MISS VERMONT

Whenever you start to think you're busy... Remind yourself of Miss Vermont, Jeanelle Achee's schedule the year BEFORE she was named Miss VT.  According to an online article in the Hearld of Randolph, Jeanelle juggled 2 jobs, logged over 600 hours of community service, completed her third year of nursing school and pursued a minor in global studies.  Oh - and did we mention she was also named a Truman Scholar?  Whew!  The Junkies are tired just thinking of it all!

But we shouldn't be surprised... After all, Vermont has been crowning super smart, accomplished, women for decades and Jeanelle was no exception.  We look forward to watching Jeanelle in the years ahead and watching her excel in her field of choice. :)

Now - Regarding Miss Vermont 2014 - there's a wonderful group of girls to choose from.  Different states have different preferences on what they're looking for - but in Vermont, there's no way you can win if you don't have a stellar interview.  That's what makes it a little hard for the Junkies to choose a winner - because someone's interview ability isn't typically something you can research online.  However, we've done our best - and here's what we've got!

Junkies Say Here's Who to Watch:

Jackie Croft - 1st runner up '12, 2nd runner up '13
Nina Merriman - 1st runner up '13
Alayna Westcom - 4th runner up '11, scholar award in '11
Ashley Bourdeau - rookie, articulate, lovely headshot, zumba instructor

ALL THE BEST TO EVERYONE AT MISS VERMONT!!!  GOOD LUCK!!!

Miss Vermont 2014 collage courtesy of Miss America Class Updates!  To see a larger image, just click on the photo! :)

MAJ

2014 STATE PAGEANT SEASON!!!

Wowzers.

Are we really here again?  Is it really time to take another spin on the Junkie Merry-Go-Round of insanity as we predict the 53 women who will compete for the title of Miss America 2015?  I'm trying to remember why I put myself thought this... LOL!  Truth is, I think this is why I'm called a "Junkie"... It's the sickness that slowly takes over... and before you realize it... you're googling girls left and right, day and night... combing and searching for a bit of insight... :)

Could someone please do me a favor and stage an intervention next year...?

Awesome.  Thanks :)

OK - Here's the list of each and every state pageant coming up - Starting, with Miss Vermont this weekend!

In case you haven't seen this before - Here's how it works... I'll post a blog about each state and who I see as the front-runners to win the crown.  The number of girls competing a State varies dramatically - which means, there's no rule regarding how many names get listed.  If you wanna know how we choose the ladies on our "Here's Who to Watch" list, check out our explanation at our blogpost here from 2013 or our follow up post here - which explains things a little further...

Please know - I'M NOT PERFECT which means sometimes I get it right - sometimes I get it wrong... Last year, we were correct 86% of the time - Which frankly, was a little surprising even to us! :)  However - it's worthy to note that last year, we missed the very first state of the year (which happened to be New Hampshire) and strangely enough, we also missed all of the states that start with the letter "I"... Iowa, Indiana, Illinois AND Idaho!  Intriguing... Inexplicable... Incomprehensible... Inconceivable for everyone, we know... :)

One of our favorite posts of last year was telling you which states received the Top 5 hits out of all 53 states... And let's face it - if you clicked the previous 2 links, you might as well click this one too!  To see the "Top 5 of 2013" just click here...   It's pretty amazing to see where the best "Junkies" in the nation come from and which states they follow :)

So - without further adieu, we'll get started tomorrow with Miss Vermont!  Stay Tuned - Another year's worth of addiction is about to commence...

MAJ

Hey Junkies! Where Ya Been???

HEY JUNKIES!  WHERE YA BEEN???

LOL!  Good Question!  One I've been asked many times over the past several months... And I'm not sure I've had a good answer for you until now.  For those of you who thought we disappeared off the planet - My apologies.  Truth is, we've had to do some searching to uncover answers for our absence the past many months... In the end, here are three thoughts that are therapeutic to my soul and offer a few explanations...

1. Burn Out.  Within 9 months (Jan 2013 - Sept 2013), we crowned 2 Miss Americas, Junkies posted predictions on all 53 state pageants, maintained a Blog, Facebook page and Twitter feed, PLUS we traveled to both Vegas AND Atlantic City to see Mallory and Nina be crowned live.  Truth is, if this were my full time job, I could understand seasons where everything seems overwhelming... But unfortunately, I don't get paid for this gig (at least not yet!).  This is my hobby.  And I gave a lot of time, effort and energy to my hobby in a short period of time.

