HELLO FELLOW JUNKIES!!!

Our first night of Prelims at Miss America’s Outstanding Teen are over – and the results are in!  But – Before we get to TONIGHT’S picks for Wednesday’s Prelim winners – Junkies wanna mention a few things that make us happy!!!

1.  TUE TALENT WINNER – GEORGIA!  A correct pick!  We scoured the internet to find whatever we could find about the lovely Olivia McMillan… What we found, were tons of positive reviews from people who know her, saying how amazing her talent was!  Sometimes, that’s just a bunch of nice people being supportive – and sometimes, it’s not just lip-service… it’s 100% correct.  Really glad to see Olivia win talent last night… She won Georgia’s Outstanding Teen on her first attempt – and obviously, her rendition of Nessun Dorma brought down the house in an uber-tough talent competition.  CONGRATS OLIVIA!!!

2.  TUE GOWN/OSQ WINNER – ALABAMA!  Another correct pick!  Junkies found an interview that Alabama’s Outstanding Teen gave a local TV station before she even won her OT title and let’s just say… this girl knows how to handle herself in an interview room!  Add in the top-notch Teen prep of the Miss Alabama team and we knew she’d be a force tonight!  It was also Morgan Green’s first time at Alabama’s OT when she won (just like Georgia!) – do yourselves a favor and keep an eye on Alabama!  This girl’s going places!  CONGRATS MORGAN!

3.  NO FITNESS AWARDS!  Lol… Actually – it doesn’t make us “happy” – it simply makes our lives a little easier. 🙂  Last year, MAOT announced Fitness awards on prelim nights – but that hasn’t always been the case.  We would’ve hated to NOT list potential Fitness winners and then have MAOT announce them – so we took a chance and ‘did our thing’.  This means Junkies won’t be listing potential Fitness winners the rest of the week… sniff, sniff…  Guess we’re not happy after all… 🙁

4.  FUN FACT OF THE DAY!  Did you know that Alabama now has back-to-back prelim Evening Gown/OSQ wins at MAOT???  Our good friends at CROWNED reminded us about that little tid-bit… If you haven’t joined the “Crowned” Facebook page or followed their blog yet – you can check out the blog here – and the Facebook page here!  These guys have the corner on historical facts and stats about MAO from the “Golden Age” of Miss America all the way through today 🙂  Don’t Miss It!

OK – So… It’s time to play the prediction game again!  We were pretty lucky going 2 for 2 last night – can we do it again tonight???  For the record – nobody here is holding their breath…  But that’s what makes the competition so much FUN!!!  Just in case you need the competition groups outlined again – here it is…  Tonight the BLUE GROUP performs Talent and the WHITE GROUP is in Evening Wear/On-Stage Question

Here we go 🙂

TALENT – Arizona, Wisconsin, Hawaii, Tennessee
Oh dear… if you thought Talent was strong last night – we’re having another tough time narrowing this list down tonight!  Our original list had NINE different states – and we had to whittle it down to these four states.  Trust me – it wasn’t easy… it should be another doozie of a Talent night in Orlando!

GOWN/OSQ – Mississippi, Nebraska, Washington, Georgia
LOL!  Again, this list was super tough for us to bring down to 4 states… There are some very beautiful and super articulate girls competing for this prelim win tonight… We felt pretty confident about yesterday’s choices – but today… not so much.  By tomorrow, we may just throw 4 darts at the list of names and call it good.

And there you have it!  We’ll post the results tonight and give you one more blog tomorrow choosing Thursday’s winners!  And of course – we’re happy to get your picks tonight too!  Junkies always say – the more, the merrier!!! 🙂

Until Then – 🙂
Founding Junkie

Alright – The “Junkie Predictions 101” class is over.

There’s no more beating around the bush.

The time has come to put up and shut up.

Junkies need to make our first ever predictions for tonight’s Miss America’s Outstanding Teen, Prelim Night #1.

Forgive me… But, I’m suddenly having a flash-back…

I’m in the 4th grade and I’m the first girl up to bat during our very first softball game of the season.  I’m super nervous as my 10 year old body walks up to the plate on this hazy, late-afternoon summer scene.   The pitcher looks older than me… like she’s been doing this for a while – and obviously, I have not.  While it’s my dream to hit a home-run, I’m also hoping I can just get out of this without peeing my pants.

