And we begin with the lovely ladies from Miss New Hampshire!

Megan Lyman, Miss New Hampshire 2012 (center, in the fabulous white dress) has an amazing story… While still a pre-teen, Megan was diagnosed with muscular cancer and was introduced to the Make-A-Wish Foundation.  Megan ‘wished’ to have a dance studio created in the attic of her home and when that wish was granted, Megan’s parents said they began to see a change in her as she looked forward to dancing each day.

Fast forward many years… Megan recovers from cancer, becomes Miss NH’s OT in 2008 and Miss NH 2012 – and her platform is of course, the Make-A-Wish Foundation.  What a wonderful way to give back to an organization which gave her hope when she needed it most!
 
Now!  Of the 27 girls competing for the title of Miss NH 2013 – Here’s our picks!

Kendall Wipff – Miss Mass OT in 2010, SF at Miss NH 2012
Julia Neveu – Miss NH OT in 2007, 3rd Runner up in 2012
Sara Mousseau – 2nd Runner up in 2012, Top 10 in 2010
Lauren April – Miss OT 2010, 3rd runner up to Miss NH in 2011, SF in 2012
Kelsy Ferdinando – Miss NH National Teenager 2010 and her talent is ‘speed painting’ 🙂

If you’d like to watch the first state pageant of the year – YOU CAN!  Right here… 

And with that – may the State Pageant Season Begin!

Good Luck to All! 🙂

MAJ

RESULTS UPDATE!!!  AND THE WINNER IS…

SAMANTHA RUSSO!!!

Samantha Russo, a graduate of Emerson College, won the preliminary talent competition singing “Don’t Rain on My Parade.”  She also won the preliminary swimsuit competition earlier in the week as well.  This was her first year at Miss New Hampshire.

First Runner Up = Kendall Wipff
Second Runner Up = Sarah Mousseau
Third Runner Up = Jessica Avelar
Fourth Runner Up = Julia Neveu

Congrats to Samantha!  Best of Luck in Atlantic City!!! 🙂

MAJ

Fellow Junkies:

Is it actually possible that the Junkie Blog can be fired up once again as we attempt to provide uncommon insight and extraordinary wisdom to the state pageant season?  Is it me, or didn’t we just do this?  Anyone… Anyone… Buhler???

Truthfully, I can’t hardly believe it’s time for another state pageant season… and considering we attempted to review all 53 states last year (50 plus DC, Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico — check it out in the 2012 archives on the right), we’re going to take a stab at it again this summer.  It’s no easy feat… for a couple of reasons…

1.  Have you SEEN the State Pageant Calendar this summer???  O.M.G.  Take a peek… You can even click on the photo if you need to see it closer…

If anyone could look beautiful with their mouth gaping open, it’s Miss New York, Mallory Hagan!!! 🙂  Seriously – Mallory’s moment of ‘shock and awe’ is everything we want in a newly crowned Miss America – Love it!!!

In addition, one of our favorite moments in the press conference immediately following her crowning was when a reporter asked, “At what point did you think, ‘I might actually win this’?”… Her reply?  “There was no moment!”  Hence, the vast amount of shock you see above! 🙂

And even though the Junkies didn’t pick her as the winner, we were just as excited to see that Miss America has crowned yet another beautiful, articulate, genuine, ‘fun’ girl to represent the organization in 2013.  In fact, the Junkies were able to talk directly to many of the contestants immediately after the event was over and here are just some of the phrases we received from Mallory’s fellow Miss America competitors…

 
Mind you, these are unsolicited comments from her fellow contestants… meaning, I didn’t say, “So, what do you think of Mallory?” or “How do you feel about Mallory winning?”… Nope!  I was trying to compliment the girls on their own personal performance and they all turned the conversation to how happy they were that Mallory won.  THAT, in addition to the photo where all the girls behind Mallory look thrilled and excited for her, says A LOT in my book and speaks volumes to Junkies like me. 🙂

And now… it’s time for a few additional thoughts from my crazy Miss-America obsessed mind… listed here… in no particular order… 🙂

1. This year, the Junkies went 12/16, then 5/8, and then 3/5.  Considering we didn’t attend rehearsals and only 2 out of 3 prelim nights, I think I’ll take it (and we’ve certainly done worse!)

