As the Miss America pageant celebrates its 100th anniversary this year, it will double the top scholarship prize to $100,000 and will be streamed on NBC's Peacock service.
The increase in the top prize is thanks to a donation from Miss America 1996 Shawntel Smith Wuerch and her husband, Ryan Wuerch. A total of $435,000 in scholarship money will be awarded in this year's competition, according to the nonprofit organization. Over $5 million is annually awarded through national, state and local programs, the organization said.
Miss America used to be in a primetime broadcast spot but will be streamed for Thursday's competition. Shantel Krebs, Miss America president and CEO, said the decision to move to streaming is unrelated to viewership numbers.
The Miss America finale on NBC had 3.6 million viewers in 2019, the lowest viewership for the pageant ever. To compare, the 1954 competition had 27 million viewers.
"If you say you want to be around the next 100 years, we absolutely had the desire to be streamed because that is where our future is," Krebs said, mentioning that younger people are less likely to have broadcast television.
Enthusiasts and Miss America organizers believe the pageant will stay and continue to change with the times. Many participants say that the competition has been life-altering, providing opportunities for contestants professionally and personally.
"I think that people have the wrong idea about what Miss America is all about because it's not just about getting dressed up and being prim and proper and being perfect on stage," said Miss America 2004 Ericka Dunlap, who was able to graduate from college debt-free, founded a public relations firm and became a TV personality.
Fans of Miss America often cheer on their state's contender like they would for a local sports team. Yet some have voiced disappointment about the competition's attempts to adapt to contemporary mores.
"It's in kind of a bind because as it tries to progress, it not only loses its original identity, but becomes less entertaining to the people who like to watch it," said Margot Mifflin, author of Looking for Miss America: A Pageant's 100-Year Quest to Define Womanhood.
Fans, she said, are split over the trajectory of the competition—no longer a "pageant." Some want it to be about "beauty and fitness" while others embrace the move toward focusing on leadership, talent, and communication skills, she said.
Meanwhile, the competition is still engulfed by calls for greater diversity.
In the late 1930s, 40s, and 50s, "rule number seven," stated contestants had to be "of good health and of the white race."
In 1968, there was a Miss Black America Contest to revolt against the lack of diversity, as well as a protest by several hundred women organized by the feminist group New York Radical Women, which called Miss America "an image that oppresses women in every area in which it purports to represent us."
It wasn't until 1984 that the first Black Miss America, Vanessa Williams, was crowned—and she relinquished her title over a nude photo scandal, receiving an apology from the organization only in 2015. At least 11 minority women have won the title in all.
Krebs, a former South Dakota secretary of state who does not take a salary, contends the Miss America organization is "committed to diversity, equity and inclusion."
She said the event has been at "the center of social issues" over the past 100 years, noting winners have taken on causes including HIV/AIDS awareness and the scourge of opioid abuse. But Mifflin notes the modernization of the competition has happened "well behind the broader culture in terms of women's progress."
It wasn't until 2018 that the judging on physical appearance was eliminated, with the help of former Miss America Gretchen Carlson, who ended up having to step down as board chair.
Carlson was part of an all-female leadership team that took over following an email scandal in which male leaders insulted former Miss Americas, denigrating their appearance, intelligence and even their sex lives. While some welcomed the changes as a way to make the event more relevant, many state organizations rebelled against the new leadership team.
"I say in the book that it's always been in dialogue with feminism, but behind feminism," Mifflin said of the Miss America competition. "So it always seems like it's trying to catch up."
Dunlap, the seventh Black Miss America, believes the competition—which she has no problem calling a pageant—needs to become more diverse in order to remain relevant. She noted, for example, there have been no winners of Hispanic origin.
She said more needs to be done to help young women of color get involved at the local level, such as helping them cover the high costs of participating—including developing their talents and buying gowns—so they can pursue the same life-changing opportunities.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
