EXCLUSIVE! Miss MMV/FT/AAC Announced!

This just in...

The three-time home of Miss Ohio 2010, Becky Minger, has been approved for their ninth local pageant!

Miss Maumee Valley/ Fallen Timbers/ All*American City will take place Saturday October 30th in Maumee. 20 Miss contestants and 10 Teens will be accepted. It is important to note the directors will continue their practice of ordering the contestants in the reverse of received paperwork. So if you like being near the end of the line-up, don't wait to apply!

UPDATED: Miss Miami Valley Photos!

Miss Miami Valley, Alissa Brumbaugh

1st RU & Interview winner, Meggie Wittman

2nd RU & Swimsuit winner, Heather Wells

Talent winner, Alyssa Waldman

CLICK HERE for photos of all the beautiful contestant on the overflow blog!

I am so excited about the photos from Miss Miami Valley! Usually photographers have to battle with really awful stage lights that can even be challenging for the professionals; but this pageant is held outside, meaning the pictures are wonderful! Natural light is a cameras best friend! Huge thanks to Ross Clark and Bryce Bishop who were both in attendance. Check Bryce's Facbook page for more of his and CLICK HERE for thirteen pages lovely shots from Roark Studios.

Is yellow the new white?

National Sweetheart 2010

National Sweetheart 2009

Miss America 2010

Miss Universe 2008

Miss America 2004

Did I forget other recent winners in yellow? Leave a comment and I'll find a picture.

*Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone*

National Sweetheart 2010 Results!

National Sweetheart: Indiana

1RU: Kentucky

2RU: New York

3RU: Florida

4RU: Arkansas

Remaining Top 10:

Nebraska

California

North Carolina

Delaware

Alabama

Awards

Interview: Arkansas, Massachusetts & Virginia

Prelim Gown: Arkansas & Kentucky

Grand Talent: New York

Producers Award: North Dakota

Congeniality: Nebraska

*Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone*

Tonight: National Sweetheart Finale!

Best of luck to Ohio's

Shannon O'Neill!

[Right: Shannon poses with New York's sweetheart before Saturday's parade. I love the green gown!]

Preliminary Winners:

Swimsuit:

Alabama * California * Georgia * North Carolina

Talent:

Alabama * Iowa * New York

National Sweetheart Prelim Night Two

Swimsuit

Alabama & California

Alabama's Taylor Yates (below left) is the only double preliminary winner at the National Sweetheart pageant. At Miss Alabama she was 3rd Runner-up and a Swimsuit winner. Sharanya Mukhopadhyay (below right), was a first-time contestant at Miss California, but went straight to 2nd Runner-up and won a preliminary Evening Gown award.

Talent

Iowa & New York

Elizabeth Davidson (below left), a harpist, was 1st Runner-up at Miss Iowa, having been 3rd Runner-up her first try in 2009. (Iowa doesn't give prelim awards and only a nonsemifinalist talent award.) Ballerina Hannah Wright (below right) is representing New York where she was 2nd Runner-up on her very first try and also won a Talent prelim!

Congrats to the New Miss Miami Valley, Alissa Brumbaugh!

Miss Miami Valley: Alissa Brumbaugh

1st RU: Meggie Wittman

2nd RU: Heather Wells

Interview: Meggie Wittman

Talent: Alyssa Waldman

Swimsuit: Heather Wells

Alyssa won her very first MAO local!

However she has experience in the Co-Ed pageant system, as seen in the photo above.

Best of Luck to Miss Miami Valley!

Tonight Miss Miami Valley will take place at 7 p.m. in Dayton! The pageant is held at the Montgomery County Fair, meaning an admission fee of only $4 grants you access to deep fried delights, questionably constructed spinning rides, adorable baby livestock and a bevy of beauties vying for scholarships and a trip to Miss Ohio!

The outgoing titleholder is vocalist, Ellen Bryan. She is a student at Ball State University and has proven to be a consistent competitor at Miss Ohio. In 2009 she debuted in Mansfield as Miss Lake Festival and was named 4th Runner-up. This summer as Miss Miami Valley Ellen moved up one spot to 3rd Runner-up; she also won the coveted $1,000 Miss America Community Service award for her work with Lightning Awareness! I've been told Miss Ohio, Becky Minger will also be in attendance and perform.

