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Miss America: 91 Years of Advocating for Education and Funding the Dreams of America's Young Women

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As seen on The Huffington Post by Sam Haskell


Tomorrow night live on ABC, we will mark the 91st anniversary of an American icon as we continue our beloved tradition of crowning the next Miss America. At the Planet Hollywood Resort in spectacular Las Vegas, one woman will be chosen from 53 national finalists who are the most beautiful, talented and intelligent young women this country has to offer. At the risk of sounding like a diplomat, all of our contestants are winners. Here’s why:

Our young women have dreams of going to college. Last year, the Miss America Organization made available more than $45 million in scholarships to help turn those dreams into reality. I’ve watched lives change because of the scholarships from our pageant program.

Here are just two examples of the impact that Miss America can have in fulfilling American dreams — 50 years apart from one another.

Crowned 50 years ago, Maria Beale Fletcher was told by her father that it wasn’t his dream that she go to college. It needed to be hers to dream and to fund. Maria promptly entered the local pageant and won $250. She went on to win Miss North Carolina and the Miss America pageant in 1962. With her Miss America scholarships, Maria earned her B.A. in French and philosophy at Vanderbilt University. She went on to become a successful business woman and an advocate for education.

As we say goodbye to the 2011 Miss America Teresa Scanlan, we proudly watch her pursue an undergraduate degree in government at Patrick Henry College, followed by law school. Not only has Patrick Henry College offered her a full scholarship, she plans to use the more than $62,000 in scholarships from the Miss America Organization to attend Harvard Law School. We wish her the very best as she pursues her dream to be a lawyer, U.S. president and Supreme Court justice.

The Miss America brand is known and loved for helping to fulfill the dreams of our nation’s young women. We are now entering a new era for our organization as we expand our mission to encourage more girls and young women to pursue their dreams of a higher education and to attain the goals that will take them into their future.

Following her crowning on Saturday night, the 2012 Miss America will spend her year touring the country to encourage all young women to pursue a college education, and will focus on driving interest in the arts, as well as science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) education. The Miss America Organization will work with national and community partners to create an unconventional approach to driving young women’s interest in STEM.

Our efforts coincide with the national momentum to teach STEM curricula outside traditional school settings, targeting female students who are currently underrepresented in STEM professions. Our hope is to help shift girls’ attitudes about STEM and boost the percentage of women employed in STEM-related industries. It’s not just the right thing to do, it is also the smart thing to do for America’s future and our economy.

Across the country, millions of little girls have the dream of becoming Miss America. Some of the young dreamers have won the crown and gone on to become media stars and moguls, missionaries and mothers, news anchors and newsmakers, singers and scientists, lawyers, doctors, teachers and preachers… and none of them started with a crown. They started with a dream.

The Miss America Organization is so much more than a beauty pageant. It’s a dream machine.

So please join us tomorrow night on ABC. When the lights go up and the music begins, you will be a part of something bigger than crowning a new Miss America… you will be inspiring the next generation of little girls who will dare to dream.

Sam Haskell is the former chief of Worldwide Television at the William Morris Agency and the current Chairman of the Board of the Miss America Organization. He was named in 2007 by TV Week as one of the 25 Most Innovative and Influential People in Television over the last quarter century.


Miss America Hopefuls in Las Vegas

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While presidential candidates were parading in New Hampshire, 53 contestants for the Miss America Pageant arrived in Las Vegas to compete for the 2012 crown. They have already made a splash on the strip by walking in styles by the pageant’s newest sponsor, Express, at the Fashion Show mall. Check out the 2012 Summer fashions in the video below shot by Sam Haskell, Jr., the son of Miss America Board President Sam Haskell:

Click the image to watch!

Contestants will go through 3 nights of preliminaries and individual interviews with the judges before the finalists are selected live on national television at 9 PM ET on ABC.

Judges this year are dancer Mark Ballas (Dancing with the Stars), Emmy award-winning TV personality Raúl de Molina (El Gordo y la Flaca), TV and film producer Mike Fleiss (The Bachelor), producer and TV star Kris Jenner (Keeping Up With the Kardashians), actress Teri Polo (Meet the Parents), fitness guru Chris Powell (Extreme Makeover: Weight Loss Edition) and TV news anchor Lara Spencer (Good Morning America).

