By Lauren Lucy

“There she is… Miss America!” A familiar tune sung by Bert Parks fills the auditorium as tears run down the face of the newly crowned Miss America, Camille Shrier, while she falls to her knees. After serving as Miss Virginia for the past six months, Camille is ready to embark on an experience unlike any other Miss America of the past. 

Margaret Gorman being crowned in 1921. Photo credit: Miss America Organization.

The concept of beauty pageants can be traced all the way back to ancient Greek beauty contests, but in the United States, regularly held pageants did not begin until the early 20th century. One of the first annually held pageants was Miss America. Many aspects from the early Miss America Pageant are not recognizable today. In the beginning, not all states were represented, and instead contestants represented cities. In 1921, Margaret Gorman, 16, of Washington, DC, was the first winner of the pageant and was given the title of “Inter-city Beauty” before the event was called Miss America. In 1941, the organization in charge of the pageant changed its name from The Showman’s Variety Jubilee to the Miss America Pageant.

The Miss America Pageant has seen its share of controversy and triumph over the last 100 years. The pageant encountered many obstacles in its early years, making them arguably the most unstable years in the pageant’s history. One obstacle the pageant faced was pressure from religious and women’s groups over the way contestants dressed, leaving the pageant to be put on hold from 1928 to 1932. During this time, many businesses stopped contributing to the pageant and withdrew their support. In 1933, the pageant returned, but due to the Great Depression, in 1934 there was no pageant. Every year since 1935, there has been a new crowned winner. There had never been a Miss America serve for two terms until Shrier, due to the worldwide pandemic in 2021.

Miss America was the first pageant to offer young women the opportunity to earn scholarships for college and beyond. The pageant is one of the largest benefactors of scholarship money for the advancement of education, which includes undergraduate, masters programs, and law and medical schools. Miss America is the only pageant that requires the scholarship money given to the winner to be used solely for the education and advanced studies for women. 

The journey to competing in the Miss America pageant is different for every contestant. Many contestants begin competing at a young age in junior pageants, and others begin in their teenage years competing in local preliminary pageants and possibly in the Miss America Outstanding Teen Pageant.

But it is not easy to jump in and quickly be successful in the pageant world. Months of preparation are needed due to the different categories in which contestants are judged. During a competition, contestants compete in four categories: interview, talent, evening wear, and social impact statement. Further, every Miss America state titleholder must select a platform for a social cause that is important to her. 

The interview portion of the competition involves a ten-minute personal interview in front of a panel of five to seven judges. During that time, the contestant is questioned on her personal views regarding politics, religion, social impacts, as well as education. Other topics can include foreign policy, abortion, affirmative action, Title IX, and other topics to distinguish her advocacy and passion. This portion of the pageant prepares contestants for the publicity they will receive while holding the position of Miss America or their respective state. In addition to the personal interview, there is an onstage question posed by the panel of judges. Both of these segments contribute to the final scores of the contestants. 

Nancy G. Lucy singing in the 1993 Miss America pageant. Photo credit: Miss America Organization.

The talent portion was first introduced in 1935 but was optional at the time, only counting toward 25% of the contestants’ scores. After 1938, the talent portion became mandatory, later becoming 35% of the contestants’ score. The Miss America Organization was the first pageant to have a talent category during competition. The talent category drew more viewership and engaged more people to become involved in the pageant. Due to the exposure contestants would have while being broadcast during the nationally televised program, people became more interested in being on the pageant stage, which could lead them to a career in entertainment. The 90 seconds that the contestant’s talent is being broadcasted can change a contestant’s life. For example, Lee Meriwether, who performed a theatrical monologue, was crowned Miss America during the first nationally televised broadcast in 1954. She later ended up playing Catwoman in 1966’s Batman: The Movie with Adam West and Burt Ward. Also, Phyllis George, Miss America 1971, performed as a pianist, and after her year of service was hired as a reporter and co-host of CBS’s The NFL Today. She is now recognized as one of the first women to hold an on-air position in nationally televised sports broadcasting. 

Swimsuit competition during the 2015 Miss America Pageant. Photo credit: Nick Verreos.

Over the years, the Miss America program has changed to focus on scholarships awarded, as well as the integration of social initiatives and platforms for community service. In 2018, it was decided that the contestants are no longer judged on outward appearance. This means that the pageant eliminated the swimsuit competition. The swimsuit portion was replaced by a session with judges where candidates highlight achievements and goals in life and how their talents, passion, and ambition will be used to fulfill the job of Miss America. The social impact initiative combined with evening wear was introduced to replace the swimsuit portion.

Top 5 in their evening gown in 2015 at Miss America. Photo credit: Nick Verreos.

The evening wear portion, also known as the “Red Carpet,” exhibits the candidate’s personal style, composure, and grace on stage, as well as providing her social impact initiative. The social impact statement is delivered through a video or on stage while the contestant showcases her evening gown.  

The contestants compete in local pageants, then state-wide, and then take on the national stage. By 1959, every state had a representative. A contestant’s age can range from 17 to 25, and this is a short span of time that young women are eligible to wear the crown, and winning a local title can take time. Originally, the pageant was also used to attract tourists to Atlantic City, New Jersey. Once the local and state pageants have been held, and there is a female representing each state, they are sent to Atlantic City for the national competition. 

