MISS FLORIDA USA PRELIMINARY REPORTS

» *Miss Manatee County USA added to December 11^th Miss Sarasota USA:

We are VERY happy to announce that we will be crowning FOUR Miss titles!!!! Miss Manatee County USA (Sponsored by Atty. Garrett Barnes) Miss Sarasota USA, Miss Ft. Myers USA and Miss West Coast USA (Sponsored by Chris Woodward). The scores of all four titles will NOT be revealed as they all will be training for 6 months and working to better themselves.

Our teen division is still currently Miss Ft. Myers Teen USA, Miss Sarasota Teen USA and Miss West Coast Teen USA. We do have a limit of 20 Teens and we are currently at 18.

Our Miss division will close at 22 contestants and we are currently at 19. We wish everyone the best of luck in this exciting pageant year. May we all stay joined as one to uplift and encourage these young women!!! *Written by our friend Marianne Oden

» Miss Polk County USA/Teen USA Pageant Prep Day

Join the Win the Crown girls, Julie Broughton and Shannon Williams for an afternoon of pageant fun December 11^th! This workshop will answer all of your questions and help you get ready for the upcoming Miss Polk County USA/Teen USA pageants. Our new titleholders will be crowned the weekend of January 15^th and 16^th 2005 at the Embassy Suites I-Drive in Orlando.

This complimentary orientation will feature fitness & nutrition specialist Patrick Diver of Lifetime results. He’ll tell you about the most effective way of training to be swimsuit ready by competition day. We’ll show you examples of appropriate wardrobe options for all budgets. Make up artist George T. Reed will also demonstrate techniques for stage and interview application.

The reigning Miss Polk County Teen USA Tatiana Schoeppler will be on hand to chat answer your questions. She’ll tell us about her experience preparing for the state competition, and how it felt to place 3^rd runner up out of 56 contestants!

In addition to all this, we’ll give you an edge on securing sponsorship to cover your pageant expenses. You won’t want to miss our interview prep session as well as lessons on stage presence/modeling. Again, there is no charge to you for this workshop! For more information, please contact us at directors@winthecrown.com or call (407) 877-0468.

» Miss Treasure Coast USA & Miss Treasure Coast Teen USA 2006
Under the direction of Halavin Productions we are glad to offer a pageant opportunity for those in and around St. Lucie, Vero Beach and Fort Pierce! This will be the first time a Miss USA presence will be felt in this fast growing region. For more information call Angie or Mandi Halavin at 954 445-8181 or email MissTreasureCoastUSA@Yahoo.com for more information.

» Miss Homestead/Florida Keys USA & Miss Homestead/Florida Keys Teen USA 2006
Once again under the direction of Halavin Productions we are glad to offer a pageant opportunity for those in the southern most part of our state! For more information call Angie or Mandi Halavin at 954 445-8181 or email misspembrokepinesteenusa@yahoo.com (until they have secured a different email) for more information.

PRELIMINARY PAGEANT NEWS!

» MISS TALLAHASSEE USA NEWS
Miss Tallahassee USA Kimberly Anderson, along with top 5 finalists Chelsea Waggoner and Sheena Monnin were selected to model spring fashions for a spread in Tallahassee Magazine and Emerald Coast Magazine. These leading ladies will shoot the spread on December 10 in downtown Tallahassee. The magazines are high-end full-color publications produced bimonthly by Roland Publishing.

» MISS GAINESVILLE USA / JACKSONVILLE USA NEWS

Registration is now open for Miss Gainesville USA / Teen USA at www.missgainesvilleusa.com (CLICK ON GAINESVILLE) and for Miss Jacksonville USA / Teen USA at www.missjaxusa.com (CLICK ON JACKSONVILLE)!! The first Miss Gainesville USA/Leading Lady Workshop will take place on Sunday afternoon, January 23 from 3 PM - 6 PM at Gainesville Health and Fitness Club in Gainesville, FL, official gym of the Miss Gainesville USA pageant. The interactive program will include all the information about the Miss Gainesville USA / Teen USA pageant, as well as a Leading Lady workshop on public speaking, interviewing, wardrobe and physical fitness. To RSVP for this workshop, please contact Amanda Broadfoot at amanda@leadingladymagazine.com or phone 850-773-2795. Hope to see you there!

» MISS SPACE COAST USA SETS OFFICIAL DATE & SITE

Put on your calendar May 1, 2005 for the first ever Miss Space Coast USA and Miss Space Coast Teen USA Pageants in Downtown Melbourne at the historic Henegar Center for The Arts (www.henegar.org) This pageant is open to all of those in Brevard, Osceola, St. Lucie, Indian River, Okeechobee & Martin Counties. This will be the first ever presence of Miss USA on one of the fastest growing regions in Florida. For more information call pageant director Rachel Uziel at (954) 924-4949 or visit the new list at the preliminary page of www.MissFloridaUSA.com.

STATE PAGEANT ELIGIBILITY STATS

Miss Florida USA 2006

Delegates Entered: 5

Delegates Eligible: 27

Miss Florida Teen USA

Delegates Entered: 5

Delegates Eligible: 22

Every week more delegates become eligible to compete at state. The season started with qualifiers from the past year. All of each pageants top15 qualify along with Miss Amity & Miss Photogenic. Each preliminary pageant qualifies delegates as “at large” status with their finalist, amity, photogenic and peoples choice awards.

This weekend – 3 entry Miss USA 1 entry Miss Teen USA to be awarded.

THE ROAD TO MISS USA UPDATE:

“A Win For Brunette Science Nerds”

By Lily Raff - BendBulletin.com

EDMOND — Jessica Carlson will return to her graduate studies in biology at Portland State University this week and drop a bomb on her advisor, Dr. Randy Zelick. She said the professor doesn't approve of beauty pageants, so Carlson never told him she was spending the weekend competing for the title of Miss Oregon USA. "Now I will have to tell him," she said with a laugh.

The 23-year-old beat out 25 other contestants from across the state to win the coveted, rhinestone-studded crown Sunday at Eagle Crest Resort, near Redmond. Carlson will represent Oregon in the Miss USA pageant next spring. And if she wins the national title, she will attempt to become Miss Universe.

With a bachelor's degree under her belt and is pursuing her masters, the former high school valedictorian is not your stereotypical beauty queen. Carlson sits on the board of directors for the Portland Metro Performing Arts. And her research on the auditory systems of Cuban tree frogs — or "frog hearing," to put it simply — should be published in a scientific journal early next year. "Power to the science nerd brunettes in pageant-land," Carlson said with a laugh.

Wearing false eyelashes and a blue velvet evening gown Sunday night, it is hard to imagine that later this week, Carlson will return to work standing over cadavers to teach anatomy and physiology labs to Portland State University undergrads.

The leggy brunette started competing in beauty pageants a few years ago because she needed some scholarship money and because "it just looked like fun! If you can walk on stage in front of hundreds of people in a swimsuit, you can do anything," she said. "It takes a lot of nerve to say ‘I don't care what you think, I feel good about who I am, and how I look. It (pageantry) forces you to be comfortable with who you are."