2.  New Job in Real Life.  After spending 15 years building my career in the same industry, I took a new position that stretched me professionally.  Doing so has meant I haven't had as much time for my hobby - and much of my energies have gone into my new position rather than into eating, sleeping and drinking Miss America Junkies all day, every day. :)

3.  Goal Achieved.  You may be asking yourself, "Goal Achieved?  What does that even mean?"  Well - if you go back through the archives of this blog, you'll find something I write over and over again.  One of the reasons I started Miss America Junkies is because I wanted to help 'change the tone' I was hearing from online pageant people.  Years ago (before social media went crazy), information regarding Miss America contestants was super difficult to find.  Even less than 5 years ago, I remember staying up into the wee hours of the night, just to find out who were the winners at our own Miss America preliminary!   There were only 2 or 3 independent websites dedicated to pageants, and very few states had their own Facebook pages - let alone updated websites with contestant information.  Conversely, young women were online in droves - which made the information gap larger than ever!  So what happened?  Well, that void of information was filled with online message boards.  A fine idea initially, until it brought out the worst in pageant followers.  Soon, all I began to see was negativity and bad-mouthing from a bunch of anonymous posters.  That's why it became my goal to bring faster, more positive attention to titleholders WITHOUT the ugly judgement that often came alongside pageant commentary.  I just thought you could still have fun, provide information quickly, and still 'be bold' in predictions without being nasty.

Since The Junkies' inception, some wonderful things have happened... First, more and more 'positive' blog and facebook groups have come into play and are gaining steam!  Miss America Class Updates and Miss America Unlimited have wonderful Facebook pages to keep fans informed (check 'em out!).  I'm floored at how many people 'live tweet' now from various state competitions - let alone Miss America!  It's a HUGE change from 5 short years ago and it's made a big difference!  In addition, because of our travels to numerous state pageants, Vegas and AC, The Junkies have personally met countless contestants and volunteers who have been quick to offer support of our philosophy and encouraged us with their positive feedback.  It seems YOU CAN have fun, make predictions and enjoy competition without being ugly.

Here's the deal... My goal was to change the tone of the internet regarding Miss America contestants.  I think that's happened.  It's not over - and we certainly aren't claiming we did it all by ourselves - but overall, I believe our involvement has helped facilitate some good things in pageant-land.  And that - is extremely rewarding. :)

So - where does that leave us now?  Well... here's what I know...

1.  We WILL be posting our beloved "Here's Who to Watch" blogs on each and every state - starting THIS WEEKEND with Miss Vermont! :)  It's a crazy under-taking, but we're committed to getting it done :)

2.  We're still considering state pageants to attend this summer... As you can imagine, traveling to these events is another large under-taking, and requires a lot of coordination from the 'real-job' and the home front.  We promise to keep each of you informed as we work towards our summer schedule.

3.  Set new goals.  I'm not quite sure exactly what this looks like just yet - but I'm excited about what the future holds!  As we grow, we'll be sure to include you on all the latest information in the land of MAJ... Again, we're so appreciative of those who have been a part of our journey thus far and we look forward to where we go from here!

In the meantime, WE STILL LOVE HEARING FROM YOU!  Whether it's interacting via Facebook, Twitter or this blog, The Junkies have developed some incredible real-life friendships and wonderful on-line relationships with people we would've never met otherwise - and we're super grateful for it!  THANK YOU for the things you do to promote The Junkies to your family, friends or people who are new to the world of pageantry.  That's how we continue to 'spread the word' of positive pageant commentary and continue to accomplish our original goal.

STAY TUNED for the MISS VERMONT blog coming up this week - and the MISS NEW HAMPSHIRE blog coming up next week!  It's about to get CRAZY!!!

THANKS JUNKIES!!! :)

MAJ

NINA DAVURULI IS MISS AMERICA 2014!!!!

First of all... let me say how sorry I am that this post was not completed sooner! :(  My apologies to those of you who have been waiting patiently for me to post my over-all thoughts... Let's just say, I'm getting too old to be witty and creative when I've only had 3 hours of sleep!

That being said - Your new Miss America is Miss New York, NINA DAVURULI!!!!

Nina seemed to have everything going for her on finals night... She was polished, yet spunky.  She was approachable, yet beautiful.  Her talent was complex, yet entertaining.  As our first Indian-American to be named Miss America, you may have caught her on one of her TV appearances stating: "The everyday girl-next-door in America doesn't look like she did 10 years ago - and 10 years from now, she won't look the same as she does today either."  Additionally, she is excited about the opportunity to be a role model for little girls who look like she does.

