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.
Deidre Downs Gunn is an American physician and former beauty pageant titleholder. Downs was Miss Alabama 2004 and later was crowned Miss America 2005.
Alexandra Leigh LaForce is an American journalist, model and beauty queen who won Miss Teen USA 2005. She is a reporter for TNT Sports, covering the NBA on TNT. She was previously the lead reporter for SEC college football games, a courtside reporter for college basketball games, and the host of We Need to Talk on the CBS Sports Network. LaForce also worked as a broadcast sports anchor and reporter for the Cleveland, Ohio, FOX affiliate WJW. She won a 2011 Emmy award for anchoring FOX 8's Friday Night Touchdown high school football show. She was Miss Teen USA in 2005, and played college basketball at Ohio University.
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 Illinois is a pageant program affiliated with Miss America, which is competition for women models representing the state of Illinois.
The Miss Florida competition is the pageant that selects the representative for the state of Florida in the Miss America pageant. Florida has twice won the Miss America crown.
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.
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.
Kirsten Iora Müller-Daubermann is a public speaker, eating disorder awareness activist, commentator, and president of the Kirsten Haglund Foundation. She served as Miss America 2008.
Miss USA 2013 was the 62nd Miss USA pageant, held on June 16, 2013 at The AXIS in Las Vegas, Nevada. The 50 states and the District of Columbia competed for the title and the pageant was televised live on NBC. Outgoing titleholder Nana Meriwether of Maryland crowned her successor Erin Brady of Connecticut at the end of the event. This was Connecticut's first ever Miss USA crown.
Kalie Kathleen Wright Korfe is an American beauty pageant titleholder and entrepreneur.
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.
Hannah Williams Robison is an American beauty pageant titleholder from Paris, Tennessee, who was crowned Miss Tennessee 2015. She competed for the Miss America 2016 crown and placed in the Top 7 finalists.
The Miss Missouri's Teen competition is the pageant that selects the representative for the U.S. state of Missouri in the Miss America's Teen pageant. Miss Missouri's Teen pageant is often held the second weekend of June.
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.
For the state pageant affiliated with Miss Teen USA, see Miss Illinois Teen USA
Miss America 2019, 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 to 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 it was moved to NBC beginning from the 2020 pageant.
Nia Imani Franklin is an American composer and beauty pageant titleholder. In June 2018, she was crowned Miss New York 2018. On September 9, 2018, she was crowned Miss America 2019 in Atlantic City, New Jersey, by the outgoing Miss America 2018, Cara Mund.
Diamond Langi is a Tongan-New Zealand model, actress, singer, and beauty pageant titleholder who was crowned Miss Universe New Zealand 2019. She represented New Zealand at the Miss Universe 2019 competition, but failed to make the Top 20.