Prince Edward Welcomed to Washington

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HRH The Prince Edward with Elizabeth and Rep. Dennis Kucinich

It isn’t every day that a member of the British royal family walks the halls of the US Capitol.

Washington welcomed HRH Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex, with a reception Monday evening by honorary co-hosts Sen. Roger Wicker, Sen. Mary Landrieu, Sen. Kay Hagan, and Sen. Thad Cochran. The Queen’s youngest son is the international champion of the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award, a program founded by his father, Prince Phillip, more than fifty years ago. The award is designed to encourage youth around the world between the ages of 14 and 25 with character and self-esteem development through volunteering and physical challenges.

“We hear a lot about young people going wrong and very rarely do we actually give credit to the vast majority of young people want to go right. And here’s just one program that does that,” said Prince Edward. “At the end of [the program] they get recognized for their achievements and that’s a mark that will then hopefully open doors for them wherever they go.”

The program is now in 132 countries and has helped more than 800,000 youth become leaders in their communities. The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award – Young Americans’ Challenge was founded in the US in 2007, and is currently in 20 states and the District of Columbia.

Josh Randle, the President and Executive Director of the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award in the US, explains: “To earn a bronze, silver or gold award, participants spend approximately 1 hour each week on each activity, culminating with the adventurous journey component. The award is non-competitive, it’s non-academic but rather it aims to develop one’s entire self, creating responsible and experienced citizens and encouraging selfless service to others.”

Prince Edward is traveling to Washington, D.C., Baltimore, and New York City to share the program’s mission, and to encourage and develop support from additional states, as well as other local and national youth programs, universities, and businesses.

“I’m proud to say that my state of Mississippi is among one of the 21 states to have embraced the award,” said Sen. Roger Wicker. “The award has achieved excellent momentum since it was launched four years ago here in the United States. I’m very excited about the work that has been done and the work that is to come.”

Miss America 2011 Teresa Scanlan is starting to work towards her own Duke of Edinburgh’s Award. In traveling the country and talking to young people she hears time again the biggest issue facing teens today is peer pressure.

“I think that says something huge. Why is peer pressure an issue? Because they don’t have the self-confidence to stand up to it. And how do we develop that self-confidence so they do have that and they’re able to stand up against peer pressure? By giving them opportunities for self-improvement. To have that sense of accomplishment that many people don’t get until they’re much older. And that’s what this program is all about, that’s what the Miss America Organization is all about: earning that sense of accomplishment.”

Attending the royal reception were Duke of Edinburgh’s Award – US Board Members Sam Haskell and Lanny Griffith; British Ambassador Nigel Sheinwald; Rep. Dennis Kucinich and wife, Elizabeth; Greta Van Susteren and John Coale; POLITICO’S Roger Simon and Marcia Kramer; Ellie Schafer, White House Visitor’s Office; Nathan Naylor, Veterans Affairs; AP’s Kimberly Dozier; Juleanna Glover; Ed Henry; and Michael & Meryl Chertoff.

For more information about the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award program in the United States go to www.usaward.org.

Cast Your Vote for the 90th Miss America

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Dear Miss America fans,

Democracy has come to the Miss America pageant.  You can join the thousands who have already voted by casting your vote for your favorite contestant as one of the finalists.  Each of the 53 contestants taped a short video telling you why they should be the next Miss America.  You can watch the videos and vote by going online to MissAmerica.org, on the Miss America Facebook page, YouTube Page, or by texting MAST (letters “ST” should be replaced by the state abbreviation you want to vote for) to 24470.

Voting ends at Midnight on January 13th.

Sam Haskell with the 2010 Miss America Judges after the Pageant in Las, Vegas

Sam Haskell, Miss America’s Chairman of the Board wrote a piece in the Huffington Post about his experience with Miss America and why you should watch the pageant that turns 90 this Saturday, January 15 on ABC.