Ellen will crown one of the following 11 lucky ladies:

Erin O'Brien

Education: Upper Arlington High School

Talent: Vocal

Platform:

Pageant Past: Competed in Judy Keyees' Columbus Teen pageant; She is the sister of West Virginia titleholder, April O'Brien.

Heather Wells

Education: Kent State University / Broadcast Journalism & Mass Comm

Talent: Dance

Platform: L.E.A.D. through 4-H

Pageant Past: Non-semifinalist Talent award at Miss Ohio 2010 as Miss Mansfield; Top 10 in 2009 as Miss Ohio River; competed in 2008 as Miss Maple City

Veronica Wende

Education: Shawnee State University

Talent: Vocal

Platform: Organ & Tissue Donation

Pageant Past: Miss Ohio's Outstanding Teen 2009

Alissa Brumbaugh

Education: Ohio State / University of Akron / Education

Talent: Vocal ?

Platform:
Pageant Past: Member of the 2010 Football Hall of Fame Court; Semifinalist representing Ohio at the National Miss America Coed Pageant, Teen division

Christina Muha

Education: University of Toledo / Nursing

Talent:

Platform: Heart to Heart: Be Smart

Pageant Past: Has competed for a couple years.

Meggie Wittman

Education: Kent State University / Musical Theatre

Talent: Vocal

Platform: Make-a-Wish Foundation

Pageant Past: 1st RU & SS recently at Miss North Coast; Top 10 at Miss Ohio 2010 as Miss Cuyahoga County

Alyssa Waldman

Education: Otterbein College

Talent: Vocal

Platform: Healthy self-esteem among women of all ages

Pageant Past: Non-semifinalist Talent award at Miss Ohio 2010 as Miss Northwestern Ohio

Jena Swiegart

Education: incoming senior at Celina High

Talent: Vocal

Platform: Taking it to the Bank - Feeding Ohio

Pageant Past: 2nd RU recently at Miss WCO/LSF/CL; 1st RU & Interview at Miss Lake Festival; competed at Miss Ohio's Outstanding Teen 2010 as Miss Grand Lake's Teen

Anna Reis

Education: University of Cincinnati / Marketing & Graphic Design

Talent: Dance

Platform: Girl Scouts of America

Pageant Past: Competed at Miss Ohio 2010 as Miss Portsmouth

Courtney Crain

Education: Indiana Wesleyan?

Talent:

Platform:

Pageant Past: Miss Ohio International 2010

Abby Daniel

Education: Wright State

Talent:
Platform:
Pageant Past: National American Miss experience

Best of luck to all the contestants! Please leave a comment with corrections and additional information.

National Sweetheart Prelim Night One

Based on preliminary night one winners at the Sweetheart pageant, it looks like the judges like southern blonds!

Swimsuit: Georgia & North Carolina

Jamie Kelton [below right] was not only 1st Runner-up to Miss Georgia, but also won preliminary Gown and Swimsuit during her very first try!
Not every state is represented at Sweetheart by their 1st Runner-up; Aryn Ward [below left] was 3rd Runner-up at her third trip to Miss North Carolina this summer.

Talent: Alabama

Taylor Yates was 3rd Runner-up to Miss Alabama on her second try. This dancer did win a preliminary award at her state pageant, but it was for Swimsuit.

This Weekend: National Sweetheart!

Since 1941 the Hoopston Jaycee's have sponsored a "Sweetheart Pageant" for the state runners-up in the Miss America system. If you're not familiar with Sweeps/Sweetheart pageants, click here. This year Ohio is being represented by first runner-up Shannon O'Neill; on the left Shannon's in the a quintessential Sweetheart pageant tractor picture, as it's held in the middle of a cornfield in Hoopston, Illinois. Check out her blog for many more pictures. For the past two years Becky Minger made the Top 10/11 at this pageant and in 2007 Erica Gelhaus captured the Sweetheart title. Best of luck to Shannon, I'm confident she'll continue Ohio's strong Sweetheart track record!

