Brittney Henry, Miss Washington 2011 had one of the best stories ever for a Miss America contestant!  Although let’s be honest, Brittney has said herself that she isn’t a ‘Cinderella Story’ where everyone lives “Happily Ever After”… It’s what she’s done with the life she has that makes her sooooooooo special!  Whenever you think the cards are stacked against you — or that someone else has an unfair advantage over you — just remember Brittney.  That oughta get you out of your pity-party pretty quickly! 🙂

In case you don’t know Brittney’s full story, you can read about it here on her personal website…

At Miss America, the Junkies were fortunate enough to see Brittney’s Talent and we were thrilled to see her go home with a Non-Finalist Talent award!  So deserving!

There’s also a video on YouTube you can see for yourself here…

We also have to say that Miss California, Noelle Freeman and Brittney have been hilarious to watch this year… our personal favorite was this video they made while competing at Miss America… Check it out here… Super Glad these 2 kept everything light-hearted and fun at The Big Dance in Vegas! 🙂

Miss Washington History:  Although they’ve never produced a Miss America, we still have a couple of favorites… Honey Castro was 3rd runner up to Susan Akin and Elyse Umemoto was 2nd runner up to Katie Stam.

Best Junkie Research Tool: The Miss Washington site has a slideshow of all the contestants here on their website… For a look at everyone at one time, check out the Miss America link here…

Items to Note:  This is a very interesting group of girls… out of 22 contestants, 17 are new to Miss Washington this year!  WOW!  Could be someone out of nowhere who takes the crown this year… you just never know…

Who to Watch:
Daniela Ferrell – 4th runner up in ’11, 2nd time at Miss WA
Kara Jo Morris – 2nd runner up in ’11, 2nd time at Miss WA
Alexandra Harrison – 4th runner up in 11, 1st runner up 10 at Miss OR, 1st time at Miss WA
Reina Almon – WA OT in ’09, 1st year at Miss WA
Mandy Schendel – Miss WA Teen USA in 08
Jean-Sun Ahn – 4th runner up at Miss AZ in 10

A few more than we normally list on a pageant this size, but it’s only because it’s anyone’s crown to win!!!

All the best to the place we’re affectionately nicknaming, “The Starbucks State”!!!  🙂

MAJ

When it comes to photo shoots, Miss Florida Kristina Janolo seemed to cover the whole gamut… First with this FABULOUS photo that we ADORED (and her yellow dress made us think about former Miss Floridas and Miss Americas Leanza Cornett and Ericka Dunlap every time!)… So ‘beachy-Florida-esque’…

To this photo of Kristina with another ‘Florida-esque’ pose (although not quite so ‘beachy’)… LOL!

Let’s just say these are 2 photos you certainly wouldn’t see taken in say, Nebraska.  But Florida?  You Betcha!!! 🙂

Kristina finished in the Top 12 at Miss America – and although you didn’t get to hear her sing ‘Gold’ on National Television, the Junkies heard it during preliminary competition and thought she just might make it through!  Kristina was also the first Philipino-American to win the Miss Florida title – and her little sister Samantha, was First Runner Up in the Florida MAO Teen pageant!  We say, America might just see more of the Janolo ladies in the years to come! 🙂

Florida History:  Well we already spilled the beans about Miss Americas from Florida… Leanza Cornett 93 and Ericka Dunlap 04 both competed in stunning yellow evening gowns when they were crowned. 🙂

Best Junkie Research Tool: Each photo of the contestants from the night they won their local title can be seen here on the Miss Florida website… But if you want official head-shots, Talent and Platforms, you’ll need to go here to the Miss America Florida page…

Who to Watch:

Laura McKeeman – currently a sports reporter for FOX Florida, Top 15 in 10, 2nd runner up and overall interview winner in ’11

