Miss America Laura Kaeppeler Rips Toddlers & Tiaras, Child Pageant Culture
Miss America 2012, Laura Kaeppeler
Miss America Laura Kaeppeler knows a thing or two about beauty contests. The 24-year-old Wisconsin native, who was crowned in January, isn’t a big fan of the Toddlers & Tiaras / Here Comes Honey Boo Boo culture, however. “There’s a misconception that pageants are beauty pageants, but Miss America is a scholarship provider,” Kaeppeler told E! News Wednesday night. “We compete in talent and community service, so there’s a lot more to it.”
Laura says she only started competing in pageants two years ago, at age 22. She said Miss America is “about being a well-rounded young woman and an empowered female” and that child beauty pageants are pure exploitation. “I don’t agree with those sort of programs,” Kaeppeler said. “Because I don’t think it’s the child’s want to do that necessarily and the child engaging in that.” “I think it may come from an outside source. I think if you’re going to do something like [competing in pageants], you should do it because you want to.”
Courtesy of Hollywood Gossip
2013 Miss America Pageant to Air on ABC, Jan 12
ABC Television Network and Sam Haskell, Chairman of the Board of the Miss America Organization, have announced that “The 2013 Miss America Competition” returns to Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino in Las Vegas for a week of preliminary competitions, culminating in a live telecast on SATURDAY, JANUARY 12, 2013 (9:00-11:00 p.m., ET) on ABC.
“The 2012 Miss America telecast on ABC was a tremendous success, taking the ratings crown as the most-watched non-sports program on Saturday night,” said Haskell. “With the success of our re-branding Miss America, we have attracted a new audience. We look forward to working with ABC and Planet Hollywood to make the 2013 broadcast event even more memorable for our viewers.”
The three nights of preliminaries will take place on January 8, 9 & 10 at Planet Hollywood’s PH Live Tickets for the preliminaries, as well as the Miss America live event, will be available soon. For information on ticket sales visit http://www.missamerica.org. Laura Kaeppeler, of Kenosha, Wisconsin is Miss America 2012.
Aniska Tonge Crowned Miss Virgin Islands
Miss Virgin Islands, Aniska Tonge
The 52nd and last Miss America 2013 was crowned today. Aniska Tonge was crowned Miss Virgin Islands Sunday afternoon at the ninth Miss Virgin Islands Scholarship Pageant, a preliminary event leading up to the annual Miss America Pageant in January 2013.
More than 50 people gathered at the Ritz-Carlton, St. Thomas to watch four glittering contestants compete for an opportunity to attend the national pageant and receive scholarship funds. The contestants competed in such categories as fitness, talent and evening wear.
The format of the program was different this year as the entire preliminary took place in one afternoon.
Nichole Mead crowned Miss Oregon 2012
Nichole Mead was named Miss Oregon 2012 on Monday by the Miss Oregon Scholarship Organization.
Mead, a native of Newport, will represent Oregon in the Miss America Pageant in Las Vegas on Jan. 12, 2013. The final night of competition and crowning of a new Miss America will be broadcast live on the ABC television network.
Mead is a graduate of the University of Oregon with a Bachelor of Science in Psychology and a minor in Communication Studies. As Miss Oregon 2012, Mead receives a $10,000 cash scholarship.
Rachel Berry resigned last week as Miss Oregon. Berry quit after questions arose about her length of residency prior to competing in the Miss Willamette Valley pageant. Winning that pageant qualified her to participate in the state pageant.
Mead, 24, was the reigning Miss Three Rivers and first runner-up at the state pageant.
Miss Puerto Rico 2012
Miss Puerto Rico 2012, Kiaraliz Medina
Kiaraliz Medina will represent Puerto Rico at the Miss America 2013 pageant in January. Her platform is “The Power within Us” and her talent is flamenco dancing. If crowned Miss America, she will be the first Miss Puerto Rico to earn the national title. Puerto Rico participated in the Miss America pageant from 1948 to 1956, 1958 and 1961; and returned to annual participation in 2009.
Miss Arkansas 2012
Miss Arkansas 2012, Sloane Roberts
A 19-year-old communications major at the University of Arkansas has been crowned Miss Arkansas 2012.
Pageant spokeswoman Toni Bahn says Miss Heart of the Ozarks Sloane Roberts, of Rison, was named the winner Saturday night. Roberts won a $20,000 scholarship.
Roberts’ platform was preventing child abduction and her talent was tap dancing. She also won the interview and swimsuit awards.
Miss South Carolina 2012
Miss South Carolina 2012, Ali Rogers
Miss Laurens County, Ali Rogers, was ecstatic when she was named the overall swimsuit competition winner at the Miss South Carolina Pageant Saturday night at the Township Auditorium. And when Miss Greater Greer Lauren Cabaniss was named first runner-up for the Miss South Carolina title — meaning Rogers had won the crown — Rogers had to catch her breath.
The 20-year-old Clemson University student, who was Miss South Carolina Teen 2009, was crowned by Bree Boyce, Miss S.C. 2011, who made national headlines by losing more than 100 pounds on her way to the title.