I'll be honest...  I don't care what color she is... Instead, here's what I care about.  Nina is confident, striking to look at, a strong communicator and appears to be extremely genuine.  She could be purple for all I care - as long as she still possessed these qualities which I consider to be necessary for someone to make an impact on others.

So all the best to Nina!  May she become one of our most impacting Miss America's in history!

Now - it's time to let you in on our thought process as Miss America week progressed... Here's several thoughts... in completely random order...

1.  Even though the Junkies went 6 for 6 with prelim winners, we only went 8 for 15 in our Top 15 finalists.  Seems like we have a corner on the "Top Talents" and "Best Swimsuits" but we do not have a good grip on the most consistent ladies on the stage in all areas of competition.  This can be remedied by attending more prelim nights (Junkies only saw 1 prelim this year)... but unfortunately, it's not always conducive to do so (see 'real life' job reference above).

2.  Only seeing one prelim night also kept us from seeing the 'spark' in Nina that the judges obviously saw.  In fact, Nina had her On-Stage Question the night we attended prelims and I'm afraid we weren't able to really pick any of these answers out as "spectacular"... they all sounded about the same in our book.  Had we seen her presence in Swimsuit or her Talent, we might've been able to notice the girl that the judges fell in love with. 

3.  I think the final night panel also threw us for a loop... The fact that all of the Top 5 were brunettes tells us that we weren't in the final night panel's heads at all.  To only have picked 2 of the Top 5 (OK and CA) is a bummer for the Junkies... one of our poorest Top 5 finishes in recent history (boo).

4.  You'd never believe me if I told you how many times I substituted NY, MN and CA into my top 5.  Frankly, I only expected 1 of the 3 to make the Top 5 - never in a million-zillion years did I think all 3 would make it.  I was wrong.

5.  Never in a million-zillion years did I think NY and OK would be looking at Top 5 finishes THREE YEARS IN A ROW!!!  Kaitlin Monte, Mallory Hagan and Nina Davuruli vs. Betty Thompson, Alicia Clifton and Kelsey Griswold (And prior to that, Emoly West from OK was Top 5 and Claire Buffie from NY was Top 10).  To have 2 states performing that well year after year after year has got to be frustrating for 51 other contestants - but dang!  These 2 programs are proving to be the premier programs in the country!

6.  WE'VE FINALLY CROWNED OUR FIRST FORMER STATE OUTSTANDING TEEN!!!!  Nina was Michigan's Outstanding Teen 2006 and 1st runner up at MAOT!  Watch for state pageants across the country to crown more OT state winners this year!

7.  Junkies haven't seen the TV production yet - but to have earned the highest ratings in nine years screams "WE'RE BACK!!!"  WHOOOOOOOOO HOOOOOOOOOOO for finding the magic formula and producing a show worthy of American viewership.

8.  ATLANTIC CITY!!!!!!  Where do I begin???  As a Junkie who saw her first Miss America crowned in Las Vegas, but who's completely familiar with the amazing amount of history and tradition that exists on the Jersey Shore, let me say... WOW!!!  There are most certainly differences between the 2 cities beyond geographics... but I gotta give the edge to the quaint and charming city on the sea.  Plus, getting out to the Sheraton Hotel was a huge bonus - seeing shoes, evening gowns and trophies up close and personal was great fun!  Being 'crowned' by Bert Parks was another big hit!  And having my photo taken next to those famous "Atlantic City" wooden boats on the beach was icing on the cake!  You just don't get that in Vegas, Baby :)

9.  Even if we went 0 for 6 and 0 for 15, we still would've LOVED meeting fellow Junkies!!!  This year was particularly fantastic as so many of you found us and told us what our page meant to you!  We never expected to have that kind of impact on people - and we're grateful to consider many of you 'friends'.  PLEASE continue to stay in contact with the Junkies - and if there's anything we can do for you - just let us know! :)

And that's a Wrap!  Another Miss America crowning is in the books - another woman gets the job of a lifetime and another little girl is currently wondering if she might become the new Miss America one day.  The Junkies look forward to seeing Nina make her mark on Miss America history and will do everything we can to keep you updated along the way...

UNTIL WE MEET AGAIN - make sure you're practicing your wave... blowing kisses in the wind... standing up tall with your shoulders back and chin up... as we all sing together... "There She Is..."