This year 38 states will be represented at Sweetheart, which is not officially affiliated with Miss America. Tonight and tomorrow the contestants compete in preliminary competition, with the finale happening Sunday. The ladies are broken into four groups:

GROUP A:

1. Florida-Diana Kelly

Piano-“Pathetique”

2. Utah-Valerie Moon Jazz

Dance-“Bend and Snap”

3. Pennsylvania-Ryann Richardson

Vocal-“Summertime”

4. Washington-Brittney Henry

Fiddle-“Orange Blossom Special”

5. Arkansas-Amy Crain

Dance-“Game Time”

6. New York-Hannah Wright

Ballet-“Kitri’s Variation”

7. Wisconsin-Laura Kaeppeler

Vocal-“Quando me’n vo”

8. Colorado-Morgan Weaver

Dance-“Jai Ho”

9. Oregon-Alexandria Henderson

Vocal-“I Have Nothing”

10. West Virginia-Spenser Wempe

Dance-“Bring me Flowers”

GROUP B:

11. Iowa- Elizabeth Davidson

Harp-“Rondeau”

12. North Carolina-Aryn Ward

Tap Dance-“Great Balls of Fire”

13. Tennessee-Nicole Mazzio

Vocal-“Can’t Help Falling in Love”

14. Indiana-Brittany Hagan

Jazz Dance-“Move You”

15. Illinois-April Strong

Vocal-“This is my Now”

16. Georgia-Jamie Kelton

Dance-“Cry Me a River”

17. Ohio-Shannon O’Neill

Vocal-“As If We Never Said Goodbye”

18. Massachusetts-Taylor Kinzler

Acrobatic Dance-“Gravity”

19. Idaho-Genevieve Nutting

Piano-“Rhapsody in Blue”

GROUP C:

20. North Dakota-Stephanie Erickson

Piano

21. Vermont-Alexandra Larrow

Vocal-“Time to Say Goodbye”

22. Maryland-Hannah Mollerick

Jazz Dance-“It’s Oh, So Quiet!”

23. Louisiana-Lauren Abshier

Vocal-“I Have Nothing”

24. Nevada-Jacqueline Wilkins

Dance-“I Didn’t Know My Own Strength”

25. Alaska-Katy Lovegreen

Irish Dance-“Irish Adventure”

26. Delaware-Steffi Holmes

Vocal-“Quando me’n vo”

27. New Jersey-Melissa Ruiz

Tap Dance-“Ballroom Blitz”

28. Virginia-Lindsay Morris

Piano-“Piano Concerto in A Minor”

GROUP D:

29. Minnesota-Lauren Johnson

Piano-“Khachaturian Toccata”

30. Arizona-Rebecca Hasulak

Ballet-“You Raise me Up”

31 South Dakota-Lorena Reichert

Vocal-Meine Lippen, Sie Kussen So “

32. California-Sharanya Mukhopadhyay

Dance-“Avatar”

33. Nebraska-Kayla Batt

Vocal-“Love You I Do”

34. New Hampshire-Megan Lyman

Tap Dance-“New Shoes”

35. Alabama-Taylor Yates

Jazz Dance-“On Broadway”

36. Missouri-Erin Bagby

Vocal-“Somebody to Love”

37. Hawaii-Lauren Cheape

Jump Rope-“Footloose”

38. Kentucky-Ann-Blair Thornton

Piano-“Rustles of Spring”

The Miss Ohio 2010 MISScellanea Awards: Most Promising 1st Year Contestant RESULT!

I thought it was a no-brainer to ask you, the fans, which first time Miss Ohio contestant you found most promsing. There were ten of them: Alyssa Waldman, Anna Reis, Cayla Hellwarth, Devon Stansbury, Elizabeth Wong, Heidi Negron, Meggie Wittman, Sarah Hider, Stephanie Beltz and Tera Coleman. I guess most of you agreed with the judges, and I shouldn't be surprised that the top vote getters were the first-timers who were in the Top 10, won awards or had known experience...

With 11.43% of the 70 votes, honorable mention goes to former Ohio Outstanding Teen, Sarah Hider.

