Hello,
I just discovered your Web site and was interested to read the comments regarding the banning of the banner from Miss America preliminaries. While I was not involved in this decision, it seems to make a lot of sense to me. Miss America herself has not been awarded a banner for most of my lifetime, and this effort would seem to be one which simply brings the state and local competitions to the same practice as the national organization. What I did find disturbing is one reader's claim that several pageants have folded in protest. It's a shame if it's true that dozens of young women may not be able to benefit from scholarship money because their directors are angry about a rule change. Where are our priorities?
With regard to the crown, it has never been a rule that Miss America cannot wear it. The question is one of appropriateness. When walking into a room to give a speech about AIDS, I find it much harder to be taken seriously if I have 700 rhinestones on my head. This is not because I am ashamed of my title in any way; it has everything to do with the public's outdated perception that Miss America is a beauty queen who wears a crown everywhere and doesn't do much else.
In response to the readers who think that the Miss America Organization is "pretentious," come on now. Miss America is more touchable and accessible than ever before, due to continual speaking engagements and volunteer work. I find it a lot more satisfying to be a social advocate who interacts with those I meet than a plastic doll who is supposedly better than everyone else, up on a pedestal where nobody can reach me.
Kate Shindle
Miss America 1998
Not that I claim to be an authority on the sash issue, but as a local director (in the Miss America system), I have found that the young women who are interested in participating are excited that the sash is no longer a part of the program.
The sash made these young women stand out in awkward way when they were trying to address business and other "serious" groups. When a young woman is able to address such a group as herself, and not as an icon, she is listened to more attentively and feels that the message she is sending is more readily accepted. A crown and banner can distract the audience from the real message. Eliminating the banner allows the person to be real.
I personally feel it is a step in the right direction, if Miss America is to truly have the opportunity to be a spokesperson for issues of the day, and not just a pretty girl with a title. Miss America must be intelligent, personable and realistic about what she can achieve in her year of service, and by being herself, not a banner-and-crown-wearing "beauty," she is able to accomplish all three with the grace of a true "queen." I hope this sheds some more insight into the sash issue.
Kelli Lotrich
A point not made on the issue of the Miss America system doing away with sashes is that most importantly, they identify which town or state the young woman represents. No pageant, especially Miss America, can exist without the generosity of numerous businesses and corporate sponsors. If we expect these young women to take pride in the title and their hometown and state, why is there such an effort to remove any trace of that pride? I believe that the efforts to distance the Miss America and America's Junior Miss systems from the word "pageant" implies that there is something wrong or bad about pageants. Call it a judge's interview or panel evaluation, it's all the same. I agree that Mr. (Leonard) Horn should lighten up.
Kerri Thoreson
Everyone seems to be focusing on the differences between Miss America and Miss USA. Ms. Powers makes the best point of the readers: If taking the sash away shows the difference between Miss America and Miss USA, then what did adding the fashion swimsuit segment to Miss America do? The differences between the two are well-known to pageant fans: 1) Miss America has talent competition, Miss USA does not; 2) Miss America wins scholarship money; Miss
USA wins prizes and appearance money; 3) Miss America tours supporting "her"
chosen platform, Miss USA tours supporting the chosen charity of the organization; just to name a few.
Granted, each is trying to be more like the other. Miss America has added the fashion swimsuit segment and is trying to make the presentation a little more glamorous, a la Miss USA. Miss USA has increased the value of intelligence and personality by adding the challenging questioning rounds since 1990. So the lines between the two are slowly converging, but not so significantly that they are indistinguishable. Miss America is still the All-American, talented girl next door, whom every mother wants her son to marry. Miss USA is still a beauty pageant, albeit with the focus shifting to inner beauty as well as physical . . .
If you threw every titleholder into a room, you'd never know the difference unless they wore their sashes. If you threw Miss America into a room of regular, everyday people, most of the people would not be able to identify her. If she were there to make a speech or presentation, she would be introduced as Miss America, and then everyone would know who she was. I think wearing crowns and sashes around is probably pretentious. I also think that what is more important is that Miss America receives the recognition because she's earned it. That does not necessarily mean that she has to wear the sash to get it; after all, the president of the United States does not wear a sash that says "President." In public events, Miss America will still the get recognition she deserves. She is, after all, a public figure, sash or no sash. And the bottom line is, sash or no sash, most of the public are not pageant fans, and therefore do not know the difference anyway.
Ron Espiritu
First of all, banning the sash is a bit unlike MAO, because it is a pageant. This year's pageant was boring, unlike many of the other pageants I see every year, though I do like some of the aspects, such as the talent, the anthem, and such. I feel Miss America is really not a pageant but more of an overplayed extravaganza. Such things as the swimsuit tribute, cheap ... humor, (acrobatic performances) need to be gotten rid of. . . . This may not seem moral, but if they want viewers to watch it, they will have to change this.
Also, I felt the evening gown and swimsuit competitions were really downplayed. I mean, 30 percent of the score is not what people want to see. The average viewer wants to see beauty and intelligence, not a woman playing the piano, they can see that if they watch the Emmys or Talent Night at the local school. Though some of the talent performances were interesting, I feel that most viewers think of this as a turnoff.
Two-piece swimsuits won't really be persuasive unless you have the contestants compete (in swimsuit) for more than five seconds. Also, sashes need to be part of the system. By the way, on a final note, though (pageant officials) may think that not showing scores in the final competitions is "classy," the viewer is disappointed not to be able to see how his or her favorite is doing.