Kalen Dennis – 1st runner up in ’11, 3rd time at Miss FL

Brittani Robins – new, but Teen USA contestant

Chloe Lupo – roomies in ’11 with Kristina Janolo, super beautiful girl, 3rd time at Miss FL

Azah Awasum – Top 10 Miss Maryland ’11, daughter of Camaroon immigrants, well-spoken

ALL THE BEST TO MISS FLORIDA!!! 🙂  The Junkies Love the Sunshine State!!! 🙂

MAJ

Miss Texas… 
Where do we begin?
Hmmmm… How about telling you about their record…

In 40 years, Miss Texas has only missed the semi-finalist cut 10 times!!!  Yes – since 1972, Miss Texas has been at least a semi-finalist 75% of the time!   May we say that again… FORTY YEARS!!!

Miss Texas 2011, Kendall Morris was no exception.  In fact, in a previous blog we noted that when we saw Miss Texas walk in the Miss America fashion show, we knew she could win a swimsuit prelim – even if she was ugly!  That girl can WALK (just look up the MA Fashion Show video and see for yourself!)!  Good news is, she’s gorgeous (so no controversy there) was styled perfectly at Miss America and did come home with the Preliminary Swimsuit Award along with her Top 10 finish.  Bravo!

Miss Texas History:  Although they have a phenomenal state record, Miss Texas hasn’t had a Miss America since 1975… Three total; Jo-Carrol Dennison in 42, Phyllis George in 71 and Shirley Cothran in 75.

Best Junkie Research Tool:  The Miss Texas site has recently been updated and all of the contestant information is here…

Items to Note:  Wow.  If you thought Miss Oklahoma and Miss California were tough this year… let me introduce you to Miss Texas…

So before making any predictions, can we say “Show us the Judges Please??”

Chris Chambers – Assistant ED at Miss Tennessee
Norval Sykes – Former Executive Producer of Miss TX, Vocal Award named for him
Richard Walker – Miss Florida background, Earned Doctorate, VP for Student Affairs
Kenny Mack – ED of Miss New York
Angela Busby – Former Miss Kansas, part of judges panel who chose Laura Kaeppeler
Pamela Dyer – Former Miss Texas contestant – and former Miss TX USA contestant
Angie Rodriguez – Formerly with Miss Maryland, now with Miss Virginia OT

Interesting… Now – here’s who we’re saying you should watch:

Adrianna Nelson – 1st runner up in 11, 6th in 09, vocalist
DaNae Couch – 1st runner up in 09, 2nd runner up in 10 and 11, baton
Jordan Johannsen – 1st runner up in 10, 3rd runner up in 11, Top 10 in 09, dance and vocal
Meghan Miller – MAOT National Winner 06, semi-finalist 2 out of 3 times at Miss TX
Monique Evans – Top 10 in 11 (8th place), prelim talent and swimsuit
Kenne Nordin – Top 10 in 11 (6th place), 4th time at Miss TX
Christina Tang – Top 10 in 09, Baylor Grad, Law Student at SMU, piano player

Let the Pageant Begin!  All the Best to Everyone at Miss Texas!!!

MAJ

Before we get to Miss Nevada, I want to apologize to Mississippi, Connecticut, Vermont, Massachusetts, Oregon, Illinois and Virginia… It really is nothing personal, we just fell behind.  While much of the research we did on these states would’ve been great to blog about, the concerns we had for our friends and family members who were escaping a firestorm became our #1 priority and something had to give.  The Junkies promise to make it up to these 7 states sometime in the future… We owe you one!

Now – On to Nevada!

Miss Nevada 2011 Alana Hill will forever be remembered in our minds as the girl who gave the perfect answer on National Television when she didn’t make the semi-finalist cut.  In case you missed it (but you’re all Junkies so let’ face it… everyone reading this knows exactly what we’re talking about), Gretchen Carlson (Miss America 1989 and Fox News Anchor) and Brooke Burke Charvet were on-stage with the girls after the evening gown competition and Gretchen started talking about how proud she was of the contestants… She said, ‘These girls will go on to be doctors and lawyers and television anchors and politicians… And I hope one day, President of the United States’… to which Brooke says to Miss Nevada, ‘That’s great… What’s next for you?’… That’s when Alana replies (without missing a beat), ‘President of the United States’. 🙂  Classic – unscripted and honest!  What a great moment!

