Miss N.C. Pageant Becomes Racy

Thirty-eight young women from across the Tar Heel State revved their engines in pursuit of thousands of scholarship dollars and the chance of a lifetime - the chance to motor on to Atlantic City and the Miss America pageant.

Driving lanes lined the stage floor and the opening number featured the contestants in fashion-forward attire as they swiftly sashayed among the "Stop," "Yield" and "One Way" road signs.

Once again this year, I brought three different pageant novitiates to the preliminary competitions, one each night. The pole position went to journalism Ph.D.-student pal Deborah Gump, a bit of a cynic about all things pageant, but open-minded enough to know that an evening with me couldn't be boring.

Like a qualifying event for the main show on Saturday, each of the three preliminary nights features one group of women competing in each of the three on-stage phases of competition: swimsuit, talent and evening wear.

The scores earned during the preliminary competitions determine the top-10 semi-finalists who go on to compete for the Miss North Carolina title in the big race.

Deborah enjoyed the show but hated the music and the never-ending racing metaphors. It did seem odd to have bright and beautiful women modeling in evening wear to the tune of idling race cars.

For competition night two, I brought a Meredith College alumna pal of mine, Shawna Adams. Shawna has competed in the Miss USA system a time or two back home in Vermont. Miss USA contestants also have to be bright and beautiful, but they do not have to perform a talent on stage.

That's the main difference between the two programs that support and celebrate the young American woman. Shawna watched with the critical eye of a competitor, more interested in the evening wear than anything else. You see, Shawna hopes to compete again and earn her way to Miss USA. Her winning gown just might have been on that Miss North Carolina stage!

For the final night of preliminaries, I brought another fellow journalism graduate student, Sue Alessandri. Sue has heard more pageant stories of mine than almost anyone else here at Carolina.

She was eager to find some stories of her own. What she decided was that clogging sounded an awful lot like the jingle tapping she did as a kid and that little women sure can have big voices. She's also shocked at how much money these women earn in the Miss America program.

Yes, indeed, you can put yourself through school if you can walk well in heels, talk well under the bright lights, and sing, dance or play an instrument a touch or two above middle-school recital level.

Miss North Carolina 2001 Ashley House earned herself $12,000 Saturday night. That will surely go a long way to paying her tuition at Campbell University. She picked up another $250 as a preliminary swimsuit winner, plus enough wardrobe winnings to outfit an entire pit crew.

Combining the cash with her prizes - from tanning to AAA auto-club membership - she's well outfitted to spend the next year on the road, from coast to mountains, making appearances at schools and civic events promoting her personal platform issue (mentally and physically challenged awareness) and the Miss America program.

The biggest agenda item for Ashley, however, is the chance to compete for the Miss America title in Atlantic City this September.

The biggest source of scholarship dollars for American women, the Miss America Pageant is a national pep rally, a Mardi Gras extravaganza and a Super Bowl of beauty, talent and intellect all rolled into one amazing week of events.

I brought my pageant partner-in-crime with me to the final show on Saturday. Dr. Donald Campbell, of Atlanta, and I go way back, proving that you can make lifelong friends in pageantry. His trained eye enjoyed the production.

Contestant by contestant, he whispered scores to me as I checked them against my own, proving that one different judge on the panel would have led to a different winner. He was amazed that first runner-up Adrienne Perry didn't capture the crown when it came down to the last two women.

Two students from the University competed in the beauty race this year, but I'm sorry to report neither made it too far out of the starting blocks.

I was shocked that last year's first runner-up, third-year UNC law student Stacey Parker, didn't make it into the final laps of this year's race.

Representing Henderson and finishing out of the top 10, Stacey looked dynamite (still), danced incredibly (again) and spoke eloquently (as would be expected of the Duke alumna).

Miss Moore County Katie Ann Whitley, a rising sophomore here at UNC, shared the Miss Congeniality award. That's an honor, a $500 scholarship and a pretty amusing movie if you're looking for something to do on some rainy Saturday afternoon.

Dana Rosengard is a graduate student in the UNC-CH School of Journalism and Mass Communication. He serves as a producer, master of ceremonies, judge and coach for Miss America and Miss USA state programs.