In the world of Miss America, there are really only a few states that consistently stand out year after year after year.  Enter Oklahoma…

In fact, since Shawntel Smith won Miss America in 1996, Miss Oklahoma has made the ‘semi-finalist cut’ (whatever they called the first cut that given year… Top 20, Top 15, Top 12, etc) 62.5% of the time!!!  And when it comes to Miss America AAC (After Atlantic City), there’s only 1 state who has crowned 2 Miss Americas, and had 2 more Top 5 finishes… That’s Oklahoma.  To use a sports analogy, they’re the ‘Yankees’ of Miss America.

And like the Yankees, the Miss Oklahoma organization is a well oiled machine, and they are driven to succeed.  The way George Steinbrenner wants a a World Series, that’s they way Miss Oklahoma wants another Miss America.  In fact, because Miss OK is so good at grooming their winner for the Miss America stage, some people believe that whoever wins Oklahoma this year will be the next Miss America, period.  Truth is, it might be harder to become Miss Oklahoma than to become Miss America!  The competition is incredibly fierce and while Oklahoma has crowned a rookie here and there, for the most part, they have a reputation for making you ‘pay your dues’ before you win. 

Current Queen:  The delightful Betty Thompson finished as America’s Choice, a Preliminary Talent Award Winner, and the 1st runner up at Miss America 2012.  She has consistently been described as ‘the sweetest contestant’ by multiple girls at Miss America… convincing me that the judges could’ve crowned Betty or Laura – and either of them would’ve made an outstanding Miss America!  Personally, we have no idea how she was able to look 6 feet tall in this evening gown (she’s only 5’2), but somehow she did.  Somehow, the Yankees always find a way to outshine the rest 🙂

Miss Oklahoma History:  With 6 Miss Americas under their belt, Oklahoma’s itchin’ for another which would put them atop the leader board of the most Miss Americas ever (currently tied with California).  Norma Smallwood in ’26, Jane Jayroe in ’67, Susan Powell in ’81, Shawntel Smith in ’96, Jennifer Berry in ’05 and Lauren Nelson in ’06 are your queens from the Sooner State.

Best Junkie Research Tool:  Trust us – we’ve looked high and low on a lot of girls preparing for this post.  The Miss Oklahoma website has great information including head-shots, talent, age, platform title and even the order in which they’ll be competing.  It’s not a video, but it’s pretty close. 🙂

Items of Note:  The Junkies are headed to Miss Oklahoma to see the new queen crowned in person – and chose this pageant because it’s Miss OK’s 40th Anniversary with the Kiwanas Club of Tulsa!  The partnership between Miss OK and the Kiwanas is instrumental, as the Kiwanas provide volunteers, donors and sponsors that help make the program a success.  Plus, we’re pretty sure it’s going to be a reunion of former Miss Oklahomas like we’ve never seen before! 🙂

Who to Watch:  As we said, Miss Oklahoma may be the most competitive state in the union… and there are plenty of girls who could take the crown this year, including…

Damaris Pierce – 1st runner up in ’11, it’s her 6th time at Miss Oklahoma, her rookie year she was 4th runner up and won overall prelim talent clear back in 07.  She can sing and she could win it all this year.

Alicia Clifton – 2nd runner up in ’11, it’s her 3rd time at Miss OK, Miss OK Outstanding Teen ’08, prelim talent winner… she can tap and she could win it all this year.

Alex Eppler – 3rd time at Miss OK, 4th runner up both times before… prelim swimsuit winner and jazz dancer

Sarah Klein – Piano, Top 10 in ’11, prelim talent and newcomer talent winner in ’11

Megan Johnson – Top 10 in ’11, Jazz Dance, 3rd-ish time at Miss Ok (we think), has that ‘Betty Thompson super-cute look about her…

Georgia Frazier – vocal, OK Outstanding Teen in ’09 

Victoria Renard – former Washington Outstanding Teen and 3rd runner up, tap 

Aly Akers – 3rd time at Miss OK, baton twirler, she broke her arm? or collar bone? earlier this Spring – should be fine this week at State

Others of Interest:
Christin Fairchild – Won “Talent Day”
Veronica Wisniewski – Ballet, Top 10 in ’11
Dontreka Matthews – 3rd on Talent Day, vocal
Brittney Bisel – 3rd time at Miss OK, Top 15 in ’11 

We’ll do our best to bring you all the inside scoop from Tulsa!  Junkies can’t wait to see Miss Oklahoma!!!  All the Best!!! 🙂

MAJ

Man, we just loved Sydney Friar, Miss Missouri 2011.  She was so ‘out of the box’ different!  Seriously – who can forget her Miss America video with the mustache???  And, in case you didn’t know, Sydney sang Aerosmith’s ‘Dream On’ at Miss America in a rock-n-roll costume that would make even Adam Lambert look twice!  After 5 trips to Miss Missouri, we were very excited to see her claim the title!

