Local pageants continue, as Miss America 2019 remains in question

LAUREN CARROLL Staff Writer Apr 13, 2018 (0)

In June, 28 women will head to Ocean City to compete for the Miss New Jersey crown.

Miss New Jersey then usually has two months to prepare for the Miss America Competition, but will there even be a national pageant this year?

“We haven’t heard much,” said Donna Ayres, co-executive director of the Miss New Jersey pageant.

In years past, announcements about the competition at Boardwalk Hall and the national television broadcast were made in early February, and local pageants could be reassured their titleholders would make the trip to Atlantic City.

But December saw a major shakeup at the Miss America Organization after emails from then-Executive Director and CEO Sam Haskell were leaked, exposing multiple conversations with board members and employees about past contestants’ weight, sexual history and tactics to ruin their post-Miss America careers. Former Miss Americas and state titleholders came together to call for the removal of Haskell and several board members.

Dick Clark Productions dropped the Miss America national broadcast from its television productions, and major sponsor the Casino Reinvestment Development Authority questioned whether it would continue with the final year of a three-year, $4 million dollar contract.

Since the CRDA board returned to session in January, the Miss America contract has been discussed in closed session. A motion for the approval of a fund reservation for the 2019 Miss America Competition is on the agenda for the board’s meeting Tuesday.

“There have been questions from CRDA board members about how the city will benefit from keeping Miss America,” said CRDA broad member Gary Hill. Hill, a longtime supporter of the pageant, said the changes to the MAO show a positive turn, coming out of the scandal. “To support a women’s organization, now run by women, and (which) provides scholarships, I think is the right thing to do.”

After Haskell resigned, former Miss America 1989 Gretchen Carlson was appointed CEO, and the Miss America Organization has announced several newly elected board members in the new year.

While the national office is functioning as usual, with scheduled appearances and events for Miss America 2018 Cara Mund, the organization has yet to publicly state whether broadcast partnerships and sponsors have been secured for this year’s competition.

“I think there was a lot of damage done,” Ayres said. “But the Miss America Organization is really trying to engage with the state competitions, as well as major sponsors, to build it back up.”

Ayres said that while there have been monthly conference calls with more than 50 state executive directors asking for input on state involvement and growing the local pageant system, the Miss America Organization is months behind its typical competition announcement schedule.

Last weekend, the Miss New Jersey Education Foundation held its orientation and gala for the upcoming competition class. This year has seen the crowning of 28 local titleholders from across New Jersey, as well as the Miss Outstanding Teen competition. Other state competitions have also announced their pageants, which will be held until July. Interest in the pageant system remains, despite no official announcement from the Miss America Organization that a 2019 Miss America competition will be held.

“We’re still in go mode,” Ayres said.

Along with the Super Bowl of pageant titles, at stake for the 51 women who could compete for Miss America is scholarship money. Several scholarships are awarded for top scores during the preliminaries and for philanthropic and academic performance.

Miss New Jersey 2017 Kaitlyn Schoeffel received more than $50,000 in scholarships during 10 years of competition before winning a $20,000 second runner-up scholarship during the Miss America Competition.

Miss New Jersey 2015 Lindsey Giannini won the Jean Bartel Quality of Life scholarship for promoting her platform “Dangers of Distracted Driving.”

“With that scholarship, I was able to pay for the rest of my education,” Giannini said.

Having competed for Miss America, Giannini said walking across the Miss America stage is an honor for the competitors, but not the end-all final moment of pageant life.

“It’s the dream growing up,” she said. “Only one girl gets to be Miss America, so getting to come back home and serve as Miss New Jersey was also a big honor.”

http://www.pressofatlanticcity.com/missamerica/local-pageants-continue-as-miss-america-remains-in-question/article_a9232a1c-0747-5f74-aca2-e2cc46e0226a.html