Miss America

Miss America is an annual competition that is open to women from the United States between the ages of 18 and 28. Originating in 1921 as a "bathing beauty revue", the contest is judged on competition segments with scoring percentages: Private Interview (30%) – a 10-minute press conference-style interview with a panel of judges, On Stage Question (10%) – answering a judge's question onstage, Talent or HER Story (20%) – a performance talent or 90 second speech, Health and Fitness (20%) – demonstrated physical fitness onstage dressed in athletic wear, and Evening Gown (20%) – modeling evening-wear onstage.

The previous year's titleholder crowns the winner. Miss America 2026 is Cassie Donegan of New York, who was crowned on September 7, 2025, at the Dr Phillips Center for the Performing Arts in Orlando, Florida.

On February 1, 1919, a beauty pageant was held at the Chu Chin Chow Ball at the Hotel des Artistes in New York City. The winner, Edith Hyde Robbins Macartney, was called "Miss America." Neither the title nor this pageant was related to the current "Miss America Pageant" which would develop a year later in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Rather, the origins of the "Miss America Pageant" lie in an event entitled The Fall Frolic held on September 25, 1920, in Atlantic City. This event was designed to bring business to the Boardwalk: "three hundred and fifty gaily decorated rolling wicker chairs were pushed along the parade route. Three hundred and fifty men pushed the chairs. However, the main attractions were the young 'maidens' who sat in the rolling chairs, headed by Head Maiden Miss Ernestine Cremona, who was dressed in a flowing white robe and represented 'Peace.'"

The event was so successful that The Businessmen's League planned to repeat it the following year as a beauty pageant or a "bather's revue" (to capitalize on the popularity of newspaper-based beauty contests that used photo submissions). The event was scheduled to take place the weekend following Labor Day, to encourage summer visitors to stay in Atlantic City. Thus, "newspapers from Pittsburgh to Washington, D.C., were asked to sponsor local beauty contests. The winners would participate in the Atlantic City contest. If the local newspaper would pay for the winner's wardrobe, the Atlantic City Businessmen's League would pay for the contestant's travel to compete in the Inter-City Beauty Contest." Herb Test, a "newspaperman", coined the term for the winner: "Miss America." On September 8, 1921, 100,000 people gathered at the Boardwalk to watch the contestants from Washington, D.C., Baltimore, Pittsburgh, Harrisburg, Ocean City, Camden, Newark, New York City, and Philadelphia. Out of the nine contestants, the two frontrunners were Virginia Lee and Margaret Gorman. A conflict ensued when the judges disqualified 22-year-old Lee at the last minute because she was deemed a professional rather than an amateur like the other contestants because she was 1) a working actress, 2) married, and 3) a friend of the competition's chief judge. The 16-year-old winner from Washington, D.C., Margaret Gorman, was crowned the "Golden Mermaid" and won $100.

The pageant continued consistently over the next eight decades except for the years 1928–1932, when it was temporarily shut down due to financial problems associated with the Great Depression and suggestions that it promoted "loose morals." With its revival in 1933, 15-year-old Marian Bergeron won, prompting future contestants to be between the ages of 18 and 26. In 1935, Lenora Slaughter was hired to "re-invent" the pageant and served for 32 years as its director. By 1938, a talent section was added to the competition, and contestants were required to have a chaperone. In 1940, the title officially became "The Miss America Pageant" and the pageant was held in Atlantic City's Convention Hall. In 1944, compensation for "Miss America" switched from "furs and movie contracts" to college scholarships, an idea generally credited to Jean Bartel, Miss America 1943.

During the early years of the pageant, under the directorship of Lenora Slaughter, it became racially segregated via rule number seven that stated: "contestants must be of good health and of the white race." Rule seven was abolished in 1950. Miss New York 1945, Bess Myerson, the only Jewish American winner to date, became Miss America 1945 and faced antisemitism during her time as Miss America, leading to a cutback in her official duties. Although there were Native American, Latina, and Asian-American contestants, there were no African-American contestants for fifty years (African-Americans appeared in musical numbers as far back as 1923, however, when they were cast as slaves).

In 1970, Cheryl Browne, Miss Iowa 1970, competed as the first African-American contestant in the Miss America 1971 pageant. She also participated in one of the last USO-Miss America tours in Vietnam. A decade later in 1983, Miss New York (and Miss Syracuse) 1983, Vanessa Williams (the first African-American woman to win the competition as Miss America 1984), resigned under pressure due to a scandal involving nude photographs. Three decades after these events, Miss New York (and Miss Syracuse) 2013, Nina Davuluri, the first Indian-American woman to win the crown as Miss America 2014, faced xenophobic and racist comments on social media when she won. Two years later, at the Miss America 2016 pageant, then Miss America CEO Sam Haskell apologized to Vanessa Williams (who was serving as head judge) for what was said to her during the events of 1984.

In 2018, the pageant adopted a new format, referred to as "Miss America 2.0", as part of an effort under new chairwoman Gretchen Carlson to "[evolve Miss America] in this cultural revolution." Under the new format, competitors were no longer judged on their physical appearance (resulting in the highly publicized announcement that the event would no longer include a swimsuit competition). In 2023, many of the "Miss America 2.0" changes (including the ban on judging personal appearance) were reversed under the advent of new leadership.