Miss Kentucky 2012
Miss Kentucky 2012, Jessica Casebolt
Thirty-one contestants representing local scholarship pageants from across the state were vying for the title of Miss Kentucky 2012.
19-year-old Jessica Danielle Casebolt took home the crown Saturday night. Casebolt previously held the title of Miss Goldenrod. A Pikeville native, Casebolt attended Georgetown College and majored in political science. Her platform was ‘Heart Health Awareness” and her talent was singing.
The 1st runner up was Olivia Henken, 2nd runner up Jefra Bland, 3rd runner up Annie Franklin and 4th runner up was Ashley Ferry.
The pageant was held at the Singletary Center for the Arts on the campus of the University of Kentucky in Lexington.
Miss USA: Rigged or Not?
It is bothersome that there is so much controversy involving pageants nowadays. Rating-booster or not, it’s just bad press altogether. In the last few years, we’ve witnessed the slow and painful deterioration of this industry.
Pageants used to be an integral part of the American culture. Family used to sit down in front of the television and watch the Miss America Pageant like they do with the Super Bowl. The winners in the old days received instant celebrity status and they are treated like royalty. What went wrong? Its appeal persisted among the baby-boomers but almost non-existent to the iPhone-using, XBox-playing, Twitter-sending, Facebook-posting generation of today.
The pageant industry has reached a milestone in the 90’s by abdicating tradition and let trends dictate its future. When Donald Trump acquired the Miss Universe Organization in the late 90’s, the world of pageantry changed forever. Pageants are now viewed and treated as business entities where ratings and profit margins are more important than anything else. In 2006, Miss America abandoned the Boardwalk Hall of Atlantic City, which has been its home for 85 years, and moved to the lights and glamour of Las Vegas. Its ratings decreased dramatically in the early 2000’s and the organization had to make some tough choices. They moved the pageant from network to cable and then back to network again in 2011.
Pageants will always have its share of controversy but it’s definitely turning for the worst. In the early days, majority of pageant controversy revolved around pregnancy, inappropriate photos and citizenship issues. These days, it revolves around drug addiction, drunk driving, weight gain, plastic surgery and felony charges. It’s the sign of the times!
The most recent controversy at the Miss USA Pageant takes the cake. A non-finalist contestant claims that the pageant was rigged. She claims that one of the other contestants saw a piece of paper listing the top 5 finalist before the pageant even began. Seriously? It’s totally unfathomable that the Miss Universe Organization, if they were indeed rigging the pageant, will leave a piece of paper of such importance backstage for everyone to see. It just doesn’t make sense. The pageant was broadcasted live to millions of audiences and there is no doubt that the women in the top 5 unequivocally deserved those spots.
Everyone knows that the Miss Universe Organization partakes in the selection of the semi-finalists. If you pay attention to the disclaimer statement right before the semifinalist’s names are announced, it is clearly stated that the votes of the preliminary judges, along with members of the Miss Universe Organization, determine who would make the first cut. Donald Trump acknowledged in an interview for a pageant documentary, that in the past, he had seen beautiful, extremely talented contestants, who he thinks are more deserving of competing for the title, have been eliminated and are backstage crying while less-deserving ones are out on stage competing. He doesn’t think that this is fair and as a business owner, he thinks that a company must have a say on whom they believe best represents their organization. He took immediate action and the organization started getting involved with the selection of semifinalists. Because of this, even if a contestant scores well in the preliminary competition, it doesn’t guarantee her a spot in the semifinals. The MUO clearly has the ability to modify the list of semifinalist at its discretion if they believe that the results from the preliminary judging is not up to par with their list of who they believe should move forward in the competition. Some people might consider this rigging and some will argue that it is simply influencing or persuading the results a certain way by injecting their opinion, but at the end, the result is still in the hands of the judges during the finals. What do you think?
The last 3 State Finals for Miss America will be this weekend
The last 3 Miss America state finals will be happening this weekend.
ARKANSAS – Juy 14, 2012 – Hot Springs Convention Center, Hot Springs, AR – View Contestants
KENTUCKY – July 14, 2012 – Singletary Center for the Arts on the campus of the University of Kentucky in Lexington. – View Contestants
SOUTH CAROLINA – July 14, 2012 – Township Auditorium, Columbia, SC – View Contestants
Miss Washington 2012
Mandy Schendel
Miss Washington 2012, Mandy Schendel & Miss Washington’s Outstanding Teen, Janae Callaway
Congratulations to Mandy Schendel for winning Miss Washington 2012! Mandy was Miss Washington Teen USA in 2008 and represented the Evergreen State at the 2008 Miss Teen USA Pageant held in the Bahamas.
State Finals for Miss America this weekend
STATE FINALS THIS WEEKEND FOR THE FOLLOWING STATES:
FLORIDA – Juy 7, 2012 – View Contestants
WASHINGTON – July 7, 2012 – View Contestants
TEXAS – July 7, 2012 – View Contestants
PAGEANT EXTRA 