That pretty much sums up the way I feel about this prediction post! 🙂

OK – No more time to waste… HERE WE GO!!! 🙂

TALENT – Illinois, New Hampshire,  Rhode Island, Georgia
Seriously – Talent looks AMAZING tonight and there are SEVERAL girls who could win (Frankly, I could like 4 more states who could win talent tonight – it’s that strong!).  From what we can tell – tonight’s Talent might just rival the Talent competition at Miss America – if you’re in Orlando tonight, you are in for a TREAT!!!  ENJOY!!! 🙂

FITNESS – Arizona, North Carolina, South Carolina, Ohio
Seriously – we pretty much have no business predicting Fitness winners because it’s NOTHING like predicting Swimsuit winners at Miss America.  Teens perform a “fitness routine” rather than prancing around in a bikini – and we found one online to give you an example!  This is from Miss North Carolina – Check it out by clicking here… Jump to the 3:30 mark to see an example of an OT fitness routine and you’ll understand what we’re talking about.  MUCH MORE DIFFICULT to predict than good old fashioned Swimsuit winners.  These ladies are being judged on their coordination, strength, balance and timing – and an ability to smile while doing it!  Just fyi – it’s kind of hard to see “coordination, strength, balance and timing” via the internet 🙂

EVENING WEAR/ON-STAGE QUESTION – Texas, Alabama, Florida, Missouri
Seriously – I can’t believe we’re even trying to predict the winners of an Evening Wear competition when we’ve never seen these ladies in their full pageant glory.  For us, this prediction is about head-shots, event photos on the MAOT Facebook page, and who we think scored well in interview… Again, not easy to do…

And there you have it!  Our first MAOT Prediction… May it go better than our first softball experience in 4th grade!!! 🙂 

Actually… I had no idea that memory was still with me – and I laughed out loud when I began writing it down!  Thanks for the unsolicited moment of therapy, Junkies… Hope everyone’s pants remained dry throughout the reading of this blog. 🙂

Big Hugs!
Founding Junkie

Four score and seven rhinestones ago… I was looking for a way to re-connect with old friends.  This was long before the social media revolution took place – way back when email was the coolest thing since fax machines (anyone remember fax machines?).  That’s when I decided to get in touch with friends and family during Miss America week by trying to see if I could predict the Prelim Swimsuit and Talent winners each night.  I would email them my picks, they would laugh at my pageant obsession and pretty soon, they were playing along too. 🙂  That’s when the email list became too long and needed its own name.  At that time, it was dubbed “Miss America Junkies” (re-named “Pageant Junkies” just a short time ago)… and every year, more and more Junkies join me in my pursuit of the perfect pageant prelim prediction list.  Now, we’ve decided to expand this glorious opportunity to include the lovely ladies of Miss America’s Outstanding Teen.

In case you’ve never seen this before – here’s how it goes…

1.  I choose 4 states out of the 17/18 girls who are competing within one category that night.

2.  MAOT actually gives away 3 prelim awards each night – Talent, Fitness and Evening Wear/On-Stage Question… Therefore, I’ll be predicting 3 different categories of winners (Miss America only awards Talent and Fitness).

3.  Three nights of competition, times 3 winners each night, means we’ll have 9 total prelim winners by the end of the week (Pageant Math is awesome – Go STEM!) 🙂

Here’s this year’s MAOT contestant order… As always, feel free to click on the photo itself if you’d like to see a larger version.

Ok… couple of ground rules before we get started…

1. THIS IS A TEST… THIS IS ONLY A TEST.  Seriously – Nobody I know would ever say, “Hey… Let’s put the Junkies’ reputation on the line by trying to predict a bunch of Teen winners that you pretty much know nothing about!”  And yet, here we are. 🙂  So, fellow Junkies… Please… No judgement.  There’s a pretty good shot we’ll go 0 for 9 in this endeavor… and if that’s the case, well… I guess we can sink back in despair and wait a few weeks for the Big Show in AC.

2.  THESE ARE TEENS… THEY ARE ONLY TEENS.  In case you didn’t realize the age limits of the MAOT program, NONE of these young ladies has finished her Senior year of High School.  At the oldest – they’ve just finished their Junior year – and they can be as young as 13 when they compete at MAOT.  Do you remember what it’s like to be that age???  I do.  So here’s the deal – Junkies are all about creating a POSITIVE atmosphere when it comes to pageant commentary.  And with our Teens, we will be EXTRA SENSITIVE to ensure such happens.  Fair Warning.

3.  THE SAME RULES APPLY.  I have only seen a grand total of 3 state OT pageants in my life.  I’ve never seen the finals in Orlando.  Of this year’s 53 contestants, I’ve met 2 of them – (and one of those was just dumb Junkie luck).  I’m basing my predictions from on-line research only.  I have no dog in this fight.  That means, if I don’t choose your daughter/sister/niece/best-friend’s hair-dresser’s granddaughter, it doesn’t mean she wasn’t pretty enough… It doesn’t mean she’s not smart enough or she’s not talented enough…. it only means, I’m not perfect.  And trust me – because this is our first year predicting teens, we’re pretty sure perfection ain’t gonna happen (lol!).  Please don’t take it personally if we don’t list your favorite girl.  She’s still got as good a chance as anyone to bring home the title – and our predictions have NOTHING to do with the outcome! 🙂