Lots of people are very excited about the Miss Missouri pageant this year… in fact, the Junkies seriously thought long and hard about whether we should attend Miss Missouri or Miss Oklahoma 2012 (both are held on the same weekend)… who knows if we might be making our way to the Show Me State next year!?!

Ok!  Let’s get to it!

Miss Missouri History:  One Miss America hails from Missouri — Debbye Turner in 1990 claimed the crown after several attempts at Miss Arkansas on the drums.  In Missouri, she switched to the Marimba and the rest is history.  Debbye’s mom even hand-beaded her evening gown, with the words “Miss America” in the back train of the gown!

Best Junkie Research Tool:  The Miss Missouri site is wonderful — giving all kinds of details here! 🙂 A total of 27 contestants vying for the crown…

Who to Watch:

Tippe Emmot – 1st runner up in ’11, it’ll be her 4th year at Miss MO… was also 1st runner up at Miss Sweetheart… beautiful girl and a strong ballet dancer

Mary Bauer – 2nd runner up in ’11, prelim talent in ’11, 4th runner up in ’09 and ’10, MO Outstanding Teen in ’07

Amanda Williams – 3rd runner up in ’11, 4th year at Miss MO, prelim swimsuit in ’11

Emily Wood – prelim talent and ‘most talent points’ award in ’11 (clogger)

Alison Hebron – sister to Miss MO 2010, Erica Hebron

In other news… Miss Missouri is one of the states who will be webcasting this year!  So if you don’t live near Mexico, Missouri, you can still watch the entire show right from the comfort of your own computer screen. 🙂

Junkies say YAY for Missouri!!!  All the Best, Ladies!!! 🙂

MAJ

The reigning Miss Idaho is Genevieve Nutting, a former Miss Idaho Outstanding Teen and our favorite queen with a stuffed animal at her disposal!

‘Spuddy Buddy’ was often found to be everywhere she was (which meant a LOT of travel for the little guy).   We also loved how Genevieve was such an ardent supporter of Girl Scouts – which translated into her receiving the Four Points Award at Miss America for her ability to represent Style, Service, Scholarship and Success.  Congrats Genevieve!!! 🙂

So what do we know about the Miss Idaho 2012 competition?  Well… let’s see…

Idaho History :  Idaho is another state who is without a Miss America… However Sadie Quigley was a non-finalist Talent winner in 2008.

Best Research Tool: Well… it wasn’t easy, but we finally found a list of who is competing in the pageant here… We never did see any individual head-shots of 2012 contestants…but you can see 2011 head-shots on the Miss Idaho site, just in case you missed last year’s event! 🙂  **** UPDATE****  Everything you need is on the Idaho Facebook page – just click here!!! 🙂

Who to Watch:  Again – without head-shots, we’re pretty much at the mercy of the internet telling us who’s finished where in previous years… and even that’s pretty sketchy.  20 girls competing this year – here’s our best picks…

Whitney Wood – 1st runner up in ’11… great head-shot from ’11

Kristina Nye – Most intriguing contestant… she brought back the Idaho Junior Miss program (now Distinguished Young Woman of the Year) by volunteering to do it!  The first year there were 7 contestants, this year there’s 20 (she’s been doing it 4 years total – all while she’s in college!) and they gave away $8000 in scholarship money this year!  Plus, she’s really pretty. 🙂

Shalese Kofoed – strong vocalist, former YWotYear contestant… we’re also guessing she’s related to Kiley Kofoed, Miss Idaho ’10

Kristen Tatillin – prelim swimsuit winner in ’10, repeat contestant in ’11 (missing details regarding ’11)

That’s our best shot!  Wishing all the contestants at Miss Idaho lots of Junkie Love!!! 🙂

MAJ

Although we’ve never met Miss Kansas 2011, Carissa Kelley, we imagine her to be one of those girls who went into Miss America anticipating the chance to have as much FUN as could possibly be crammed into 10 days!  It’s that ‘delightful spirit’ about her that made us crack up when we saw this photo of her at Bucca Di Beppo in Las Vegas (she’s on the far left)…  She’s got that look on her face… you know she had to have just grabbed Miss New Hampshire’s hand and squeezed all that marinara sauce in between their palms before anyone could object!  So Funny!!!

