Congrats to the Newest Teen Queens

Kelsey Barrett - Miss Limaland

Kaitlin Craig - Miss West Central

Jena Sweigart - Miss Grand Lake

Thanks to the Wende's for these shots!

Miss WCO Outstanding Teen

Tonight five contestants competed for two crowns;
I have no idea, however, who won. I missed the post-pageant call and given the three hour time difference didn't think it was appropriate to call back.

Surely someone knows the results...?

Comment or email!

Tonight: Former Miss Virginia Goes Bald for Cancer!

Click here for story!

Which Miss Universe Titleholder Are You?

I generally find Facebook aps, quizes, snowball fights, ect... really stupid and I ignore them. However, I think everyone here will enjoy this quiz!

If you have a Facebook account, click to take Which Miss Universe Titleholder Are You? and share your results as a comment here.

My result was Chelsi Smith, Miss USA

Consistency is the key to your victory. You can trounce your competitors with your all American spirit and unwavering elegance. You can just stand there and everyone will be mesmerized. You're the perfect Miss Universe trifecta: beauty, body, brains.

Unfortunately the ladies of pageantry didn't make the Top 15 in the quest to find the next Face of FOX Toledo, but my friend Jeff did! Please click both HERE and HERE to watch
his second round green screen test.

Watch the entire video, so it will count as a "vote" and you don't have to register to leave comments,
which I know you pageant types love to do! ;)

Local Lowdown

Miss Clayland
Application Deadline: Tuesday, September 15
Pageant Date: Saturday, October 17

Miss West Central Ohio's Oustanding Teen and Grand Lake Outstanding Teen
Application Deadline: Tuesday, September 15
Pageant Date: Saturday, September 26

Enjoy appearances from Erica Gelhaus, Miss Ohio 2009 and Veronica Wende,Ohio's Miss Outstanding Teen 2009. Both will share the stage with Monica Bates, Miss Limalands Outstanding Teen, 3rd runner-up and Kelsey Barrett, 2nd runner up, Miss Grand Lake Teen and West Central's Teen, Allison Stiger. Also on hand will be Miss West Central Ohio, Katie Bowen. Wow! How many Queens can you put in a phone both? Zero,They're all in Lima on Sept.26, 7:30 at the Encore Theatre with 14 contestants!! www.misswco.com

Miss Portsmouth / Miss Scioto Valley and Teen Titles
Application Deadline: Saturday, September 26
Pageant Date: Saturday, October 3

This years pageant will be held on Saturday October 3, 2009 at 7:30 p.m. in the Vern Riffe Center for the Arts on the campus of Shawnee State University in Portsmouth. We are the second oldest local in the state (after Miss Clayland) having our first program in 1958.

Please check out our website at www.missportsmouth.org or our fan page on Facebook.

Our pageant theme is "She's a Lady" using our signature colors of hot fuchsia pink and black. It is a one day program. Please contact Greg Davis Executive Director for any questions or concerns regarding this local preliminary being held in an outstanding theatre @ gsd1971oh@yahoo.com.

Miss Maumee Valley / Miss All-American City /Miss Fallen Timbers and Teen Titles
Application Deadline: October 19th
Pageant Date: October 31st

...at the Maumee High School Performing Arts Center. Contestants are given #'s based on the date packets are received! First packet last contestant! We will accept up 16 Miss and 12 teens! Come for a Spooktackular Evening!

Miss Bay Village
Application Deadline: Saturday, January 2, 2010
Pageant Date: Saturday, January 16, 2010

The Miss Bay Village Scholarship Program will be held January 16, 2010 at 7pm, Bay High School Auditorium in Bay Village Ohio.

This year our program will be closed to the following counties: Cuyahoga, Lake, Geauga, Portage, Summit, Lorain, Medina, Ottawa, Sandusky, Erie, Lucas, Wood

In 2010, Bay Village will be celebrating its 200th birthday and in commemoration of this event, we have added the Miss Bay's Bicentennial Outstanding Teen Program, open to Bay Village residents only.

