Tuesday, September 20, 2016

Updated bragging rights - and Fun Facts about the 2016 Miss America competition

Now that we are a week out from this year's Miss America pageant, here are some interesting facts about the competition:
All photos are from each state organization's Facebook page.

ARKANSAS
Savvy Shields, Miss Arkansas 2016 & MISS AMERICA 2017.
Savvy becoming Miss America 2017 brings Arkansas its fourth consecutive semi-finalist, or better, and gives the state 17 competitive awards in the last 24 years (starting in 1993), and its THIRD Miss America title after ELIZABETH WARD in1982 and DONNA AXUM in 1963.

SOUTH CAROLINA
Rachel Wyatt, Miss South Carolina 2016, 1st Runner-Up
Rachel brought South Carolina its second 1st Runner-Up placement in five years (and its sixth 1st RU placement overall along with its two Miss Americas).

NEW YORK
Camille Sims, Miss New York 2016, 2nd Runner-Up

Seven Top 12+ placements in the last nine years, including (as we all know) three consecutive Miss America winners. New York is the only state to win three times in a row.  For those of you who don't know the list - our back-to-back Miss Americas from the same state are: Mary Ann Mobley & Lynda Mead, Mississippi, in 58 & 59; Jennifer Berry & Lauren Nelson, Oklahoma, 06 & 07.

WASHINGTON
Alicia Cooper, Miss Washington, 2016, 3rd Runner-Up
The State of Washington has seen six of its state titleholders become runners-up since Miss America started being televised in 1954.  Three of those six have occurred in the last ten years.

MISSISSIPPI
Laura Lee Lewis, Mis Mississippi 2016, 4th Runner-Up
Four consecutive years of making the first cut+, 5 consecutive years of winning a competitive award (Non-Finalist Talent in 2013's January competition), and 6 awards in the last seven years.

MARYLAND
Hannah Brewer, Miss Maryland 2016, Top 7
Maryland wins its fourth competitive award in five years.  The only other time Maryland has won four awards over five years was in 1998-2002.

TEXAS
Caroline Carothers, Miss Texas 2016, Top 7
The Lone Star State has made the first cut+ for 8 consecutive years and has not gone two consecutive years without making the Top 10 for the past 18 years (starting in 1999).  In fact, Texas hasn't gone more than two consecutive years without making the Top 10 since 1970!  
That's 33 Top 10 Finalists in the last 47 yrs (a 70% success rate)!

CALIFORNIA
Jesse Carmack, Miss California 2016, Top 10
Back in the Top 10 after two years of not placing, and 10 semi-finalists+ in the last 14 years.

IOWA
Kelly Koch, Miss Iowa 2016, Top 10
Has everyone noticed that Iowa has won eight competitive awards in the last 10 years (a 2nd RU, a 4th RU, three Top 10's, two Top 12's, a Non-Finalist Talent award, as well as two Talent prelim awards, and a Swimsuit prelim award, including the first double prelim winner in 15 years)?!

TENNESSEE
Grace Burgess, Miss Tennessee 2016, Top 10
Tennessee has made the semi-finals in 8 of the last 10 years.

KENTUCKY
Laura Jones, Miss Kentucky 2016, Top 12
Seven semi-finalists in nine years.

OKLAHOMA
Sarah Klein, Miss Oklahoma 2016, Top 12
Eight (8!!!) consecutive placements in Top 12+, and 13 competitive awards in the last fifteen years.



LOUISIANA
Justine Ker, Miss Lousiana 2016, Top 15
Six competitive awards in the last eight years.

MASSACHUSETTS
Alissa Musto, Miss Massachusetts 2016, Top 15
The state with the second-most Non-Finalist Talent Award winners made the first cut
for the second time in three years.

IDAHO
Kylee Solberg, Miss Idaho 2016, Top 15 (Sweetheart Winner, 2015)

Three consecutive awards and Idaho's best placement since Karen herd's 1st RU placement in 1971.

OVERALL RANKINGS for making Top 10 in the TV Years (1954-2016)
Which states made big jumps this year in the overall rankings?

