Who will be Miss America 2018?
The 91st Miss America Pageant will be broadcast live from the Atlantic City Boardwalk Hall in New Jersey tomorrow night. One of the 51 delegates competing for the title will be crowned Miss America 2018 (yes, that's right, Miss America predates!) at the conclusion of the competition, which will be shown live on ABC, by the current title holder, Savvy Shields from Arkansas.
After some troubled times (moving away from their "home" in Atlantic City and losing their slot on network television), the organizers have managed to revamp the competition. While modernising the event, yet maintaining the substance and heart of the competition, they have managed a turnaround of events. The pageant is now back in Atlantic City and on national television, where they belong. Earlier this year, the headquarters of the pageant even relocated to the Boardwalk Hall. In recent years, they have also managed to pull off pretty decent ratings.
The new Miss America will be chosen by a star-studded panel of made of singers, journalists, an Olympic champion and a former Miss America. They are country singer Thomas Rhett and American Idol winner and actress, Jordin Sparks, journalist Maria Menounos and the Editor in Chief of People Magazine, Jess Cagle and actress, author and model, Molly Sims. Olympic gold medalist, Tara Lipinski and former Miss New York and Miss America 2014, Nina Davuluri, complete the 7 member panel. They will have the impossible task of choosing only girl to take home the crown.
Earlier this week, we selected our favourites for the title (Miss America is quite hard to predict, so who knows what will happen!) and after keeping track of the preliminaries, we have made a few adjustments and we are now ready to share our top contenders for the title:
Alabama: Jessica Procter
We can easily picture the Miss America crown on Jessica's head. Her experience (she was 2nd runner-up to Miss America's Outstanding Teen 2014) in this system would also have taught her to prepare for this job, so expect her to shine. She was also the recipient of this year's Quality of Life award.
Miss America Fun Fact: Alabama takes their pageants seriously and they have won the Miss America title 3 times. Their last top 5 placement was at Miss America 2016.
Georgia: Alyssa Beasley
Alyssa is only 19 years old and one of the youngest delegates of the class of 2018. What she might lack in height, she surely makes up for with her vibrance and exuberance. You just can't ignore her and she's much more telegenic than photogenic.
Miss America Fun Fact: Georgia has won the Miss America title twice - the last time being only two years ago.
Louisiana: Laryssa Bonacquisti
Laryssa was our top choice for the crown when we picked our favorites earlier this week. She has all the qualities we look for in a Miss America and after winning her Talent and Lifestyle and Fitness rounds, it seems like the preliminary judges agreed. The big question is: will the panel of judges for the final night feel the same?
Miss America Fun Fact: Louisiana has placed second on four occasions but they have never won. Wouldn't it be fantastic to see them take their first Miss America title on Sunday night?
Maryland: Kathleen Masek
It is impossible to ignore the beauty of Maryland's Kathleen Masek but Miss America looks for much more than just that. We do believe in Kathleen, though, and the fact that she was one of the Women in Business scholarship finalists makes us think that she will be able to hold her own other parts of the competition, like the interview round.
Miss America Fun Fact: Maryland is another state who has never won Miss America and they have only made the final five 4 times. Last year's delegate placed in the top 7 - can Kathleen go further than that?
Oklahoma: Triana Browne
When we saw the group, Triana immediately struck as a Miss America type of beauty. Though she didn't shine as much as we thought she would during the preliminaries, we are not quite ready to give up on her chances.
Miss America Fun Fact: Oklahoma usually does well at Miss America and they have had a whopping six Miss America winners.
OTHER DELEGATES WHO MIGHT PULL A SURPRISE AND TAKE IT ALL:
Miss Florida, Sara Zeng
Miss Illinois, Abby Foster
Miss Texas, Margana Wood
Miss Utah, JessiKate Riley
Miss Virginia, Cecili Weber
As we mentioned before, Miss America is hard to predict but a big part of the fun of pageants is to make predictions. Who you would like to see glide away with the crown this year?
Photos courtesy of the Miss America Organization!