For more information, please contact executive director Jay Jesensky at missbayvillage@missohio.org. www.missbayvillage.com. Event on Facebook.

*Note, the date and location for Miss Vacationland have (not surprisingly) changed on the Miss Ohio website. It's now November 28 in Port Clinton; no application deadline is listed. Does anyone know the details or real story behind this new local with former Miss America Jacquelyn Mayer listed as ED?

Attention Local EDs: If you would like to share specific information about your upcoming program, you are always welcome to email me. Help me help you!

New Miss Ohio Board Members

On Wednesday evening the Miss Ohio Board of Directors held interviews to fill five available positions. Appropriately, each interview was about ten minutes! The following individuals applied:

Amy (Zellner) Boley - daughter of former State ED, Jim Zellner
Holly Campbell-Bradley - pageant producer
James Grimes - former local ED
Kim (Baker) Kanary - former contestant
Hilary Powers - former contestant and local ED
Timothy Russell - photographer and MMV and MOOT web designer

To join the board an applicant must receive votes from half of the board plus one, or six votes. So, even though five positions were available only three new members were selected. They are:

Amy (Zellner) Boley
Holly Campbell-Bradley
Kim (Baker) Kanary

Miss Miami Valley Photos

http://roarkstudios.com/mv/

Name Needed

A theatre owner here in North Hollywood, with whom I've worked, would like me to teach some sort of pageant class in his venue. I've explained that competitive pageant coaching is generally one-on-one, but we agree it could be beneficial to todays high school girls to learn speaking skills, stage presence and confidence through an "intro to pageants" type series of classes. We have absolutely no idea if we'll get any interest, but it's worth a try. At this point I'm brainstorming a name for the class so we can start advertising. All I have so far is "Pageant Prep 101: Develop Confidence while Learning about the Crown."

If you have any good ideas for a potential name for such a class, please leave a comment. Back in Ohio Roberta is also advertising pageant and vocal coaching on her blog.

Sweetheart Results!

Winner: Virginia's Sweetheart – Shannon Beam

1st RU: Nebraska's Sweetheart - Devon Howell
2nd RU: California's Sweetheart – Jenna Harvey
3rd RU: Maryland's Sweetheart – Mary King
4th RU: Arkansas's Sweetheart – Allison Waldrip

SEMI-FINALISTS:
Alabama's – Susannah Higgins
Iowa's – Jennifer Neal
New York's – Inga Schlingmann
Ohio's – Becky Minger
Oregon's – Cassandra Tolman
Pennsylvania's – Courtney Thomas

Sweetheart Top 5

Word on the web:

Arkansas * Maryland * California * Virginia * Nebraska

If this is the actual Top 5, my prediction is Virginia!

Sweetheart Top 11: Go Becky!

I know for sure Ohio's Becky Minger is in the Top 11! According to the web, the complete list of semifinalists are:

California * Arkansas * New York * Pennsylvania * Nebraska * Oregon * Ohio * Maryland * Virginia * Iowa * Alabama

Four of the five preliminary winners made the cut:
Swimsuit winners Virginia and Nebraska
Talent winners California and Oregon
(North Carolina, a talent winner, was left out.)

Attention Cincinnati:

Miss America, Katie Stam, is in your area today!
Click here and here for more.

Congrats to the New Miss Miami Valley, Ellen Bryan

Miss Miami Valley: Ellen Bryan

1st RU: Devon Stansbury

Talent: Ellen Bryan
Interview: Ellen Bryan
Swimsuit: Devon Stansbury

Above: Ellen with friends; below: Devon.
Above: Ellen and Devon during the opening number;
below: beauties at the after party.

Sweetheart Prelim Winners: Night Two

Swimsuit: Nebraska
Talent: Oregon and North Carolina

Best of Luck to the Miss Miami Valley Program Tonight!