2.  We haven’t yet seen the actual televised version of Miss America yet – but from what we can tell, the show earned amazing ratings AGAIN – even being up against 2 NFL Play-off games.  Credit that to ABC and the vast amount of promotion they did leading up to the big show (on GMA, Live Well Network and the 20/20 Special)… I really think it made a big difference.

3.  Regarding some of the girls we ‘missed’, I’ll give you my personal theory on why we chose, who we chose.  After looking at the prelim winners, I noticed a ‘trend’ if you will , that the judges seemed to be rewarding a specific ‘type’ of girl… mainly… girls who were dainty and ‘small-framed’ (even petite in some cases) rather than long lean bodies.  Congrats to Tall-Girls Tennessee and Kentucky for breaking through that stereotype and pulling in strong finishes.

4.  While some of the talent from the final night was left to be desired, it proves that you have to be strong and consistent in every area in order to win Miss America.  You don’t have to be THE BEST at every category (in fact, Mallory is the first since Miss America 2005 Deidre Downs NOT to have won a preliminary award prior to winning Miss America)… but you do have to be very strong in every area.  If not, you won’t advance to the final round.

5. While I was impressed with several of the ‘final on-stage question’ answers given, I believe Miss New York did give the best answer to the question that was asked (because she ‘answered the question’).  There are times when you ‘spin’ a question so that you can provide a ‘good answer’… and then there are times when you need to simply ‘answer the question’ that you’re given.  For future Miss America contestants who read this blog, trust me… Your private interview is the best time to ‘control the direction’ of what you want to talk about… but the final on-stage question is when you need to simply ‘answer the question’.

6.  Lots of additional awards were given this year… including the following:

–  Quality of Life Winner = Alabama
–  Quality of Life 1st Runner Up = Maryland
–  Quality of Life 2nd Runner Up = Tennessee
–  Quality of Life Finalists = Washington, Delaware, Idaho and Mississippi
–  Instrumentalist Award = Idaho
–  Four Points Award = Idaho
–  Miracle Maker Award = South Carolina
–  Miss Congeniality = Arkansas
–  Non-Finalist Interview Award = Delaware
–  Non-Finalist Talent Awards = North Carolina, North Dakota, Massachusetts, Idaho and Mississippi

Items of interest here…
– Idaho goes home with 4 plaques and $7000!  Not too shabby!
– Massachusetts was a gymnastic tumbler at her state pageant… then wins a non-finalist talent award as a vocalist!  That’s impressive!!! 🙂
– Alabama continues to dominate the Quality of Life award… if you’re just a ‘crown chaser’ in Alabama and haven’t truly committed yourself to your platform – don’t bother!  Lol!

7. Wyoming ends a 60 year drought for the state… the last contestant to make the cut was in 1953!  The Junkies LOVED Lexie and hopes she decides to Run – Not Walk – to Miss USA! 🙂

8. We haven’t figured out how long it’s been since not a single vocalist finished in the Top 5 at Miss America… Frankly – we’re not sure it’s ever happened!?!