Rahul Patel
Since its inception, the Miss America Organization has been an extremely traditional and very conservative "pageant" system for aspiring young women. Although I enjoy watching it every year, I must admit that the "scholarship program," as they so like to call it, has been decidedly tight-lipped, and stuffy. I'm certain this has alienated much of the unpretentious American public. Hopefully, the bathing suit change will make a difference. I also think it's wonderful that the judges and directors are allowing the ladies to pick out ttheir own suits, since some of the suits previously picked for everyone by the pageant directors have been kind of tacky, to say the least.
It's a shame that after all of that hard work, MAO is downplaying the crown and doing away with the sash. Any young lady who is fortunate enough to be given either should be able to wear either, or both, throughout her reign whenever she wants to! I hope this year's Miss America plays the rebel, and wears her crown whenever she is fulfilling any of her duties. After all ... the crown is hers for keeps. If I could tell the Miss America Organization anything, I would tell them to lighten up. If they don't, you can bet the American public will get even more bored with them than they already are.
Tina C.
I think Leonard Horn and the other decision-makers at Miss America are talking out of both sides of their mouths. While they will defend the continuation of the swimsuit competition (physical fitness in a swimsuit) as part of a tradition, they choose to ignore other great traditions of the contest. Most members of the public like seeing Miss America in her crown and wearing the sash. It is nothing to be ashamed of. Both are trappings of accomplishment for the young woman. I think both should be worn more often. It certainly attracts more attention, which is good for the program. Some changes over the past few years have benefited the pageant, but the de-emphasizing of the crown and the banning of the banner/sash is just ridiculous.
Adding the two-piece swimsuit option this year does nothing. I think the organizers are going to have to seriously address the issue of how best to measure physical fitness, if it is indeed a requirement to wear the crown. Walking across the stage in a swimsuit is no measure of physical fitness. Either call it a swimsuit competition or quit trying to fool the public into thinking it is something else.
S.B. Davis
First I want to say that I am extremely upset about the idea of banning the banner in the Miss America system. However, that is life and something that I can deal with.
Now, about the weight. I think part of the problem stems from the judges. This year I attended a Miss America state preliminary. I noticed that the swimsuit winners were the thinnest and prettiest girls on stage. Being thin has nothing to do with being healthy. The first night, I agreed with the judges' decision. On the second night, though, I thought I had the winner picked. She was a girl whose muscles could be seen from some distance. She did not in any way have an ugly body, but it was apparent that she was an extremely healthy girl. The problem was that her legs rubbed together because she had so much muscle around the hip area. Some bodies are going to be like this; not everyone can be thin. This girl, though, was definitely the most in-shape girl in the whole pageant. It was plain to see. But of course, the thinnest girl won the swimsuit competition. I think this is a disgrace to the pageant. They proved to me that winning swimsuit requires a thin body, not a body that is in shape. Maybe if we get rid of the "thin is best" attitude, judges will be able to pick the winner really based on physical fitness.
Marci DeGol
As a person who is on both sides of the Miss America Pageant (note the expression PAGEANT, because that is what Miss America is), I feel that the "no banner" ruling is something of a slap in the face to the history of the pageant (there's that word again!).
I feel that, in his zeal to set Miss America apart from Miss USA, Leonard Horn has begun to dismantle an American institution. These women work so hard to win a local preliminary, and, in my state at least, they are rewarded with a "knockoff" crown (NOT the official crown from Schoppy). I personally know of several preliminary competitions that have folded because they could not reward their winner with a banner proclaiming the title she has won. But, in his quest to set Miss America apart from the pack, Mr. Horn has blended Her in with Miss USA, by allowing bikinis to be worn! Please, clarify his position for me . . . is Miss America trying to become Miss USA, or is She trying to set Herself apart in Her own right?
Hilary Lynn Powers
(Editor's note: Ms. Powers has contemporary experience as both a competitor and organizer in the Miss America system.)
In my opinion, the Miss America "scholarship contest" does NOT want to be associated with or compared to any of the other pageants, namely Miss USA. ... The organizers (apparently) thought that the sash is associated more with a beauty pageant. I think that this is a move to be more "P.C." In my overall perspective of the Miss America (Pageant), I don't like their "P.C." ways. It is a big turnoff for me, I used to watch the Miss America program all the time, just like those of the Miss Universe Organization, but now ... I don't care for it.
D. Del Carmen
(Editor's note: P.C., or politically correct, is an American expression referring to those who go to absurd lengths to avoid controversy.)
I was told two years ago that the Miss America system no longer allowed banners to be worn by its winners and that this was a way of further separating themselves from the Miss USA/Miss Universe pageants. This was at the time that they were trying to stress the fact that this was a "scholarship program" and NOT a beauty pageant. That is what preliminaries are also supposed to be referred to as. At the same time the "no banner" rule came down, the name change to "scholarship program" was initiated as well.
Tiffany
When I asked about the "no banner" ruling, I was told it's because Miss America is trying to get away from the "beauty" pageant stereotypes and reinforce the idea that it is a "scholarship" pageant.
My personal opinion is that when there is only one titleholder at an event, the banner should be unnecessary. But, when there are several titleholders, the banners help the public remember who's who. They also make a great remembrance for the young lady. The Miss America Pageant is also moving away from wearing the coronet so often. (When was the last time you saw a Miss America wearing her crown except at her coronation?) The girls are told, "Queen Elizabeth does not wear her crown to every appearance." (Yes, but she gets to wear it in public for all her life!) The girls are encouraged to wear the Schoppy rhinestone crown pin instead. It's a lovely piece of jewelry, but there's something about having the weight of that crown on your head that makes you stand a little
taller, smile a little wider and speak a little prouder.
Name withheld (but very much involved in the Miss America system)
