The Miss South Carolina competition chooses the state of South Carolina's representative in the Miss America pageant. The pageant began in Myrtle Beach, then moved to Greenville in 1958 and remained there until the 1990s. In 1995, the pageant returned to Myrtle Beach where it remains today.
Miss South Carolina is the official state beauty title. It is a role that brings with it many responsibilities including serving as a spokesperson for the state's tourism industry. The winner also receives a crown made from silver coins that are sold by the mint to raise money for charity.
The first Miss South Carolina pageant was held at the Myrtle Beach Convention Center on July 16, 1957. The winner was 15-year-old Laurel Ann Wilson from North Charleston. She received a $100 gift certificate from Dillard's and a modeling contract with the Wilton Company.
There have been nine other women who have held the title since then. They include: Yvonne Bickham Johnson (first black woman to win), Linda Dillman (first woman from Georgetown County), Shari Spence (youngest person to hold the title), and Lindsey Stirling (first transgender contestant).
The current Miss South Carolina is 22-year-old Taylor Steele of Spartanburg.
Shawn Weatherly, South Carolina's second Miss USA, went on to win Miss Universe. Six Miss South Carolina USAs have also competed at Miss Teen USA and held the Miss South Carolina Teen USA title. Two of them have also participated in Miss America. Miss South Carolina USA winners have competed in two other major international pageants. Before winning Miss South Carolina USA, Shawn Weatherly was crowned Miss North Carolina Teen USA 2004.
She is a nursing student at South Carolina School of Law where she participates on the debate team. Shawn has represented South Carolina at the Miss USA pageant five times. She placed outside the top 15 each time except for one year when she was awarded with with the special honor of Best National Costume.
Weatherly is from Rock Hill, South Carolina. Her father is a police officer and her mother works as a nurse. When she was young, her family moved often so she could compete in different state pageants. They currently live in Spartanburg, South Carolina where she keeps her hair short but plans to cut it soon because long hair is expensive to maintain.
Weatherly won the title of Miss South Carolina USA 2006 after competing in her state pageant in April 2005. As part of her duties as Miss South Carolina USA, she will travel to Washington, D.C. to attend several events including a presidential address by President George W. Bush. After her reign, she went on to become Miss Universe 2006 and then became first runner-up at Miss World 2006.
Smith's sister was brutally murdered prior to her competing at Miss America. The murder story and the murderer's taunting of his family after the attack were reported by the media and filmed as a movie. Competed in (and won) "Pageant Rewind" on What Not to Wear, against two other 1986 top-10 finalists. Clogging "Are You From Dixie?"
The whole bio may be found here. Miss America semi-finalist She finished first runner-up in the Miss USA Pageant in 1953, representing Myrtle Beach. She represented the United States in the Miss World Pageant in 1953, finishing sixth. She had previously been South Carolina's Junior Miss 1961 and was a featured performer on the Miss America Pageant televised in 1963.
The Miss Kansas USA pageant is a competition that chooses the state of Kansas' representative in the Miss USA pageant. Kansas did not compete in Miss USA until 1973, when they were the third-to-last state to do so. After that, no Kansas delegate made the cut until 1991, when Kelli McCarty won the title. She went on to place as high as second and finish as low as fifth during her year in the contest.
McCarty dropped out of the next year's competition to marry Donald Trump. Her replacement, Jamie Lynn Sigler, also didn't last long, leaving Kansas without a delegate for three years until 1998, when Stephanie Hayden became the fourth Miss Kansas USA winner. Since then, no other Kansas woman has even made it to the top fifteen.
The most recent Miss Kansas USA is Alexandra Paulsen, who was crowned on July 9, 2015 at the Holiday Inn Convention Center in Wichita. She will represent Kansas for the opportunity to win $50,000 along with other prizes including a Nissan Sentra.
Paulsen is a political science major at Wichita State University. Before she competed in New York, she spoke about how she prepared for the contest by going to local restaurants and learning how to cook Kansas food. She said she wanted to show people in Kansas what they be missing out on by not voting for Hillary Clinton.
Before Kansas entered the union, Oklahoma had been the first state.
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