4.  FINALLY – IT’S ABOUT THE FUN!  If it’s not FUN – then Junkies don’t do it!  If you think you wanna be a part of prelim prediction FUN – then by all means, JOIN US!!!  Everyone reading this is welcome to post their favorites each night as well!  Who knows, if you know what you’re doing, you may get a job working for the Junkies next year (LOL!) 🙂

OK – You’ve just earned your passing grade for “MAOT Junkie Predictions 101!”  Our first prediction blog will be posted later this afternoon!  Feel free to start working on your own prediction list for tonight!!!  GOOD LUCK EVERYONE!!!

Toodles –
Founding Junkie

Big Announcement Time…

We’re about to do something we’ve never done before when it comes to our Teens!!!

But – before we get there – Junkies wanna give you an overall summary of the Outstanding Teen program and how many ladies have made it to the Miss America stage.  Prior to the first National Pageant in 2005, we know many different states hosted a ‘teen title’ – but this list is only regarding the ladies who competed at MAOT and then went on to compete for Miss America… Click on each photo to see a larger version…  Ready or not – Here We Go!

Competing for the Title of Miss America 2009… Courtney Gifford from Wyoming (left) and Sierra Minott from Florida (right)!  Sierra finished as the 4th runner up to Katie Stam.

Competing for the Title of Miss America 2011…
Caroline Bright (VT)
Arianna Afsar (CA)
Madison Tabet (NM)
Jalee Fuselier (HI)
Arianna finished as a Top 10 finalist and Jalee was the 2nd Runner up to Teresa Scanlan.

Then – things started to get a little crazy in the OT world… We had NINE girls competing for the title of Miss America 2012…
Genevive Nutting (ID)
Natalie Davis (MN)
Katharyn Nicholle (NJ)
Kendall Morris (TX)
Ann-Blair Thornton (KY)
Veronica Ohlinger (MT)
Kayla Batt (NE)
Michaela Lackey (GA)
Ariana Walker (ND)
Out of this group Kendall Morris finished in the Top 10 to Laura Kaeppeler.

Eight more Outstanding Teen state winners competed for the title of Miss America 2013… 
Alicia Clifton (OK)
MerrieBeth Cox (IN)
JoAnna Guy (MD)
Kaitlin Gates (WV)
Megan Lyman (NH)
Sloane Roberts (AR)
Taylor Kinzler (MA)
Ali Rogers (SC)
Lindsey Petrosh (NJ)
In this group, Alicia Clifton finished as the 2nd runner up and Ali Rogers was the 1st runner up to Miss America 2013, Mallory Hagan.

Last year we had 8 ladies compete for the title of Miss America 2014 who were Outstanding Teen state winners…  
Myrrhanda Jones (FL)
Annie Rosellini (PA)
Nina Davuluri (NY)
Crystal Lee (CA)
Haley Williams (MI)
Kristin Korda (ME)
Reina Almon (WA)
Jacee Pilkington (NE)
In this group, Myrrhanda Jones was the 3rd runner up, Crystal Lee was the 1st runner up, and of course, Miss America FINALLY crowned a former Outstanding Teen in Nina Davuluri!!!!

This year – there are nine ladies competing for the title of Miss America 2015 who previously won an Outstanding Teen state title… We’ve also listed their placement at MAOT when they competed… They are…

AR – Ashton Campbell – Photogenic Award
CT – Acacia Courtney
MS – Jasmine Murray – Top 10
SD – Meridith Gould
NV – Ellie Smith
IA – Aly Olson – Non-Finalist Interview Award
AL – Caitlin Brunell – MAOT Winner 2008
VA – Courtney Garrett – Top 10
MT – Victoria Valentine

With 2 Runners Up in 2013 and 3 Runners Up in 2014, could we possibly have 4 Runners Up in 2015???  Dang!  Wouldn’t that be something???  And wouldn’t it be exciting if one of these ladies succeeded Nina as the second OT in a row to win Miss America???  It could happen…  🙂

And now that you have a full breakdown of Miss America contestants at MAOT – it’s time for our BIG ANNOUNCEMENT….

Lol!  Yes – yes… Despite the fact that we basically started researching the Teen finalists all of 45 minutes ago – We’re venturing into the prediction business when it comes to our Teens!  Stay Tuned – the very first Teen Prediction Blog will be available TOMORROW – just in time for prelims!

Until then – Junkies wish ALL THE BEST to this year’s MISS AMERICA’S OUTSTANDING TEEN CONTESTANTS!!!  Can’t wait to see who our new Teen Winner will be!!! 🙂

WHOOOOOOOOOOOOO HOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!! 🙂
Founding Junkie