Thanks Junkies!  What a GREAT year it's been! :)

MAJ

JUNKIES FINAL PREDICTIONS for MISS AMERICA 2014

As I type this blogpost, I'm looking out at the Atlantic Ocean from the 67th floor of my hotel room in Atlantic City... 

Interestingly enough, 2 things come to mind...

        - This is best my feet have felt in 4 days...
        - I have no idea who is going to win tonight...

Now, I fully realized some of you might think I'm just feigning ignorance... After all, who goes 6 for 6 when picking the prelim winners and doesn't know who's going to win the whole shi'bang???  Ummm... me.  Truthfully... I don't know who's going to walk away with the crown tonight.  Usually we have an 'inkling' or a reason why we can see it coming - even if our favorite contestant isn't in the mix.  But this year?  Not so sure.

So - before we give you our Top 15, I'd like to ask everyone to please take a deep breath and remind yourself of two things...  THESE ARE JUST OUR OPINIONS - and - THIS IS SUPPOSED TO BE FUN! :)  Again, if your girl isn't on our list - it doesn't mean she won't make it... It doesn't means we don't like her... It doesn't mean we don't think she has what it takes... Truth is - predicting a Top 15 is a whole lot harder than predicting Prelim Winners.  ESPECIALLY since The Junkies just arrived on Thursday and only saw the girls on stage for 1 night of competition (last year, we went 14 for 16 - but we also saw 2 nights of preliminary competition).

So - here's what we're going to do... We're going to give you our Top 15 - and then break down to the Top 5 and the winner with a bit of commentary.  We haven't done this before - so let's see how it goes.

Top 15 - In Random Order:

Mississippi
Oklahoma
Georgia
Kansas
California
New York
Minnesota
Virginia
Florida
Tennessee
New Hampshire
DC
Pennsylvania
Maine
Louisiana

We also chose 1 girl from each prelim night that we consider "on the bubble"... Our official picks are still listed above - but here's 3 more who we think could eek out a Top 15 placement.

"Bubbles"
Connecticut
South Carolina
Alabama

In addition - here's who we think goes home with a few specialized awards...

Non-Finalist Interview Award
Alaska

Non-finalist Talent Awards
Wisconsin
Missouri
Indiana
Arizona

And Now - Here's The Junkies' Top 5...

Mississippi - She has the 'classic Miss America look' about her... The one we originally thought MA would crown this year being back in AC.  She's smart, has a killer body, is currently in med school, and won a STEM scholarship earlier this week.  If Miss America wants a "Beautiful, Polished, Smart Girl," she'll win.

Georgia - Junkies hold the theory that Final Night swimsuit goes to the girl the judges liked the best in interview out of everyone else on her night.  Georgia has one of those 'looks' that we think the celebrity panel could really go for... If Miss America wants an "Old-School Hollywood Glam Girl," she'll win.

Oklahoma - With 4 prelim awards in a row (Emoly West, Betty Thompson, Alicia Clifton and Kelsey Griswold) and 3 Top 5 placements for Oklahoma, Kelsey Griswold should keep the current OK streak alive... She looks like your everyday 'girl-next-door' and is uber-talented.  She could be one of the final 2 holding hands at the end of the night.  If Miss America wants a Talented "Girl Next Door," she'll win.
  
California - She's a Stanford graduate, another STEM scholarship winner and could've won Swimsuit on her prelim night.  With a celebrity panel, we think her California-cool-vibe will ooze out of her and put her in the Top 5.  If Miss America wants an Ivy-League caliber, "Social Media Queen," she'll win.

Kansas - Even though we think Kansas may be the People's Choice winner, we also think she could've made the Top 15 on her own.  She's already the media darling and the general public has been extremely receptive to her.  If Miss America wants  "New Kind of Representative" for Miss America, she'll win.

We believe ANY of these girls would make a fine and fabulous Miss America... But because Junkie Tradition says we need to pick a winner... Junkies say...

Mississippi

There you go!  May the Best Girl Win!!!

Junkie Wrap-Up will be posted tomorrow (eventually...)

JUNKIES UNITE!!!

MAJ

Thursday Night Prelim Results

WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOO HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!

Let's get right to it!  Here are you preliminary winners in Talent and Swimsuit from Thursday Night:

(photos courtesy of the Miss America Organization)

Big Congrats to Miss Georgia, Carly Mathis in Swimsuit and Miss Florida, Myrrhanda Jones in Talent!

