The Miss Virginia competition is a scholarship pageant for women, with the titleholder representing

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...

in 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 ...

pageant. The competition was founded in 1953 as a scholarship contest for young women, although women had represented Virginia in the Miss America pageant since the 1930s. Four Miss Virginia winners have gone on to be crowned Miss America, including former national titleholder

Caressa Cameron Caressa Venal Cameron-Jackson (born August 4, 1987) is an American beauty pageant titleholder and occasional singer from Fredericksburg, Virginia who was Miss Virginia 2009 and Miss America 2010. She is the eighth African American Miss America ...

. To compete in the Miss Virginia pageant, a contestant must first win one of many local competitions. Contestants may compete at the local and state level more than once, but having won a state title may only compete in the national

competition one time. The state pageant is held in

Roanoke, Virginia Roanoke ( ) is an Independent city (United States), independent city in Virginia, United States. It lies in Southwest Virginia, along the Roanoke River, in the Blue Ridge Mountains, Blue Ridge range of the greater Appalachian Mountains. Roanok ...

at the

Roanoke Civic Center Berglund Center (originally called the Roanoke Civic Center) is a 10,500-seat multi-purpose arena located in the Williamson Road neighborhood of Roanoke, Virginia. It was built in 1971 and is currently the home of the Roanoke Rail Yard Dawgs of ...

in June or July. During her reign, Miss Virginia travels over 40,000 miles across the state making appearances to further her social impact initiative, visit schools, and for the Miss America Organization's national

Children's Miracle Network Children's Miracle Network Hospitals (CMN Hospitals) (French: (RES)) is a nonprofit organization that raises funds for children's hospitals in the U.S. and Canada. Donations support the health of more than 10 million children each year. Donat ...

campaign. Dorcas Campbell from Farfield was Miss Virginia of 1963, won many singing contests, and was a very talented opera singer. Kristi Lauren Glakas, Miss Virginia 2005, is one of only seven women who have competed in the Miss America,

Miss Teen USA Miss Teen USA is a beauty pageant that has been run since 1983 by the Miss Universe Organization for girls aged 14–19 years old as of January 1st of the competition year. They must be US citizens, and cannot have been married, pregnant, or ...

, and

Miss USA Miss USA is an American beauty pageant that has been held annually since 1952 to select the entrant from United States in the Miss Universe pageant. The Miss Universe Organization operated both pageants, as well as Miss Teen USA, until 2020. ...

competitions. She was

Miss Virginia Teen USA The Miss Virginia Teen USA competition is the pageant that selects the representative for the state of Virginia in the Miss Teen USA pageant. Virginia is one of the more successful states at Miss Teen USA, and is placed in the top twenty in te ...

1999 and

Miss Virginia USA The Miss Virginia USA competition is the pageant that selects the representative for the state of Virginia in the Miss USA pageant. Virginia has been only moderately successful in terms of number of semi-finalists. They have had two Miss USAs. ...

2004, placing in the top ten at

Miss Teen USA 1999 Miss Teen USA 1999, the 17th Miss Teen USA pageant, was televised live from Shreveport, Louisiana on 24 August 1999. At the conclusion of the final competition, Ashley Coleman of Delaware was crowned by outgoing queen Vanessa Minnillo of South ...

and was a non-finalist at

Miss USA 2004 Miss USA 2004 was the 53rd Miss USA pageant, held at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, California on April 12, 2004. The winner of the beauty pageant was Shandi Finnessey, who became the first winner from the state of Missouri. The judges were ...

. Two other Miss Virginia titleholders later competed in the

pageant: Jennifer Pitts was Miss Virginia USA 2005 and Shannon DePuy was

Miss Florida USA The Miss Florida USA competition is the pageant that selects the representative for the state of Florida in the Miss USA pageant. Up until the 2017 pageant, both Miss and Teen state pageants were held separately in different months. In recen ...

1995. Carlehr Swanson of

Charlottesville Charlottesville, colloquially known as C'ville, is an independent city in Virginia, United States. It is the seat of government of Albemarle County, which surrounds the city, though the two are separate legal entities. It is named after Quee ...

was crowned Miss Virginia 2024 on June 29, 2024, at the Berglund Center Auditorium in

. She will compete for the title of Miss America 2025.

Gallery of past titleholders

File:Hannah Kiefer.jpg, File:Tara Miss Virginia 2008 111.JPG, File:Caressa Cameron.jpg, File:Chinah Helmandollar headshot.png, File:Desiree Williams.jpg,

Results summary

The following is a visual summary of the past results of Miss Virginia titleholders at the national Miss America pageants/competitions. The year in parentheses indicates the year of the national competition during which a placement and/or award was garnered, not the year attached to the contestant's state title.

