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!