A few highlights from Sam’s post below:

Before there was a television show to idolize singers or a program to see who thinks they can dance, there was Miss America: a showcase for talented young women. And before social networking meant interacting through a website, there was Miss America: a pageant that brought together women from every state to share their hopes for our great country. Over the last 90 years, Americans have been mesmerized by the magic of Miss America. I personally have been enchanted for more years than I dare put in writing, and it started way before I married a Miss Mississippi or became Chairman of the Board of the Miss America Organization.

The Miss America Organization is the largest women’s scholarship program, with up to $45 million in scholarships awarded each year. Even during these difficult economic times, we are not cutting back. I’ve watched lives change because of the scholarships from the pageant program.

Communities have been changed, too. This year, more than 13,000 young women made their way through the state and local pageants. Every contestant is required to actively promote a platform that serves her community. When crowned, Miss America supports our national service partner, the Children’s Miracle Network, which helps over 170 children’s hospitals around the United States.

The next Miss America is among the 53 young women currently in Las Vegas rehearsing for Saturday night’s pageant. She is smart and talented — she is America at its best. And now we can all be a part of history and vote for who we think should be in the top 15 finalists. Over 100,000 people have voted already on Facebook, YouTube and MissAmerica.org. I urge you to get to know these amazing young women and cast your own vote. Then tune in on January 15, 2011, on ABC to see if your favorite wins. I’ll be watching — after all, I’ve always loved a good show!

Also check out Sam introducing this year’s judges at the press conference held at Planet Hollywood in Las Vegas:

Regina Hopper Joins Miss America Board of Directors

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The Miss America Organization has a new set of high-powered Washington hands to help prepare for its 90th anniversary and return to network television. Regina Hopper, President and CEO of America’s Natural Gas Alliance and Miss Arkansas 1983 has joined the Miss America Board of Directors.

“Regina’s unique experiences and expertise at the crossroads of law, business, political advocacy and media will add an important dimension to the diverse group of influential professionals serving on the Miss America Board of Directors,” said Board Chairman Sam Haskell, III.

Hopper has served as executive vice president of the United States Telecom Association and the American Trucking Associations, and won an Emmy while at CBS News for her work on 48 Hours. Prior to her time in media, she practiced corporate and securities law and litigation communications.

“I am honored to be joining this remarkable American institution,” said Hopper. “The Miss America Scholarship Program has advanced my many educational and work opportunities. I am now privileged to further these opportunities for today’s intelligent, giving and talented young women and to recognize the thousands who are a part of this incredible program.”

Hopper joins fellow Board members John Bermingham, Miss America 1971 Phyllis George, Tammy Haddad, Miss New Jersey 1973 Sue Lowden, Ed Peterson, Corinne Sparenberg, Barrie Jane Tracy, Paul Turcotte, Miss New Jersey 1971 Lynn Hackerman Weidner, Miss America 1964 Donna Axum Whitworth, and Ryan Wuerch.

As the world’s largest scholarship program for women, last year the Miss America Organization and its state and local organizations made available more than $45 million in cash and scholarship assistance. The pageant is returning to network television in January under an exclusive multi-year deal with ABC.

Miss America Returns to Network TV

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Miss America 2010 Caressa Cameron with DC influentials at Cafe Milano.


Just in time for its 90th anniversary, the Miss America pageant has signed a deal to get back on network TV. Next year’s competition will air live on ABC on January 15, 2011.

The three-year agreement with ABC comes after the pageant’s nearly six-year absence from network TV due to record low ratings. Since 2004, the pageant had been aired on cable channels CMT and TLC.

Though happy with the deal, Sam Haskell, chairman of the Miss America Organization, declined to discuss the specifics.

“It’s a wonderful deal,” Haskell said to the Associated Press. “It’s much better than any deal we’ve had in the last five years.”

In light of the recent spat between Miss America and Miss USA, Haskell says that this deal will reposition the pageant to separate itself from its competitor, which is owned in a joint venture between Donald Trump and NBC.

“No little girl walks around saying, ‘I want to be Miss USA when I grow up.’ She says, ‘I want to be Miss America,'” said Haskell.

Read more about the agreement in The Washington Post.