The Miss Florida USA & Miss Florida Teen USA

Magazine of July 28th, 2005

Dear Miss Florida USA Family:

Welcome to another edition of YOUR Miss Florida USA & Miss Florida Teen USA Magazine YOUR information source for everything pageantry in the Sunshine State. This weekend begins the Mini Miss Florida Teen USA Super Season with our North Florida USA Super Pageant. Three titles are up for grabs in Jacksonville as Debonair Productions plans a great event. All the information you need is below in our Miss Florida USA Reports. Also we are reporting everyday on our Miss Florida Teen USA Victoria Ratliff as she aims to be Florida’s first Miss Teen USA. www.MissFloridaTeenUSA.com has the only daily reports from Miss Teen USA on the Internet!

In World Pageant News we feature a report from The Wheelchair America Pageant in Albany (NY), what an inspirational event. On The Road To Miss USA we recap Miss Ohio USA.

All the pageant news that fits to print updated on Thursdays and Fridays only at YOUR Miss Florida USA Ezine, the only Ezine in the pageant world!

Grant H. Gravitt, Jr.

Executive Producer

Miss Florida USA & Miss Florida Teen USA

63 Days until Miss FL Teen USA!

3 Days until North FL Teen USA Superpageant!

PAGEANT NEWS FROM AROUND THE WORLD

» Ms. Wheelchair America Announced

A pageant's crowning ambition is its cause

CATHY WOODRUFF Albany Times Union

Kristen Connors, the new Ms. Wheelchair America,

poses after winning the title at the 33rd annual national pageant,

Saturday, July 23, 2005, in Albany, N.Y. Connors, who was Ms. Wheelchair Rhode Island,

is from Cranston, R.I.

(AP Photo/Jim McKnight)

COLONIE -- Her friends call her "Hot Wheels," or "Wheels" for short. For Kristina Shepard, 21, the nickname stuck long before she started driving her bright-red Chevy pickup truck. She's answered to it since she was a child, and the flaming Hot Wheels logo is one of the first things people notice about her wheelchair. Now Ms. Wheelchair California, Shepard has relied on chairs with wheels to get around since she was injured in a car accident when she was less than a year old. Shepard continues to be surprised -- and even a little irked sometimes -- when people react to her disability by telling her they're sorry. "I've always known this is who I'm supposed to be," she said during a break at this week's Ms. Wheelchair America pageant at the Albany Marriott. "I never thought 'I'm in a wheelchair, and this is 'unfortunate.' And while she'd never realized until a few months ago that she might spread that message by participating in a pageant, Shepard was among 29 contestants between the ages of 21 and 60 who sought the Ms. Wheelchair America title here this week.

In a ceremony Saturday night, Kristen Connors, Ms. Wheelchair Rhode Island, was crowned Ms. Wheelchair America. As soon as the name of the first runner-up -- Sarah Whitlock, Ms. Wheelchair Texas -- was announced, Connors, 33, covered her mouth with her hand and widened her eyes. By process of elimination, she knew she had won. Dressed in classic black, her blond hair in a neat bun, she spoke of the pageant participants arrayed on stage behind her. "I will spend my next year making them proud," Connors said. Unlike those bestowed in many better-known pageants, the Ms. Wheelchair crown doesn't come with a big scholarship or lots of snazzy prizes. Instead, during her yearlong reign the winner is expected to educate by example, serving as something of an ambassador and giving speeches and presentations around the nation. The effort can include appearances in parades, on television and on radio; speaking to trade groups; and participating in other public events. Juliette Rizzo, the former Ms. Wheelchair Maryland and current Ms. Wheelchair America, also visited hospitalized soldiers returning from Afghanistan and Iraq. Noting that some join the ranks of the disabled as the result of gang violence, Shepard said she's been booked for interviews on hip-hop radio stations. "We expect that woman to serve as our national spokesperson," Denise DiNoto, the New York state coordinator for the event, said of each year's winner. "She travels throughout the country representing not only our organization but the 54 million Americans with disabilities, serving as an advocate and a role model for what is possible for people with disabilities."

Most participants in the national pageant have won state-level titles, though a handful of independent delegates" compete from states without programs and come to learn about establishing pageants in their own states. Earning the national title requires impressing a panel of five judges during two 10-minute interview sessions and a 2-minute platform speech Friday night. Emphasis in each judge's evaluation is to be on criteria including communication skills, accomplishments and self-confidence.

While organizers stress that the event is not a beauty pageant, participants clearly recognize that attention to hair, makeup and fashion is a natural part of making a good impression and a part of the pageant experience. Florence Rainey, Ms. Wheelchair District of Columbia and a retired commander with the U.S. Public Health Service, is relishing the chance to highlight her features with lipstick and eye shadow and accent her outfits with colorful hats. "I was in the military," Rainey, 48, explained of her time with the public health service, a uniformed corps of medical professionals headed by the U.S. surgeon general. "I didn't do makeup. I didn't wear hats, other than the bucket I wore with my uniform. This is so much fun." Rainey's adjustment to using a wheelchair, a result of multiple sclerosis, hasn't always been smooth, but she said this week's event is a sign of how far she's come. Laughing, she recalled her husband's reaction when she told him about her plan to participate in the pageant in Washington, D.C. "My husband cracked up," she said. "He said, 'You're going to do what?' Fun is how I looked at it. I've lost a lot of things in life, but I have gotten on the upside of that. I'm no longer mourning. I'm celebrating the life I have."

MISS FL USA NEWS!

» North Florida Super Teen USA Pageant Sunday!