Miss Kansas looks to be quite competitive this year… the 1st, 2nd and 4th runner ups are all back, plus many who’ve competed previously.  Interesting note… of the past 3 Miss Kansas’, only one of those girls even won a preliminary award during Miss Kansas week!  You just never know who’s name is going to be called when it’s time to announce the winner…

But here’s what we do know…

Best Junkie Research Tool:  The Miss Kansas site has a pretty good breakdown of everything you need… including the order in which the girls will compete.  Check it out here…

Items of Note:  With 31 girls competing, you’re bound to get a variety of Talents.  This year, besides the usual vocals and dances, there’s several instrumentalists including 2 piano players, a flute, a violin, and not 1, but 2 saxophones!  Kansas crowned a Trumpeter in Becki Ronen in ’09 as well as Trumpeter Laura Watters in ’83 (your way-back fact of the day)… so no problem with instrumentalists winning this state!

Kansas History:  Miss Kansas has produced 3 Miss Americas… Deborah Bryant in 66, Debra Barnes in 68, and Tara Holland in 97 (she’s the one you see at the beginning of the movie ‘Little Miss Sunshine’). 🙂

Who to Watch: Much like Miss Alabama, Miss Kansas is going to be a dog-fight and lots of different girls could win this year.  Here’s who you should know…

Caitlin Taylor – 1st runner up in ’11, prelim talent (flute) and swimsuit winner in ’11

Hannah Langley – 2nd runner up in ’11, strong interview

Belinda Post – 4th runner up in ’11, 1st runner up in ’10, prelim talent (baton twirler) and prelim swimsuit winner in ’11

Hillary Boyle – 4th runner up in ’10, prelim talent winner in ’10, beautiful voice

Sloane Lewis – competed in Kansas National Miss, KS Teen USA and KS US International, piano

Ashley Ulmer – our ‘intriguing contestant’… she’s returning from 09, 10 and 11, she’s recently been working out at an ‘ultimate fighting’ gym (seriously – how many contestants are doing THAT??? Google her name and videos!) and now has a rock-hard body (front row, far right in this photo)

This photo was taken during orientation week this past Spring…  Don’t forget – Kansas is one of those states where the prelim winners won’t necessarily guarantee the crown!  That’s what makes it a dog-fight!

All the Best to Miss KS!!!  Junkie Love Runneth Over!!! 🙂

MAJ

Hello Miss Iowa!

We, along with countless others were uber-impressed with Jessica Pray, Miss Iowa 2011.  Several people thought Jessica could’ve been Miss America with another year or two under her belt… and several others thought it would be silly to ‘hold her back’ given the fact that she was so spectacular at Miss Iowa.  And then several others think she should give Miss USA a chance (’cause let’s face it, she’s gorgeous and she’s radiant on stage) before it’s all said and done!  Regardless of the would’ve, could’ve, should’ve and maybes in life… we know Jessica has a bright future ahead of her!

And now to Miss Iowa 2012!

This is a really down year for Iowa… there are only 12 contestants.  On the bright side, i guess that means only 1 box of donuts is necessary for the after-party! (Sorry – today is National Donut Day and I didn’t get one… but there’s no need to blame Miss Iowa for my lack!  That’s just poor taste… I apologize).

Iowa History:  No Miss America has ever been crowned from Iowa… but they have a reputation for sending quality girls to Miss America… You either have a great Talent or amazing Interview skills. You don’t just win because ‘its’ your turn’ at Iowa.

Best Junkie Research Tool:  Honestly, I’m afraid the Iowa site is cumbersome and difficult to navigate.  We finally gave in and looked up head-shots on the Miss America site… which you can see here for yourself.

Who to Watch:  Not too hard, considering there’s only a dozen, but here’s who we’ve picked…

Mariah Cary – Yes, that’s her real name… the current Miss Muscatine (which has produced several Miss Iowas), Iowa’s Junior Miss in 2004, tap dancer and well spoken.  Has tourette syndrome, which is also her platform

Erika Olson – ANTSO Iowa Teen in 07, returning from ’10 and ’11, non-finalist interview winner last year

Jessica Baker – Baton Twirler, Iowa Outstanding Teen in 09

Pageant takes place June 7th-9th and a new queen will be crowned!

The Junkies Love Iowa!  And Donuts (lol!) 🙂