MAOT at Miss America!

I've been promising this post for a while now... time to stop procrastinating about it!

It's all about Miss America's Outstanding Teen!!!!

For those of you who don't know... Miss America only recently developed a 'teen division' the way Miss USA has Miss Teen USA (what? You mean Miss America and Miss USA aren't the same thing?). Please indulge my quick rabbit trail for those of you who have only started following along this year... it's certainly an appropriate question that deserves a solid answer.

Miss America was started in 1921 in Atlantic City. It was the finest pageant for decades - until Miss USA began because of an argument over Swimsuits. Yes - Swimsuits (long story - google it if you want the full scoop). In the '70's the Miss USA pageant began, and it had all the same 'categories' you might expect in a pageant competition - except Talent. You do not have to perform any sort of Talent at Miss USA - whereas with Miss America, Talent counts for 35% of your total score (the highest of any category). Miss USA is also the organization famous for Donald Trump, partying all night at the bars in New York, girls kissing girls, and the Perez Hilton/Miss California/Gay Marriage nightmare. None of those events are associated with Miss America - all Miss USA. Now, back to my original post...

Miss America was 'loosely affiliated' with America's Junior Miss - a Teen program for High School Seniors. However, there wasn't ever any official connection between the two programs (p.s. Diane Sawyer won America's Junior Miss way back in the day). Then, in 2005, Miss America created what is known as MAOT or Miss America's Outstanding Teen. You must be between the ages of 13-17 and compete in the same categories as Miss America, Talent, Evening Wear, Interview and Swimsuit. The current MAOT is from Oklahoma - and was crowned at the age of 16!!!

WHY IS THIS WORTH AN ENTIRE POST???

Well - this is why...



Each of these girls represented their state as at MAOT in their younger years - and now, they're competing for the title of Miss America!!! From left to right, Miss Vermont, Miss California, Miss New Mexico and Miss Hawaii. For the record - Miss California was the 1st runner up at MAOT back in 2005 :)

There you have it! I'd keep my eye on Hawaii and California - they know what they're doing and have been playing this game for a while...

Thanks for your patience! Whoooo Hoooooo for things you never knew before!!! :)