lee Collins | Caribou | |||||
 Maryland | Shirley Virginia Harrison | Baltimore | Monologue from Tom Sawyer | ||||
 Massachusetts | Barbara Graves | Milton | |||||
 Michigan | Karol Dragomir | Benton Harbor | Vocal, "I'll Walk Alone" | ||||
 Minnesota | Carole Wick | Duluth | Vocal | ||||
 Mississippi | Dora Livingston | Yazoo City | |||||
 Missouri | Florence Spack | Clayton | Vocal | ||||
 Montana | Karen Whittet | Livingston | Piano | ||||
 Nebraska | Helen Francis Burhorn | Omaha | Piano, Warsaw Concerto | ||||
 Nevada | Bonnie Wilson | Reno | Ballet, "Something to Dance About" | ||||
 New Hampshire | Barbara Temperly | Goffstown | |||||
 New Jersey | Mary Parker | Gibbsboro | Drama | ||||
 New York | Joan St. John | Binghamton | Vocal | ||||
 New York City | Joan Kayne | New York City | Dance | Top 10 | Preliminary Talent Award | ||
 North Carolina | Barbara Harris | Salisbury | Classical Vocal, "Mon cœur s'ouvre à ta voix" | ||||
 North Dakota | Margaret Aandahl | Litchville | Piano | Non-finalist Talent Award | |||
 Ohio | Carol Koontz | Bolivar | Fire Baton Twirling & Clarinet | ||||
 Oklahoma | Shirley Barbour | Tulsa | Drama | Miss Congeniality | |||
 Oregon | Mary Lou Teague | Eugene | Vocal, "Love is Where You Find it" | ||||
 Pennsylvania | Miriam Smith | McAlisterville | Pipe Organ, "Tico Tico" | ||||
 Puerto Rico | Helga Edmee Monroig | ||||||
 Rhode Island | Jayne Bradshaw | Westerly | Classical Vocal | ||||
 South Carolina | Mary Griffin | Florence | Classical Vocal | Top 10 | 1st Runner-up at Miss USA 1953 representing Myrtle Beach
| ||
 South Dakota | Sandra Hart | Huron | Fire Baton Twirling | ||||
 Tennessee | Gloria Williams | Chattanooga | Vocal, "Lover, When You're Near Me" | ||||
 Texas | Connie Hopping | Littlefield | Vocal | ||||
 Utah | Marylyn Reese | Brigham | Monologue, "The Mudlark" & "Our Town" | ||||
 Vermont | Barbara Moore | St. Johnsbury | Baton Twirling/Dance | ||||
 Virginia | Edna Long | Richmond | Dance | ||||
 West Virginia | Nancy Rohrbough | Grafton | Dance | ||||
 Wisconsin | Jeannie Eleanor Huston | La Crosse | 19 | Cello | |||
 Wyoming | Ruth Francis | Casper | Drama |
Margaret Munnerlyn Mitchell was an American novelist and journalist. Mitchell wrote only one novel, published during her lifetime, the American Civil War-era novel Gone with the Wind, for which she won the National Book Award for Fiction for Most Distinguished Novel of 1936 and the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1937. Long after her death, a collection of Mitchell's girlhood writings and a novella she wrote as a teenager, titled Lost Laysen, were published. A collection of newspaper articles written by Mitchell for The Atlanta Journal was republished in book form.
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The Miss Georgia competition is the pageant that selects the representative for the state of Georgia in the Miss America pageant.
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