A beauty pageant is a competition traditionally focused on judging and ranking the contestants' physical attributes. Pageants have now moved towards including 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. Pageant titles are subdivided into Miss, Mrs. or Ms., and Teen – to clearly identify the difference between pageant divisions.
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 judged on competition segments with scoring percentages: Private Interview (30%) – a 10-minute press conference-style interview with a panel of judges, On Stage Question (10%) – answering a judge's question onstage, Talent or HER Story (20%) – a performance talent or 90 second speech, Health and Fitness (20%) – demonstrated physical fitness onstage dressed in athletic wear, and Evening Gown (20%) – modeling 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.
Chelsi Mariam Pearl Smith was an American actress, singer, tv host and beauty pageant titleholder, who was crowned Miss USA 1995 and Miss Universe 1995. Smith was the third Miss USA of African-American origin, after Carole Gist (1990) and Kenya Moore (1993), in addition to being the sixth American woman to win Miss Universe and the first since Shawn Weatherly was crowned Miss Universe 1980.
The Miss California competition selects the representative for the state of California in the Miss America competition.
The Miss Alabama competition is the pageant that selects the representative for the state of Alabama in the annual Miss America Competition.
The Miss Ohio Scholarship Program selects the representative for the U.S. state of Ohio to compete for the title of Miss America. The pageant is held annually, during the "Miss Ohio Festival" week, at the historic 1,600 seat Renaissance Theatre in Mansfield.
The Miss Virginia competition is a scholarship pageant for women, with the titleholder representing Virginia in the Miss America pageant. The competition was founded in 1953 as a scholarship contest for young women, although women had represented Virginia in the Miss America pageant since the 1930s. Four Miss Virginia winners have gone on to be crowned Miss America, including former national titleholder Caressa Cameron.
The Miss District of Columbia competition is the pageant that selects the representative for the District of Columbia in the Miss America Pageant.
The Miss Kansas competition is the pageant that selects the representative for the US state of Kansas in the Miss America pageant. Kansas has won the Miss America crown on three occasions.
The Miss Montana competition is the pageant that selects the representative for the U.S. state of Montana in the Miss America pageant.
Mrs. America Pageant is a beauty competition that was established to honor married women throughout the United States of America. Each of the contestants representing the 50 states and the District of Columbia ranges in age from their 20s to 50s and earns the right to participate in the national event by winning her state competition. These state events are under the direction of Mrs. America state directors. The winner goes on to compete in the Mrs. World pageant.
Miss Universe Japan is a national Beauty pageant in Japan to select an official candidate for the Miss Universe pageant.
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.
Shannon Noelle Bream is an American journalist and attorney who is a host of Fox News Sunday on Fox News. She is also chief legal correspondent for the channel. In 2022, she became host of Fox News Sunday.
Miss America 1939, the 13th Miss America pageant, was the last pageant to be held at the famed Steel Pier in Atlantic City, New Jersey. The finals were held on Saturday, September 9, 1939, and Miss Michigan, Patricia Donnelly, was crowned Miss America 1939. The Miss Congeniality Award was also introduced at the 1939 competition.
Miss America 1941, the 15th Miss America pageant, was held at the Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey on September 6, 1941. Shortly after the crowning of Miss California, Rosemary LaPlanche, who had been first runner-up in 1940, the pageant committee adopted this rule: "No contestant can compete in Atlantic City for the title of Miss America more than once", thus eliminating future state winners with more than one attempt at the national title.
Miss America 1949, the 23rd Miss America pageant, was held at the Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey on September 10, 1949. The 1949 pageant marked the first time that a public official, New Jersey Governor Alfred E. Driscoll, had taken part in the coronation, placing the jeweled crown on the new queen's head.
Miss America 1951, the 24th Miss America pageant, was held at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey on September 9, 1950. Traditionally, since a majority of Miss America's reign occurred during the year following her coronation, the pageant referred to her title with the upcoming year. Thus, Yolande Betbeze, who was crowned in September 1950, was called Miss America 1951. This practice continued until 2006, when pageant activities moved from September to January. From that point, the title year aligned with the year in which the titleholder won. This change also occurred recently in 2024, and it marked the transition from Atlantic City, the pageant's long-time base, to its new home in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Margaret Gorman was an American model and beauty queen who was the winner of the first Miss America beauty pageant after being crowned Miss District of Columbia in 1921.