In third place with 12.86% is Stephanie Beltz, winner of $1,750 in awards.

Second place goes to Top 10 finisher, Tera Coleman with an even 20%.

And the Missy for Most Promising 1st Year Contestant goes to...

Meggie Wittman!

Meggie received a strong 30% of your votes! She was one of only two new contestants to make the Top 10 and I agree that she had the poise and polish of an experienced contestant.

Kudos to all the first year competitors at Miss Ohio 2010; whether you choose to come back or not, I hope your experience in Mansfield was valuable.

The Return of the Miss Ohio 2010 Missy Awards: Most Improved RESULTS!

I'm sure it seemed like I'd forgotten about the MISScellanea Awards; I apologize. I guess I like to keep each new post at the top of the page for about a day and didn't want the Missys to get lost among the time-sensitive Miss Universe and Outstanding Teen posts. Maybe I should trust your ability to scroll down. ;)

I digress... THEY'RE BACK!!!

In the area of Most Improved I nominated Rebeka Zoz for the confidence and ease she brought to the stage her second year; Katie Bowen for the lovely new look everyone raved about; Whitney Fricke for improving herself into the Top 10 without loosing her freshness and Shannon O'Neill for a smashing new figure and lovely styling.

66 votes were cast and over half of you agreed!

The Most Improved Missy Award goes to...

Shannon O'Neill

Shannon lost 15 pounds (I believe) and ended up 1st Runner-up her third year of competition! She is currently in Hoopston, Illinois representing Ohio in the National Sweetheart Pageant. Good luck Shannon!

If a beauty queen is crowned in the forest...

If a beauty queen is crowned in the forest and there's no one there to watch it, does the crown sparkle?

No! I don't think it does!

As I recently tweeted, the coverage of Miss America's Outstanding Teen was RIDICULOUS this year... and not in a good way! At this point, I've only seen two "official" competition pictures (Wednesday and Thursday Talent winners) and some shots taken from the audience that focus on one contestant. The front page of the official MAO Teen website does not yet feature a banner or picture of the new winner; there is merely a link to a press release. The contestants had a photoshoot in Tony Bowls dresses and only the Miss Indiana organization has displayed their Teen's pictures. Tuesday and Wednesday cookie-cutter press releases were posted a couple hours after the competition. Thursday night it took several hours and after the finale it took twelve! During the prelims, Google and Yahoo news searches only revealed a couple articles about contestants getting ready to compete. Now that the pageant is over, there's one measly hit about Lacey, it's a tiny article from NewsOk.com. Saturday night during the pageant neither of the two official Miss America twitter accounts tweeted, nor did the teen twitter. Thank goodness for the tweets from FourPoints Magazine, but aren't they a separate/independent organization?

As a blogger, tweeter and person who has gotten decent quality photos to the public right after a pageant, I know that it's NOT THAT DIFFICULT!!! Then there's the issue of webcasting... That is not my area of expertise, but reliable sources tell me that it's not too tricky or expensive either.

It's as though everyone forgot that Miss America's Outstanding Teen is a NATIONAL pageant. There are locals in Ohio that do a better job of promotion! What really bothered me was when fans on the national unofficial message board wrote that they didn't expect national news coverage or think the pageant warrants it. Really? Then what's the point?

I'll admit that I was not a fan of this program when it began and I still can not stand any of the little princess propaganda, but what has me tripping all over my stilettos is my passion for promotion! In this day in age, the survival and success of most businesses, organizations and events hinges on the utilization of modern media. Seriously people, the President has Twitter and my dentist has a Facebook page! Having them isn't enough, you actually have to use them and all their FREE and glorious advantages; that is what MAO Teen is not doing.

I feel strongly that if you want people to care about your organization and what it's doing, you have to give people information. Fans want to see pictures, they want to know fun behind-the-scenes happenings and heaven forbid, we'd even like to know what the talent winners performed! When you don't give people information, they move on, they don't care anymore and your organization dies. Period. It is especially ridiculous to me because MAO Teen was created to be a feeder program for Miss America, but if you don't promote the Teen pageant, how is it supposed to grow and accomplish it's goal of building the Miss America program?