In case you didn’t know, Alana has a real shot at that Presidential thing… her father is a state senator for the state of Nevada representing Las Vegas.  Additionally, Alana was covering the Miss America pageant in 2010 as a reporter for SUN News and KCSG  – and then participated in 2011!  It’s stuff like that which reminds us how much we enjoy blogging about each state!!! 🙂

OK – Here’s what else you need to know…

Miss Nevada History:  Never had a Miss America… and while they’ve had finalists since this time, we still appreciate and remember Stacie James who was 2nd runner up to Kaye Lani Rae Rafko at Miss America 1988 (who had a great voice and was recovering from Bells Palsy)… then again, maybe it was those fabulous ‘la cucaracha’ dresses that we loved and adored…

Noelle Freeman, Miss California 2011 may have single handily showed the pageant world what a Miss America contestant is made of.  Why?  Because Noelle is a social media Junkie!  This girl knows how to Tweet, Tag and Tout (and not necessarily in that order!)…and every one of those verbs not only made her visible, but also made her different than every other contestant.  From her hilarious tweets…

To her personally edited videos…

To her creative web photos…

Noelle brought a new dimension to Miss America this year and we LOVED IT!!!

We also spotted Noelle from the get-go… and her Top 5 finish was no surprise to us (for the record, the Junkies picked 4 out of the Top 5 before the 2012 Finals began… (check out our Junkies blogpost here…).  Finishing as the 4th runner up, Noelle shined on stage and had that Sexy-Cool-Charisma that seems to ooze out of California girls shortly after birth!

I imagine we’ll see Noelle working her way into an on-camera gig sometime in the future! 🙂

California History:  California is the ONLY STATE in the past 6 years to have at least a semi-finalist ALL 6 years! WOW!  In fact, since 1995, they’ve gone 12 for 17!!!  Not too shabby!!!  They’ve also had 6 Miss Americas, but none since Debra Maffett in 83 (Fay Lanphier in 25, Rosemary LaPlance in 41, Jean Bartel in 43, Marilyn Buferd in 46, and Lee Meriwether in 55).  California is hungry for another Miss America – this might be their year!

Best Junkie Research Tool:   Complete Bio’s including interesting facts and scholastic ambitions are located on the Miss CA website here… but if you just want to see headshots and names, just go here…

Who to Watch:
There are 58 contestants trying to become Miss California this year!  You realize, that means it’s harder to be Miss California than it is to be Miss America!  No wonder they’ve been on such a winning streak as of late! 🙂  Ok – well – given the fact that our research team has no time to research 58 girls, here’s what we’ve come up with…

Leah Cecil – 1st runner up in ’11, Miss Sweetheart Non-Finalist Talent Award, plays the Harp 2nd time at Miss CA

Crystal Lee – CA OT in 08, Miss Chinatown USA 2010, prelim evening gown in ’11

Sara Choi – Violin player, 4th runner up in 08, Harvard Grad and her apartment recently caught fire!  Talk about a story to tell in interview!

Marina Inserra – Prelim Swimsuit in ’10, vocal performance major, sings in the same a cappella group that Miss CA Ariana Afsar is a part of

Carly Valdes – great vocalist, strong swimsuit, excellent local prep team, 2nd time at Miss CA


Ruth Braum – Top 10 at Miss TX in 10, TX Talent winner in 09, Electric Guitar player for Talent and has played with Montley Crue’s Tommy Lee

WOW – Serious Talent this year in California!  Who will the Winner be??? Hmmmmm….

All the Best, Ladies!!! 🙂

MAJ