Debonair Creations proudly presents the first ever North Florida Teen USA Super Pageant! Three titles and entries into Miss Florida Teen USA and the chance to be a part of The Debonair Divas! The titles of Miss St. Augustine Teen USA; Miss Duval County Teen USA and Miss North Florida Teen USA are up for grabs. The one-day event takes place Sunday July 21^st with a cap of twenty contestants for the three titles. For more information email DebonairDivas@yahoo.com or call 407-310-9106.

Miss North Florida Teen USA Super Pageant

July 31, 2005

Jacksonville, Florida

Bethelite Conference Center

5865 Arlington Expressway

Jacksonville, Florida 32211

» MISS BROWARD COUNTY TEEN USA August 4^th

Up next in our Miss Teen USA Special Season is the inaugural Miss Broward County Teen USA Pageant. Halavin Productions presents this great opportunity for one more South Florida representative at state Saturday August 6^th at 7:00pm. The host venue is The El Palapio Sport Hotel located at 4900 Powerline Road, Ft Lauderdale. The pageant registration is at 9:00am with a full day of pageantry planed for the contestants. Call Pageant Directors Angie or Mandi Halavin at (954) 445-8181 or email to missbrowardcountyusa@yahoo.com.

» 2007 Miss Florida USA Preliminary Season Schedule

Oct. 8/9

Miss West Coast USA & Miss West Coast Teen USA Pageants

Dec 3

North Florida Super Pageant (Tallahassee/Emerald Coast/Panhandle)

Dec 4

Miss Sunset Place USA & Miss Sunset Place Teen USA Pageants

Jan 29

Miss Hollywood USA & Miss Hollywood Teen USA Pageants

April 8

Miss Palm Beach County/Miss Gold Coast USA Pageants

» PRELIMINARY PAGEANT NEWS:

2007 Miss Florida USA Preliminary Season Schedule

Oct. 16

Miss West Coast USA & Miss West

Coast Teen USA Pageants

Dec 3

North Florida Super Pageant

(Tallahassee/Emerald Coast/Panhandle)

Dec 3

Miss Sunset Place USA &

Miss Sunset Place Teen USA Pageants

Jan 29

Miss Hollywood USA & Miss Hollywood Teen USA Pageants

April 8

Miss Palm Beach County/

Miss Gold Coast USA Pageants

» STATE PAGEANT CORNER

NEW MISS FLORIDA USA IMPORTANT DATES CALENDAR:

Finally we have put together a calendar with all of the important dates for this year’s Miss Florida USA Pageant. Look for it’s permanent home every week at YOUR Miss Florida USA Ezine.

August 20

Miss Florida Teen USA Seminar Day

August 25 – 28

Miss Florida Teen USA Pretape Weekend

August 27

Pageant University 9:00am

August 27

Miss Florida USA Preliminary Directors Meeting

September 30

Miss Florida Teen USA Registration and Interview Competition

October 1

Miss Florida Teen USA Preliminary Competition

October 2

Miss Florida Teen USA Finals

» ELEGIBILITY STATUS

Miss Florida Teen USA

Delegates Entered: 35

Delegates Eligible: 61

Eligibility for Miss Florida Teen USA Pageant:

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.

MISS FLORIDA USA AIRINGS THIS WEEKEND

PENSACOLA/MOBILE

WFGX-WB Channel35

TBD

ROAD TO MISS USA

Miss Ohio USA 2006 Recap

Washington county CROWNED MISS OHIO USA^® 2006

Portsmouth, Ohio – July 16, 2005 –This evening, during one of the year’s most exciting events, a panel of judges chose Stacy Offenberger, MISS Washington County, MISS OHIO USA^® 2006. The 25 year old, 5’10 blonde was crowned at the conclusion of the competition, which was held on July 16^th at the Vern Riffe Center for the Arts in Portsmouth, Ohio. Stacy, who competed against 75 other contestants from Ohio, is a student at Columbus State University pursuing her career in Chemical Dependency Counseling. Ms. Offenberger would like to one day operate a chemical dependency rehabilitation center. When not using her crown to help raise awareness and fight breast and ovarian cancers, the new titleholder will also dedicate her time to charities supporting learning disabilities and organ donation.

Throughout the event, the delegates competed in “Runway,” a choreographed evening gown competition on the catwalk; “Fitness/Swimsuit,” a high fashion styled competition showcasing physical fitness and health and “Interview.” Eventually the field of fifteen semi-finalists was narrowed down to the “Top Five” before the climactic crowning. Each of the five finalists was asked a question prepared by one of the other state contestants. MISS OHIO USA^® 2006 will represent the buckeye state in the 2006 MISS USA^®pageant.

Final Results:

First runner up:

Stephanie Albrecht from Portsmouth

Second Runner Up:

Erin Jeffrey from Harrison

Rest of Top Five:

Alison Liscoe from Richfeild

Missy Kohut from Mahoning County

Rest of Top Fifteen:

Alexis Semach from Central Ohio

Shannon Stewart from Warren County

Shiree Grimes from Wilmington

Nicci Shannon from Southwest Ohio

Tara Shaffer from Toledo

Christine Finch from Pickaway County

Amanda Holzen from Kent

Monica Day-Boggs representing Ohio’s State Capital

Meghan Leak from Greater Columbus

Leah Huhn from Hamilton County

The Photogenic Award selected by the press was presented to Christine Finch from Pickaway County and the Congeniality Award selected by the contestants was awarded to Missy Kohut of Mahoning County. Congratulations to Miss Offenberger and we look forward to seeing you at next years Miss USA Pageant, our national championship of pageantry! We now have selected 4 of the 51 delegates to grace the stage. Up next on The Road to Miss USA is Miss Rhode Island USA is August 27 & 28 at The Nazarian Center for the Performing Arts in Providence, RI. For a complete schedule of Miss USA State Pageants surf to the Leading Lady Magazine State Calendar at: http://www.leadingladymagazine.com/news.php?Selection=304