Miss Arkansas Savvy Sheilds at “Show your Shoes” parade. Photo credit: Chris Szagola.

Every year, the pageant in Atlantic City has a parade where thousands flood the streets to watch the contestants drive by in convertibles. In the early years, many contestants would be barefoot or wearing slippers, as their feet would be hidden in the car. People would jokingly yell, “Show us your shoes!” and after future contestants heard about this, they began wearing highly decorated and expensive shoes. A new tradition was born. Photoshoots also occurred on the Atlantic City boardwalk and beaches, with all the contestants together, and the morning after Miss America is crowned she is shown jumping in the air on the beach surrounded by the frigid waters of New Jersey. 

Miss America contestants during a 1975 USO show aboard the USS JF Kennedy.

Winning Miss America is more than just winning the crown; it’s about upholding the crown and the values that it represents. Miss America’s motto emphasizes that we have to prepare great women for the world and prepare the world for great women. They uphold this by working across America to better their communities through service and scholarship. Winning the crown means a year serving as an ambassador to the organization, as well as other nonprofits, including the United Service Organizations (USO), where Miss America travels overseas to support our military. These opportunities give Miss America the chance to broadcast her social platform. The winner is awarded the title of Miss America and at least $50,000 in scholarship money. As the titleholder, she then begins a yearlong national tour to advocate for a social issue she has chosen.

Former Miss America Gretchen Carlson, a Stanford University violinist, began her broadcasting career at Fox News after her year of service in 1989. She was a successful anchor who brought to light the negative side of journalism. Carlson revealed the sexual impropriety within the corporate world as part of the “Me Too” movement, as depicted in the movie Bombshell. After her successful court battle with the network, she resigned and became the executive director of the Miss America Scholarship Organization, where she helped transform and alter the traditional structure and basis of the pageant by removing the swimsuit competition.

After competing in pageants starting at the age of 15, Camille Shrier had no intention to compete in the Miss America or Miss USA pageants due to the inclusion of the swimsuit competition. Once that phase of the competition was eliminated, she felt that it was her time to compete for the position of Miss Virginia, and, ultimately, Miss America. Camille shared her reasoning behind her reluctance to compete in swimsuits. When competing for a scholarship, she felt it “was irrelevant to have to wear a swimsuit in order to earn scholarship money,” but also her decision to avoid this phase of competition derived from her suffering from an eating disorder as a young adult. She stated that, “I knew if I put myself in a situation where I would intentionally be judged on my body that that would not be healthy for me.” When taking the national stage for Miss America in 2019, she was “the only one on the stage who had never competed in a pageant in a swimsuit.” 

Camille Shrier’s talent portion during the Miss America pageant. Photo credit: John Herzog Photography.

Shrier was an undergraduate at Virginia Tech in biology before her tenure as Miss America and is currently working on her pharmacology degree from VCU, and her Miss America social impact initiative is centered around drug addiction, reflecting her scientific knowledge. Shrier was able to share her passion for S.T.E.M. education initially as Miss Virginia and subsequently as Miss America through her entertaining scientific experiments used for her talent.

During her time as Miss America in 2020 and 2021, she had the opportunity to speak on a global stage at the United Nations, as well as join her favorite scientist, Bill Nye the Science Guy, on national television. After COVID-19 hit, her job was made virtual, and she lost the personal interaction in exchange for Zoom appearances. Shrier stated, “becoming Miss Virginia allowed me to advocate for my personal social impact initiative both state and nationwide, because my cause of interest is related to my career. My time as Miss Virginia was like a paid internship, where I earned scholarship funds to finish my education while gaining meaningful career experience.” 

Shrier stated that her most “impactful experience was the personal interactions with people and feeling present with those people.” Shrier and other Miss Virginias before her have been ambassadors in the school system across the state of Virginia through the Miss Virginia school tour. They are invited into school systems to promote healthy choices among elementary and middle school students across the Commonwealth. 

Camille Shrier being crowned as Miss America. Photo credit: John Herzog Photography.

Although her reign as Miss America became virtual due to the pandemic, Shrier’s platform online and through social media grew, so she was able to continue to share her experience as Miss America with the world. As social media has grown over the last decade, so has Miss America’s platform on social media apps. The candidates for each state all have Instagram accounts that they use to promote their profiles as Miss America contestants. Shrier worked to spread awareness through social media around her social impact statement, drug abuse, but she felt her experiences in person were “a lot more impactful when working with these communities face-to-face.”

As the Miss America Organization celebrated their 100-year anniversary this past December, they have upheld their motto to “Prepare great women for the world, and prepare the world for great women.” As the world has changed since the beginning years of the pageant, the Miss America Organization has evolved as well. Miss America has grown to help women find the courage to stand up and have their voices heard on many issues. From originally being a pageant known for promoting female objectification, Miss America has evolved into a program promoting women empowerment, striving to inspire young women to make a difference in the world and provide them with the resources and skills to help them be successful in their futures.

Featured image credit: Miss America Organization.