Tonight at the Montgomery County Fair in Dayton, a seventh Miss Ohio contestant will be crowned! Doing the honors will be outgoing Miss Miami Valley, the always posh Katie Camp. (I don't know about you, but her stylish hair cut and tiny frame makes me think of Victoria Beckham!) Katie is a talented tap dancer who studies Business Marketing at Wright State University. As Miss Miami Valley she won a Swimsuit Preliminary and placed in the Top 10 at Miss Ohio. That was her second try at state, having made the Top 11 as Miss Portsmouth.

I love the photo on the left of Katie raising CMN money by pumping gas in her crown and banner! The pageant begins at 7 p.m. and admission is only $4 (for the fair and the pageant). Best of luck to ED Ronda Morris and all the ladies!

The following eight will compete:

Brittany Baumann

Education:
Talent:
Platform:
Pageant Past: Competed at Miss GC.




Sarah Begley

Education: University of Cincinnati
Talent: Flute
Platform:
Pageant Past: Competed last year at Miss GBC.



Ellen Bryan

Education: Ball State University / Telecommunications
Talent: vocal
Platform: "When the Thunder Roars, Go Indoors"
Pageant Past: 4th RU at Miss Ohio as Miss Lake Festival





Janemarie Covel

Inconclusive information was found; is she this person from Delaware?






Lily McCoskey

Education: Wright State University
Talent: Dance
Platform:
Pageant Past: 1st RU to Miss Dance Ohio 2008 (do they do other pageant things or just dance?)



Laura Powell

Education: Saint Marys College
Talent: Vocal
Platform:
Pageant Past: Competed recently at Miss WCO.




Anna Reis

Education: University of Cincinnati
Talent: Clogging
Platform: Girl Scouts of America
Pageant Past: Experience in American Co-Ed and National American Miss.




Devon Stansbury

Education: University of Cincinnati
Talent: Dance
Platform: "Positive Values for Positive Results"
Pageant Past: Swimsuit winner recently at Miss WCO.

Please leave comments, filling in my blanks.

Sweetheart Prelim Winners: Night One

Welcome to the Web... Shannon O'Neill

Miss Lima Square Fair, Shannon O'Neill, has a new website
and Twitter account. Check it out:

www.shannonchristine.com

Best of Luck to Ohio's Sweetheart, Becky Minger!

This weekend in Hoopston, Illinois the gorgeous Becky Minger will represent Ohio in the National Sweetheart Pageant! Becky qualifies for this unofficial pageant by being Miss Ohio's 1st Runner-up this summer, where she competed as Miss Fallen Timbers. Miss America rules are followed, but the winner doesn't really have a reign or any duties. It's just notoriety and a great experience. Dating back to the 1940s, the pageant sponsored by the Hoopston Jaycees and is part of the Sweetcorn Festival. A press release from last year explains:

Being a 1st runner-up is a uniquely uncertain feeling, somewhere between pride and disappointment. Hoopeston, so far from the bright lights of Atlantic City, and now Las Vegas offers these accomplished young women more honors, more opportunities, and more scholarship money.

National Sweetheart is Miss America's charming country cousin, but the two pageants have no official connection.

Becky also represented Ohio at Sweetheart last year, having been 1st Runner-up at Miss Ohio as Miss Maumee Valley; last year in Hoopston she placed in the Top 11. In 2007 our reigning Miss Ohio, Erica Gelhaus, won the Sweetheart pageant! Unfortunately this year at Miss Ohio many online fans pitted these two specific women against each other. Indeed, they were the last two standing, but I was never able to figure out why supporting one of them seemed, for many people, to mean hating the other. Don't pretend like you don't know what I'm talking about! Those psychotic fans made it miserable for the rest of us! Both women have their strengths, weaknesses and should be supported. Some of the most pathetic, uninformed drivel I've ever read in my life was the idea that Becky's Top 5 placement three of four times at Miss Ohio was a bad thing. Excuse me?! If that's truly what you believe, I don't understand why you're even wasting your time being a pageant fan. Pageants define subjectivity! The judging criteria is vague; just like some professors refuse to give a 100%, one judges "7" could be the next judges "9." Any women in the Top 5 could be the winner and the current final ballot plays more on the judges whim than ever. Anyone who has had three different state panels deem them crown worthy by putting them in the Top 5 is unbelievably impressive to me!

