Junkies Prelim Predictions 101

Many moons ago, before this blog or Facebook was even born, I was looking for a way to reconnect with friends and family around Miss America week.  So, just for fun, I started to see if I could pick 4 states that I thought might win Preliminary Talent or Preliminary Swimsuit at Miss America.  Then, I'd send out an email telling them why I thought "so and so state" could win the given prelim.  At first, I think people just opened the email because they hadn't heard from me in a while (lol) - but soon, they began to humor me and play along.  In order to suck them into my pageant vortex, I named the email list "Miss America Junkies".  Ever since then, I've been posting picks - and each year more and more Junkies join me in my pursuit of the perfect preliminary prediction.

In case you've never seen this before, here's how it goes...

1. Two awards are given on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday night... one for Swimsuit and one for Talent (no on-stage awards for Evening Gown or On-Stage Question). Three nights of prelims times 2 awards each night means 6 awards total (who says pageant girls can't do math? GO STEM!).

2. I'll select 4 states out of the 17-18 girls who could possibly win.

3. To provide complete disclosure... I've only seen 3 of this year's contestants in person.  I don't attend Miss America rehearsals.  99% of our research on our picks is from online research alone.

4.  Here's the Prelim list... for Tuesday, we're working with Alpha in Talent and Sigma in Swimsuit...

If you need a larger version, feel free to click on the photo itself :)

Now - before we get started with my predictions, there are a couple of things I need to point out...

1. The predictions below are my opinions and my opinions only.  Sometimes I get it right - and sometimes I'm dead wrong.  Of all the years I've been making predictions, the best I've done is 4/6... Which pretty much goes to prove, I'm not perfect. :)

2. If your daughter/grand-daughter/sister/best friend's-baby-sitter's-car-salesman's niece isn't on our short-list as a prelim pick, it doesn't mean she isn't talented.  It doesn't mean she isn't 'pretty enough'.  It doesn't mean she doesn't have what it takes... It means, I'm not perfect. 

3. Just because we accurately predict a prelim winner - it doesn't mean she is the next Miss America.  Remember, Mallory Hagan didn't win a single prelim - and I'm not sure we even had her on any of our prelim predictions from last year... But she walked away with the crown.  Your girl can too. 

4. This is supposed to be... (wait for it... wait for it...) FUN!!! :)  Since predictions are the origin of MAJ, we have a blast seeing if we can accurately predict a winner simply through research and Junkie intuition.  Please don't take it personally if the girl you adore is not listed in our posts...

Here's a photo of your prelim judges with Sam Haskell (from the Miss America Twitter Feed)... Feel free to click on the photo itself to see an enlarged version...

And the press release offering complete bio's for our Prelim Judges can be found here...

As any contestant will tell you - different judges = different results.  If you think you've mastered "Intro to Junkie Predictions 101" and wanna move into the upper echelon of prelim picking, then study the judges.  Or, feel free to read our opinion on the prelim judges found here in this post and consider it the cliff-notes version. :)

Our first round of Prelim Predictions will be posted later today!!!  And of course, we'll update both our Facebook page and our Twitter feed with real-time results... then, we'll offer another round of predictions tomorrow!  As always - if you disagree, you're welcome to 'play along' by listing your own Top 4 in the comments section below or via Facebook/Twitter. :)

GOOD LUCK TO EVERYONE!!!  First night of prelims is ELECTRIFYING!!! :)

#MissAmerica #JunkiesUnite

MAJ