Carly has a great story - she was overweight as a child and at one point, weighed over 200 lbs!  To turn that around and now be named a preliminary swimsuit winner at Miss America is simply amazing!  Being there first hand, we can tell you Carly 'owned' the stage last night... We picked her as our swimsuit winner as we sat in the audience :)

In addition - to know that Myrrhanda Jones tore her ACL during rehearsals only to look the the doctor in the eye and tell him she wanted to perform on the Miss America stage tells you she's strong --- but to then come and and win her Talent Prelim is incredible!  Junkies saw the performance - it wasn't a sympathy vote!  She earned it!  Congrats!

And with Georgia and Florida's wins... that means the Junkies went 6 for 6 this year - for the first time ever in Junkie History!!!  We're sooooooooo excited to have done so well - and say thanks to everyone who's helped offer their opinions along the way!  It's even more amazing to have our "Perfect Preliminary Predictions" take place while the pageant is in Atlantic City!  What a fabulous memory for all the Junkies to always treasure! :)

And speaking of memories... The Junkies LOVED our day in Atlantic City... Walking the Boardwalk, eating fabulous food and dipping our toes in the ocean!  If attending Miss America is on your "Bucket List" may I suggest finding a way to do so next year?  Everyone in AC is so appreciative and so grateful!  We couldn't be in better hands being "Back Home" in Atlantic City!

Finally - many of you have been asking about whether or not we're going to post a Top 15 list, etc.  Rest assured - we are and we will!  We'll be posting our Top 15, Top 5 and our pick to win it all on Sunday night... but that post will have to wait... we have a few favorites who are floating around in our heads - but there are A LOT of strong girls this year!  We haven't seen anyone specific 'rise to the top' just yet :)  

In the meantime - enjoy a few photos from our day 'out and about' today!  Happy Friday!

MAJ

Junkies Predict Thursday Prelim Winners

Welcome Back Junkies!!!

Soooooo.... Before we get to tonight's picks - can I hijack this post and give you a quick personal update?

First, I didn't sleep well because, let's face it... The night before Miss America typically means... "I'M TOO EXCITED TO SLEEP!"  Then, the area where I lived experienced some significant weather issues in the middle of the night that caused the power to go out... Which means the alarm clock did not go off at 4:00am...

Good news first... We made the flight. :)

Bad news... Have you ever tried to pack a suitcase by candlelight???  Sounds romantic... but not very practical.  LOL!  Frankly, I have no clue what's in my luggage... I hope at least my shoes match!
 
And now - Here's a wrap up of last night's winners!

(Photos courtesy of the Miss America Organization)

CONGRATS to KELSEY GRISWOLD and REBECCA YEH on last night's preliminary wins!  Kelsey is the 4th Miss OK in a row to win a prelim award (Alicia Clifton - Talent, Betty Thompson - Talent, Emoly West-SS) and the 5th Miss OK to win SS!  Rebecca is the 10th Miss MN to win a Prelim Talent award - and she's in good company!  Notable Miss MN's who won Talent before winning Miss America include Dorothy Benham and Gretchen Carlson.

On to tonight's Prelim Picks!  Junkies are on a roll... As some of you have so kindly noted, we are 4 for 4 this year... Hoping to make this year the best Prelim Picking Prediction year in Junkie History - NO PRESSURE - LOL!!!! :)  Here goes nothing...

TALENT = OKLAHOMA, FLORIDA, WEST VIRGINIA, CONNECTICUT
Yes - Oklahoma won SS last night, and if she wins tonight, she'll be first Double Prelim winner in a really, really long time (CUE THE JUNKIE RESEARCH KING!).  Also - say a prayer for Miss Florida who injured herself during rehearsals today (baton twirler)... No final details... but just know she may not be 100%.

SWIMSUIT = SOUTH CAROLINA, GEORGIA, TEXAS, CALIFORNIA
Junkies have a theory about Final Night Swimsuit winners... In most cases, the final night SS winner goes to the girl who looks darn good in a swimsuit, but was also one of the judge's favorites interview.  Of course, you never know until the Final Show (and whether or not the final night SS winner makes the top 5)... but that's our story and we're sticking to it. :)

Junkies will be there to see it all in person tonight!!!  Promise to give you a full update on the Thursday Winners and what's officially in my suitcase... Wearing one gold shoe and one silver shoe might become a new trend :)

Junkies Unite!

MAJ