TEXAS - Holds onto its # 1 ranking.
CALIFORNIA - Moves up from # 3 to # 2.
MISSISSIPPI - Maintains its spot at # 4.
NEW YORK - Maintains its spot at # 7.
ARKANSAS - Moves up from # 10 to # 8.
TENNESSEE - Moves up from # 11 to # 9.
SOUTH CAROLINA - Maintains its spot at #12.
WASHINGTON - Moves up from # 21 to #18.
IOWA - Moves up from # 27 to # 23.
MARYLAND - Moves up from # 32 to # 29.

I've chosen to rank states first by the number of women who made Top 10 because that has been a constant over the years.  For many years a Top 10 was named and later seven Non-Finalist Talent winners were announced, so I have a separate column for semi-finalists in the years we've had a Top 12, 13, 15, 16, or 20.

These rankings constitute the 63 competitions between 1954-2016.

An explanation of the various columns:
The "10" column shows the number of times a state rep made the Top 10.
The "5"column shows the number of times a state rep made the Top 5.
The "Top 5" column lists the placements in Top 5 (W=Miss America win, 1=1st Runner-Up, etc.).
"SS" and "Tal" show the number of prelim winners in Swimsuit and Talent.
"NFT" and "NFI" show the number of Non-Finalist Talent and Non-Finalist Interview awards.
"15/20" shows the number of Top 12, 13, 15, 16, 20, etc. semi-finalists

Ties have been broken first by the number of Top 5 finalists, then the actual placements within Top 5.

Although this is one of the very first lists of stats I ever started keeping, and I have been reviewing and updating it for many years, I'm sure I've got a mistake somewhere. I am counting of you to help me get everything correct, so email away if you find something incorrect or missing.

STATE105TOP 5 PLACEMENTSSSTALNFTNFI15/20Any Award
1Texas3813W,W,1,2,2,2,3,3,3,3,4,4,46741344
2California3020W,W,1,1,1,1,1,1,2,2,2,3,3,3,3,3,3,4,4,412810140
3Alabama3014W,W,1,1,1,2,2,2,3,3,4,4,4,561181442
4Mississippi2718W,W,W,W,1,1,1,2,2,2,2,3,3,3,4,4,4,51455340
5Florida2613W,W,1,2,2,3,3,3,4,4,4,4,47873335
6Oklahoma2516W,W,W,W,W,1,2,2,2,2,2,2,4,4,4,4698233
7New York2211W,W,W,W,W,1,2,2,3,4,46910135
8Arkansas1910W,W,W,1,1,1,2,2,3,48281326
9Tennessee197W,1,2,2,2,2,34371127
10Hawaii196W,W,1,2,2,485627
11Ohio1812W,W,W,1,1,1,2,3,3,3,4,4510736
12South Carolina1812W,W,1,1,1,1,1,1,2,2,2,310310328
13Indiana1710W,1,1,2,2,3,4,4,4,45761428
14Louisiana1791,1,1,1,3,3,3,4,45610128
15Illinois1610W,W,W,W,1,1,2,2,3,4671431
16Virginia169W,W,W,1,1,1,3,3,45512232
17Georgia158W,1,1,1,1,2,2,35471125
18Washington1562,2,3,3,3,4631120
19Pennsylvania1562,2,3,3,4,4161023
20Kansas146W,W,W,2,3,344721
21Kentucky145W,3,4,4,4236424
22Massachusetts1441,1,2,414171132
23Iowa1361,1,2,3,43414228
24North Carolina1210W,1,1,1,1,2,2,3,4,46416233
25Wisconsin128W,W,1,1,1,2,2,44481122
26Arizona127W,3,3,3,4,4,4118120
27Oregon126W,1,1,2,3,32371222
28Michigan116W,W,W,W,3,45312126
29Maryland1141,3,3,4345120
30Colorado107W,W,W,1,2,2,311021
31Minnesota107W,W,3,4,4,4,4451021
32Missouri106W,2,3,3,4,4214318
33New Jersey961,2,2,2,2,33112122
34District of Columbia951,1,3,3,545313
35Utah82W,25419330
36New Mexico71212
37Nevada522,3217113
38Nebraska51W13111221
39Connecticut51310118
40West Virginia312271113
41Delaware3121016
42North Dakota32419
43Maine222,41810
44Idaho2111122217
45New Hampshire2142269
46Rhode Island2133361110
47Montana22418
48South Dakota2517
49Wyoming11356
50Alaska1177
51Vermont113114
52Puerto Rico11
53Canada224
54Virgin Islands0
TOTALS6203101871824242160