As many know, Atlantic City has been on the decline lately. With 4 casinos closing this year and nearly 8,000 jobless, it’s hard to see the glamour and intrigue. In fact, a few years back, the Miss America pageant ceased to continue in Atlantic City, NJ. Just recently it has returned to Atlantic City, and just in time to celebrate it’s 88th anniversary.
During the preliminary night 1, Miss Ohio (Mackenzie Bart) won in the Talent category for her ventriloquism act. Miss Florida (Victoria Cowen) also won the Lifestyle & Fitness award during the swimsuit segment.
During the preliminary night 2, Miss Kentucky (Ramsey Carpenter) won for her talent: playing the fiddle. Also, Miss Oklahoma (Alex Eppler) won for Lifestyle & Fitness.
Preliminary night 3 gave way to Miss Pennsylvania (Amanda Smith) for Talent and Miss Maryland (Jade Kenny) for Lifestyle & Fitness.
The 16 semi-finalists were Misses ID, MA, MS, TX, TN, KY, AL, OH, VA, FL, CT, NY, AR, IA, OK, and ND. These women got to showcase their swimsuits for the Lifestyle & Fitness segment. Notably, Miss Idaho wore her insulin pump on stage, a symbol of living with diabetes. The photo below shows her in the preliminaries with it on.
With less than 3 minutes to get changed in their evening wear, 12 out of the 16 were selected. The 12 were Misses MS, AL, FL, IA, NY, VA, KY, OH, OK, TN, MA, and AR. Unfortunately, Miss ID, TX, CT and ND did not get to show off their eveningwear.
With the talent round next, MS, AL, FL, IA, NY, VA, OK, TN, MA, and AR were selected to continue. Sadly, OH and KY were not considered for the talent round and thus lost their chance for the running of Miss America. Most notably, Miss New York sang Happy by Pharrel Williams and used a cup to create a beat.
AR, FL, NY, VA, and MA continued on for the question round, leaving only 5 contestants left. Each contestant was asked about a recent, yet very controversial event.
The 3rd Runner Up was Miss Florida (Victoria Cowen) who received a $15,000 scholarship.
Miss Arkansas (Ashton Jo Campbell) was the 2nd Runner Up. She received a scholarship for $20,000.
Everyone sat on the edge of his or her seats as Miss Massachusetts (Lauren Kuhn) was named the 1st Runner Up. Her prize was a $25,000 scholarship.
Miss America and fellow Miss New York, Nina Davuluri, crowned Miss New York (Kira Kazantsev) as the 2015 Miss America. She won $50,000 in scholarship money and will spend the next year doing service work for communities through out America and the world. This is the 3rd year in a row that Miss New York has been crowned Miss America.
Congratulations to our new Miss America, Kira Kazanstev!
Image Sources:
Title Image (Photo: Miss America Twitter)Image 1 (Photo: Miss America Twitter)Image 2 (Photo: Alex Remnick, NJ Advance Media for NJ.com)Image 3 (Photo: Mel Evans, Associated Press)