9.  If you think ‘prep-teams’ aren’t important, let me let you in on a little secret… A well-spoken, talented, beautiful girl won’t get far without a strong prep-team.  Allow me to explain using our Top 5 as an example…
New York, Oklahoma and Iowa know what they’re doing – just look at their recent track records!  Since 2006, these 3 states alone have produced 3 Miss Americas, 7 Top 5 finalists and 4 more semi-finalists.  South Carolina’s Teen won the Outstanding Teen competition this year (so they have the secret sauce this year)… and Wyoming enlisted the help of the same guy who helped Caressa Cameron when she won Miss America.  These things are not coincidences… Your prep team isn’t everything – but it matters 🙂

10.  If attending Miss America is on your ‘Bucket List’, please, please, please make a point of telling yourself that next year will be the year you go!  Even if you don’t have a ‘favorite girl’ to cheer for, it’s absolutely worth it to be a part of the hoopla and fan-fare!  Start saving your pennies today – and be prepared to make memories you’ll treasure forever! 🙂

THERE YOU GO!  That’s a wrap on Miss America 2013!  Super-Duper Excited to watch Mallory Hagan throughout her reign – and of course, we’ll also continue our blogging this summer when we predict who the potential winners might be for each state vying for the title of Miss America 2014!

Once again, we’re so excited to have met so many new “Junkie Friends” via the Facebook page, Twitter feed and in person!  We look forward to meeting many more of you in the years to come as well!  Until then, please practice your pageant wave… blow kisses into the wind… wipe a tear from your own eye… and everyone sing together… “There She Is… “

JUNKIES UNITE! 🙂

MAJ

Here we are AGAIN!  Sometimes I begin to wonder if the “Miss America Magic” will run its course and perhaps my passion will fade from repetition, familiarity or even exhaustion (Miss America is a L O N G week, people)… but the truth is… it doesn’t.  Every time we get down to the point of crowing a new girl, the excitement is still there – and the anticipation of who will win the crown tonight is all over the Planet Hollywood Hotel and Casino.  You can’t avoid it!

But before I get to the heart of this blog – I also want to give a GREAT BIG THANK YOU to everyone who attended our “Junkie Meet and Greet” at Starbucks yesterday morning!  What great fun to meet people who love this organization as much as I we do, LAUGH and compare notes of our finalists!  For those of you who entered our contest, we’ll see whose predictions are the closest, and reward you with a “Junkie Prize”.  It’s always special to share “Miss America” with kindred spirits! 🙂

NOW!  Let’s get back to business!  Here are your winners from Thursday night’s preliminary competition!  Miss Washington in Swimsuit and Miss North Dakota in Talent!!! 🙂

Although I chose Miss North Dakota in our previous blogpost, I also noted that I wasn’t sure her ‘kind’ of Talent would be rewarded at Miss America.  She sang a laid-back, and simple (and I mean that in a good way) version of “To Make You Feel My Love” by Bob Dylan.  When you watched her, you could picture yourself in a late night coffee bar, relaxing with your favorite cup of joe after a long day.  She made you feel at ease – and wasn’t anything but herself.  To me, she was the clear winner of the night.

Now – regarding Swimsuit… I’m still kicking myself for missing this one… Mandy Schendel from Washington was flawless!  And – I should’ve known that a former Miss Teen USA winner would know how to ‘bring it’ in the Swimsuit competition.  I have no idea what she does to work on her ‘core’, but it’s working, honey!  WOWZERS! 🙂

So – That makes me 4-6 this year… and 3 for 3 with Talent this year!!!  I congratulated myself with a plate full of carbs last night… (Chicken and Waffles to be specific)… Perhaps that says something about my ability to choose Swimsuit Winners after all (LOL!) 🙂 

HOWEVER – I FULLY REALIZE that what everyone really wants to see… is my list of Finalists for tonight!  In truth… I’m going to need a few more hours for that one (and much more coffee)… so, stay tuned and I’ll post my predictions later this afternoon! 🙂

OH – and have you heard there’s an “American Idol-like” Twist to tonight’s finals?  I’m wondering if the TV audience might be able to ‘bring back’ someone into the Top 15 that didn’t make it?  Or perhaps a new celebrity judge will join the panel tonight?  Or perhaps 2 or 3 girls will get to perform their talent – even though they didn’t advance from the Swimsuit Round???  Hmmmmmm…. you’ll have to watch everything tonight to find out!

THE PREDICTION BLOG IS COMING UP NEXT! 🙂

MAJ