Placements

* Miss Americas:

Kylene Barker Kylene Barker (born 11 November 1955) is an American pageant winner from Galax, Virginia who was Miss Virginia 1978 and Miss America 1979. Early life Barker was born in Galax, Virginia to father Kyle and mother Dolores (deceased 2006). She atte ...

(

1979 Events January * January 1 ** United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim heralds the start of the ''International Year of the Child''. Many musicians donate to the ''Music for UNICEF Concert'' fund, among them ABBA, who write the song ...

), Nicole Johnson (

1999 1999 was designated as the International Year of Older Persons. Events January * January 1 – The euro currency is established and the European Central Bank assumes its full powers. * January 3 – The Mars Polar Lander is launc ...

(

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

Camille Schrier Camille Thomasina Schrier (; born June 30, 1995) is an American pageant titleholder. On June 22, 2019, she was crowned Miss Virginia 2019. On December 19, 2019, she was crowned Miss America 2020 in Uncasville, Connecticut. In May 2020, following ...

(

2020 The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of even ...

) * 1st runners-up: Julianne Smith (1987), Cullen Johnson (1995),

Courtney Garrett Courtney Paige Garrett (born August 14, 1992) is an American beauty pageant titleholder from Pamplin City, Virginia, who was chosen as Miss Virginia's Outstanding Teen 2009 and crowned Miss Virginia 2014. She competed for the Miss America 2015 t ...

(2015) * 2nd runners-up: Anne Lee Ceglis (1954) * 3rd runners-up: Evangeline Glidewell (1933), Kristi Lauren Glakas (2006), Hannah Kiefer (2008) * 4th runners-up:

Rose Marie Elliott Rose Marie Brown (April 15, 1919 – January 19, 2015) was an American theater actress who was crowned Miss Virginia in 1939. Then known by her birth name, Rose Marie Elliott, she placed fourth in the 13th Miss America pageant in Atlantic City. Ho ...

(1939), Nancy Glisson (1994) * Top 10: Dorcas Campbell (1964), Cherie Davis (1969), Pamela Polk (1977), Heidi Lammi (1988), Shannon DePuy (1991),

Nancy Redd Nancy Amanda Redd (born April 28, 1981) is an American author who was Miss Virginia in 2003 and competed in Miss America, finishing in the top ten and winning the preliminary "Lifestyle & Fitness in Swimwear" competition. Redd authored the body ...

(2004), Caitlin Uze (2011), Cecili Weber (2018) * Top 15: Eleanor V. Reid (1926), Dolores Taylor (1936), Jacquelyn McWin (1941), Elizabeth Crot (2012), Savannah Lane (2016) * Top 16: Frances L. Sultan (1937)

Awards

Preliminary awards

* Preliminary Lifestyle and Fitness: Linda Moyer (1972), Julianne Smith (1987), Cullen Johnson (1995),

(2004), Kristi Lauren Glakas (2006) * Preliminary On Stage Interview: Emili McPhail (2019) * Preliminary Talent: Anne Lee Ceglis (1954), Dorcas Campbell (1964), Cherie Davis (1969), Pamela Polk (1977), Crystal Lewis (2000),

(2010),

(2020)

Non-finalist awards

* Non-finalist Talent: Rebecca Richardson (1957), Alice Sue Williams (1960), Patricia Gaulding (1963), Carolyn Eddy (1965), Sydney Lewis (1970), Terri Bartlett (1978), Susan Parker (1984), Tami Elliott (1990), Sheri Huffman (1991), Lora Flattum (1992), Michelle Kang (1997), Kelli Quick (1998), Crystal Lewis (2000)

Other awards

Miss Congeniality Miss Congeniality may refer to: * ''Miss Congeniality'' (film), 2000 film, directed by Donald Petrie, starring Sandra Bullock and Benjamin Bratt **'' Miss Congeniality 2: Armed and Fabulous'', a 2005 sequel *A special award, the "Miss Congeniality A ...

: Linda Maclin (1967) * Charles and Theresa Brown Scholarship: Hannah Kiefer (2008), Courtney Garrett (2015) * Children's Champion Award: Nancy Redd (2004), Mariah Rice (2005) * Quality of Life Award Finalists: Adrianna Sgarlata (2007), Tara Wheeler (2008), Caitlin Uze (2011), Courtney Garrett (2015) * Waterford Crystal Business Scholarship: Cullen Johnson (1995) * Women in STEM Winners: Victoria Chuah (2023)

Winners

Notes

References

External links

Miss Virginia official website
{{Authority control

Virginia culture Women in Virginia Recurring events established in 1923 1923 establishments in Virginia Annual events in Virginia