Lauren Paige Nelson (born November 26, 1986) is a beauty queen from Lawton,

Oklahoma Oklahoma ( ; Choctaw language, Choctaw: , ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Texas to the south and west, Kansas to the north, Missouri to the northea ...

who holds the

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: ''Priva ...

2007 title. Nelson is the second consecutive Miss America and sixth in the history of Miss America to hail from this state.

Early life and education

Nelson attended MacArthur High School and later graduated from

University of Central Oklahoma The University of Central Oklahoma (UCO) is a public university in Edmond, Oklahoma, United States. It is the third largest university in Oklahoma, with almost 13,000 students and approximately 430 full-time and 400 adjunct faculty. Founded in ...

with a degree in public relations.

Pageantry

Miss Teen Oklahoma 2004

Nelson was Miss Teen Oklahoma 2004, and in this role, she performed at the 2005 Miss America pageant.

Miss Oklahoma 2006

She won the Miss Oklahoma State Fair 2006 local title and then competed in the

Miss Oklahoma The Miss Oklahoma competition selects a winner to compete on behalf of Oklahoma in the Miss America pageant. Miss Oklahoma has won the Miss America crown on five occasions. Also, in the years when city representatives were common, Norma Smallw ...

pageant for the first time on June 11, 2006. On the final night of competition, she was crowned Miss Oklahoma 2006, for which she received a $16,000 scholarship. At age nineteen, she was the youngest contestant to become Miss Oklahoma.

Miss America 2007

Nelson went on to represent

in the Miss America 2007 pageant that was broadcast on CMT from the Theatre for the Performing Arts on January 29, 2007. She won a preliminary swimsuit award on Thursday night, becoming her state's first swimsuit preliminary award since 1955. Her talent was a vocal performance, and her platform was, "Be NetSmart – Protecting Kids Online". At the conclusion of the live telecast, Nelson was crowned

2007, beating first runner-up Miss Texas 2006, Shilah Phillips. She received a $50,000 scholarship award along with the title. She succeeded Jennifer Berry of

Jenks, Oklahoma Jenks is a city in Tulsa County, Oklahoma, United States, and a suburb of Tulsa, in the northeastern part of the state. It is situated between the Arkansas River and U.S. Route 75. Jenks is one of the fastest-growing cities in Oklahoma. The city ...

, this being the second occurrence of consecutive state winners since Mississippi took the Miss America title in both 1959 and 1960.

Personal life

Nelson married Randy Faram, a student minister, on October 24, 2009. Nelson gave birth to a son, Mason, in October 2013 and a daughter, Dawson Paige, in March 2016.

Miscellaneous

Nelson teamed up with host John Walsh on the FOX television show

America's Most Wanted ''America's Most Wanted'' (often abbreviated as ''AMW'') is an American television program whose first run was produced by 20th Television, and second run is under the Fox Entertainment#Fox Alternative Entertainment, Fox Alternative Entertain ...

to assist in the apprehension of potential child predators, posing as a teenager online. Initial reports on May 1, 2007, stated that she did not plan to return to testify against those predators that were apprehended, putting the prosecution's case in jeopardy. However, she appeared to change her mind later that day, and it was reported that she would testify against the perpetrators. On January 17, 2008, Nelson appeared on ''

Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? ''Are You Smarter than a 5th Grader?'' is a game show franchise that was co-created and produced by Mark Burnett, Barry Poznick and John Stevens. Adult contestants answer questions, as if they came from an elementary grade school quiz. The orig ...

'' playing for the Miss America Organization. She won $175,000 before "dropping out." On August 2, 2010, Nelson joined

KWTV KWTV-DT (channel 9) is a television station in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, United States, affiliated with CBS. It is the flagship broadcast property of locally based Griffin Media, and is co-owned with MyNetworkTV affiliate KSBI (channel 52). Th ...

Oklahoma City Oklahoma City (), officially the City of Oklahoma City, and often shortened to OKC, is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Oklahoma, most populous city of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The county seat ...

, a

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS (an abbreviation of its original name, Columbia Broadcasting System), is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainme ...

affiliate, as a co-anchor of the station's 4 P.M. newscast, which was reformatted from a traditional newscast to a lifestyle-oriented newscast.

References

External links

*
News9's Lauren Nelson

website, offering a free child-safe web browser for children featuring Lauren Nelson {{DEFAULTSORT:Nelson, Lauren 1986 births Contestants on American game shows Living people People from Lawton, Oklahoma Miss America winners Miss America 2007 delegates Methodists from Oklahoma University of Central Oklahoma alumni Miss America Preliminary Swimsuit winners Television anchors from Oklahoma City American women television journalists