*sigh*

I suppose I'll carefully step my stilettos down from my soapbox now...

If you agree or disagree or moreover, if you can explain why things were like this I would really love for you to leave a comment!

Miss America's Outstanding Teen 2010 Pictures & Complete Results!

Teen photos:

Most of the photos above are from the

Miss Indiana website.

Visiting Miss States:

Miss America's Outstanding Teen 2010

complete results:

Miss America's Outstanding Teen 2011 & winner of a $30,000 scholarship -
Miss Oklahoma's Outstanding Teen Lacey Russ

First Runner Up & winner of a $15,000 scholarship -
Miss Alabama's Outstanding Teen Scarlett Walker

Second Runner Up & winner of a $10,000 scholarship -
Miss Georgia's Outstanding Teen Camille Sims

Third Runner Up & winner of a $5,000 scholarship -
Miss Washington's Outstanding Teen Victoria Renard

Fourth Runner Up & winner of a $3,000 scholarship -
Miss Virginia's Outstanding Teen Courtney Jamison

Remaining Top 10 Finalists & winners

of a $1,500 scholarship -

Miss Indiana's Outstanding Teen Katelyn Marak

Miss Kentucky's Outstanding Teen Laura Jones

Miss Michigan's Outstanding Teen Brooke Rowland

Miss Ohio's Outstanding Teen Cecili Weber

Miss Pennsylvania's Outstanding Teen Jocelyn Gruber

Non-finalist Talent Award $500 - Miss Florida's Outstanding Teen Mary Katherine Fechtel

Non-finalist Evening Wear Award $500 - Miss Conneticut's Outstanding Teen Logan West

Non-finalist Interview Award $500 (Provided by the 2010 Judges Panel in honor of the MAOTeen Judges Commitee members) - Miss Iowa's Outstanding Teen Aly Olson

$1,000 Scholarship - All contestants not in the Top 10

B. Don Magness Spirit of America Award (Provided by the MAOT Sorority) $1,000 -

Miss Hawaii's Outstanding Teen Lena Merrill

Scholastics Excellence Award (Highest GPA) $1,000 -

Miss Michigan's Outstanding Teen Brooke Rowland

Outstanding Achievement in Academic Life (GPA + Resume) $1,000 (Provided by Bob Arnhym -CA) -

Miss Idaho's Outstanding Teen Katy Lootens

Community Service Award for Childrens Miracle Network $1,000 (Provided by Caitlin Brunell-MAOTeen 2008) -

Miss California's Outstanding Teen Shelby Sinkler

Miss Photogenic Award (Provided by Jenn Cady Design Photography and Supermodels Unlimited magazine) -

Miss Florida's Outstanding Teen Mary Katherine Fetchel

Advertising Awards (Provided by Grandesign)

Miss Colorado's Outstanding Teen Lexie O'Dowd -$2,500

Miss California's Outstanding Teen Shelby Sinkler -$1,500

Miss Mississippi's Outstanding Teen Christina Bostick -$500

Miss Oklahoma's Outstanding Teen Lacey Russ -$500

Instrumental Talent Award

(Provided by Dr. Glenn Harman) $500 each

Miss Kentucky's Outstanding Teen Laura Jones

Miss Virginia's Outstanding Teen Courtney Jamison

Nova Southeastern University Razor's Edge Leadership Program winner totaling $40,000 -

Miss Idaho's Outstanding Teen Katy Lootens

Troy University's Chancellor's Scholarship Award

totaling $56,000

Miss Montana's Outstanding Teen Amy Fox

Miss Oklahoma's Outstanding Teen Lacey Russ

Miss Washington's Outstanding Teen Victoria Renard

Miss West Virginia's Outstanding Teen Lacey Cyphers

Troy University's Millennium Scholarship Award

totaling $80,000

Miss Michigan's Outstanding Teen Brooke Rowland

Miss Rhode Island's Outstanding Teen Selina Wang

Auburn University Scholarship

Miss America's Outstanding Teen 2011 Lacey Russ

Miss Michigan's Outstanding Teen Brooke Rowland