| 
| 
| |
09/06/2019
539 | 
0
Updated Jun 9, 12:36 PM; Posted Jun 8, 2019
By Mary Colurso | mcolurso@al.com
Tiara Pennington is the new Miss Alabama.
Pennington, 20, was crowned Saturday night at Samford University’s Wright Center in Birmingham. She competed this year as Miss University of Alabama, besting 46 other contestants for the 2019 state title. Pennington will move on to represent Alabama at the Miss America competition.
She is the first African-American woman to hold the title of Miss University of Alabama.
Pennington takes over the role of Miss Alabama from Callie Walker, Miss Alabama 2018. Walker crowned her successor at the Wright Center on Saturday and presented her with a bouquet of roses.
The yearlong reign of the new Miss Alabama starts immediately. She’ll make public appearances, do charity work, speak to community groups, motivate students and more. Pennington’s philanthropic platform (now called a “social impact initiative”) is National Psoriasis Foundation: Psoriasis Take Action Alabama.
“It’s amazing,” Pennington said backstage after her win. “I’m just so happy and thankful to be Miss Alabama. ... The title means to me empowering young women to conquer their dreams and go for their goals, and not to be afraid of achievement, and not to be afraid of success. And I’m going to cherish every moment of this.”
Pennington admitted to being rather overwhelmed when she realized the title was hers.
“Tonight when they called out my name, just an overwhelming feeling of emotions just poured over me,” she said. "Just to see my mom and my dad and my grandmother there, and my (pageant) directors there, just smiling and waving at me was amazing, and I’ll remember that forever.”
Pennington, a political science major at the University of Alabama, was one of 12 semifinalists chosen on Saturday, competing in talent, evening wear/social impact and interview segments. For talent, she sang “Nessun Dorma" from the opera “Turandot,” repeating a performance that gave her the top score in a talent preliminary competition on Wednesday.
Three rounds of preliminary contests for Miss Alabama took place Wednesday through Friday at the Wright Center, giving all 47 contestants a chance to strut their stuff in talent, evening wear and on-stage interview segments. Scores received in the preliminaries were used to create a composite score that was considered by the judges on Saturday.
“I worked really hard and hard work definitely does pay off," Pennington said. "I came into this week knowing that I was prepared and ready to do the job. And so now that I am Miss Alabama, I’m ready to just step into that role and enjoy the ride.”
The swimsuit competition was eliminated this year in the preliminaries and finals, for the first time in Miss Alabama history. Another first: Each contestant made a 10-second statement about her social impact initiative during the evening-wear segments. In the past, contestants walked across the stage in evening wear, but didn’t speak during that part of the program.
Changes are in the works for this year's competition, set for June 5-8 at Samford University's Wright Center.
The top 12 finalists were:
Caitlyn McTier, Miss Tuscaloosa
Reagan Handley, Miss North Jefferson Area
Lauren Bradford, Miss Auburn University
Braidyn Lazenby, Miss Leeds Area
Tiara Pennington, Miss University of Alabama
Lindsay Fincher, Miss Auburn-Opelika Area
Charity Bowden, Miss Northeast Alabama
Lian Remley, Miss Covered Bridge
Chandler Mordecai, Miss Coosa Valley
Brooklyn Holt, Miss Iron City
Lillie-Ann Dawson, Miss UAB
Kailee Montes, Miss Mobile Bay
Later on Saturday, the list of finalists was trimmed to the top five. They were:
Tiara Pennington, Miss University of Alabama (winner)
Charity Bowden, Miss Northeast Alabama (first runner-up)
Lindsay Fincher, Miss Auburn-Opelika Area (second runner-up)
Lauren Bradford, Miss Auburn University (third runner-up)
Brooklyn Holt, Miss Iron City (fourth runner-up)
Scoring in the Miss Alabama finals was based on the following categories: talent, 30 percent; on-stage interview, 25 percent; composite score from preliminaries, 25 percent; evening wear/social impact, 20 percent.
Although glitzy on-stage activity is the most public aspect of the Miss Alabama pageant, there’s significant scholarship money at stake behind the scenes.
Cash scholarships in various categories are awarded to contestants during pageant week, totaling $116,275 this year, according to the Miss Alabama pageant guide.
The title of Miss Alabama comes with a $10,000 scholarship. The first runner-up receives $3,500; the second runner-up receives $3,000; the third runner-up gets $2,500; the fourth-runner up receives $2,000, all in scholarship money.
Seven semi-finalists earn $1,250 each in scholarship money. The remaining 35 contestants receive $1,000 each for competing in the pageant. More than 50 other cash scholarships, in sums of $100-$2,000, are awarded by the pageant’s scholarship committee.
This week’s preliminary talent winners will receive $450 each in scholarship money, according to the pageant guide. Winners in the evening wear/social impact preliminaries will receive $300 each in scholarship money.
Several colleges and universities in the state also offer in-kind scholarships to the winner and other contestants, paying tuition, fees and other expenses.
Annie Ozment, Miss Friendliest City, was the winner of the Catherine Crosby Community Service Award, which offers $2,000 in scholarship money. First runner-up was Isabella Powell, Miss Camellia, who received $1,250. Second runner-up was Caitlyn McTier, Miss Tuscaloosa, who received $750.
A STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) award went to Lillie-Ann Dawson, Miss UAB, who received $1,000 in scholarship money. The runner-up, Maggie Jones, Miss Walker County, received $500.
Courtney Porter Orazine, Miss Alabama 2011, was the emcee for Saturday’s program.
Judges for this year were David Blackledge, a banker who’s the board chairman and executive director of the Miss Mississippi Corp.; Earl Coleman, a singer, violinist and teacher at Columbus State University; Yolande Dolly Fox, an actress, producer and the daughter of the late Yolande Betbeze Fox, a Mobile native who became Miss Alabama 1950 and Miss America 1951; Marlesa Ball Greiner, a singer, choreographer and Miss Georgia 1986; and Kim Wimmer Totty, an actress, singer and Miss Alabama 1992.
Production numbers at this year’s competition were set to songs recorded by Alabama artists or tunes with Alabama themes, in honor of the Alabama Bicentennial. They included “All Night Long (All Night)” by Lionel Richie, “Heat Wave” by Martha and the Vandellas and “Do I Make You Proud,” the “American Idol” winner’s ballad for Taylor Hicks.
COMENTÁRIOS - Clique aqui para fazer o seu