In my opinion, Becky embodies todays Miss America. She's more than ready with a killer wardrobe and ability to give impromptu speeches or vocal presentations. I've seen her in action for the Children's Miracle Network twice and she definitely knows how to work a room. She is stunning, talented and committed; I'm sure she will represent Ohio well this weekend at Sweetheart!

According to the Jaycees website, preliminaries will be held Friday and Saturday nights with a parade Saturday morning and pageant finale Sunday at 7 p.m. Check Becky's blog for updates.

The following women are supposedly competing:1. ALABAMA – Susannah Higgins, Ballet “August’s Rhapsody”
2. ALASKA – Jessica Fulton, Traditional Yu'pik Eskimo Dance
3. ARIZONA — Melody Knudson, Monologue, “Les Miserables”
4. ARKANSAS – Allison Waldrip, Vocal “Listen”
5. CALIFORNIA – Jenna Harvey - Piano, “Revolutionary Etude”
6. COLORADO – Morgan Weaver – Middle Eastern Dance “Suerte”
7. CONNECTICUT – Candice Dodge, Lyrical Dance “If I Had My Way”
8. DELAWARE – Carly Economos, Opera “Sempre Libera”
9. DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA – Randi Levendusky, Opera “Quando Men Vo ”
10. FLORIDA – Kristina Janolo, Vocal “I Am Changing”
11. GEORGIA – Courtney Herndon, Lyrical dance "If I Was a Boy."
12. ILLINOIS - Corina Harwood, Tap Dance, “Dr. Jazz”
13. INDIANA – Carolyn Holcombe, Jazz Dance
14. IOWA – Jennifer Neal, Piano
15. KANSAS – Alexandra Miller, Jazz Dance “Fever”
16. KENTUCKY – Janelle Blevins, Jazz Dance "It's What's Inside That Counts"
17. LOUISIANA — Hope Anderson, Ballet "Accentuate the positive"
18. MARYLAND – Mary King, Dance
19. MASSACHUSETTS – Kera Street, Jazz Dance “ Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’”
20. MICHIGAN — Katie LaRoche , Jazz Dance “ ”
21. MINNESOTA — Natalie Davis, Vocal “Unexpected Song”
22. MISSISSIPPI – Danielle Smith, Jazz Dance “Lion King Medley”
23. MISSOURI – Kari Gai, Tap Dance “This Joint is Jumpin’”
24. MONTANA – Holly Matz, Jump Rope Routine
25. NEBRASKA - Devon Howell, Piano “Cumana” “El Cumbanchero”
26. NEVADA – Cassandra Walker, Vocal
27. NEW HAMPSHIRE - Meghan Lamontange, Baton Twirling
28. NEW JERSEY — Katie Hope, Vocal “Don't Cry Out Loud”
29. NEW MEXICO – Sarina Turnbull, Ballet “Defying Gravity”
30. NEW YORK – Inga Schlingmann, Tap Dance “I Feel Good”
31. NORTH CAROLINA – Lisa Mace, Tap Dance
32. NORTH DAKOTA - Jaci Stofferahn, Vocal "Anything Goes"
33. OHIO – Becky Minger, Vocal "I Was Born to Love You"
34. OREGON – Cassandra Tolman, Opera “Nessun Dorma”
35. PENNSYLVANIA – Courtney Thomas, Fiddle
36. PUERTO RICO – Liam Rodriguez, Ballet
37. SOUTH DAKOTA — Aja Kessler, Ballet “Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy”
38. TENNESSEE — Kayla Hockett, Vocal “Summertime”
39. UTAH — Allie Edgington, Dance
40. VIRGINIA – Shannon Beam, Vocal
41. WASHINGTON – Chandler Batiste, Drums

Cricket, cricket, cricket...

I haven't posted much due to my crazy visit to Ohio; I didn't even get a chance to see my baby nephew or grandparents! Now I'm back in LA and trying to catch up with all my neglected internet haunts before work tomorrow morning.

And now back to our regularly scheduled programing!