2017's Updates & States Bragging Rights

Here are 2017's updates for states winning awards.  The updated chart listing all states and their ranking according to awards is at the bottom of this page.

(All photos are from each state's FB page.)

NORTH DAKOTA

CARA MUND, MISS AMERICA 2018

As just about everyone knows, CARA is North Dakota's first-ever Top 5 Finalist and its first MISS AMERICA. The state had its first Top 10 finalist in 1976, who was followed by two more in 1988 and 1997. North Dakota also had a Top 16 in 2014.


MISSOURI

JENIFER DAVIS, 1st Runner-up

In all the excitement about North Dakota's win, you may not realize that Jennifer gave Missouri is second best finish ever.   Debbye Turner's win in 1989 and Soncee Brown's 2nd Runner-up placement in 1991were the state's best showings until this year.


NEW JERSEY

Kaitlyn  Schoeffel, 2nd Runner-up

Kaitlyn gave New Jersey its fifth 2nd Runner-up placement in the television years. Only Suzette Charles has done better for the state since 1954.


DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA

Briana Kinsey, 3rd Runner-up

This was DC sixth Top 5 placement during the tv years, and Brianna brought DC back into the Top 15 for the first time in eight years. DC's six Top 5's, four more Top 10s, and three NFT's are even more impressive when you remember that they didn't compete for 27 of the 64 televised years. If DC had competed every year with the same averages of making the Top 10, the District would be tied for 5th place overall with Mississippi.


TEXAS

Margana Wood, 4th Runner-up & Swimsuit Winner

The state that hasn't gone three years in a row without making Top 10 since 1967-1968-1969,
now has three Top 10+ placements in a row, and nine consecutive years in Top 15. Margana put Texas back in Top 5 for the first time since 2007. Texas has more Top 10 Finalists in the tv years than any other state by a wide margin.


ALABAMA

Jessica Procter, Top 7

Jessica's Top 7 finish puts Alabama in second place for total Top 10 finishes in the tv years.
Further, Alabama has made the Top 15 in five of the last seven years.


LOUISIANA

Larissa Bonacquisti, Top 7, Swimsuit & Talent Winner

In addition to being only the 23rd woman since 1950 to win both her Swimsuit and Talent prelim, Larissa led Louisiana into the Top 15 for the third consecutive year.
Additionally, Louisiana has won awards in seven of the last nine years.


PENNSYLVANIA

Katie Schreckengast, Top 10

Katie put Pennsylvania back in the Top 10 for the first time since 2007.


SOUTH CAROLINA

Suzi Roberts, Top 10

Thanks to Suzi, South Carolina has made Top 10 three consecutive years
and Top 15 in five of the last seven.


VIRGINIA

Cecili Weber, Top 10

Because of Cecili, Virginia has now made Top 15 in nine of the last fifteen years.


GEORGIA

Alyssa Beasley, Top 12

Georgia has been in Top 12 for three of the last five years thanks to Alyssa.


TENNESSEE

City Davis, Top 12

Four consecutive years in Top 15 with Caty's Top 12 finish,
and Top 15 in nine of the last eleven years for Tennessee.


ALASKA

Angelina Klapperich, Top 15

Angelina brought Alaska its second ever Semi-Finalist placement,
joining Joslyn Tinker's 1998 Top 10 (& Swimsuit Prelim win) finish.


NEW MEXICO

Taylor Rey, Top 15

New Mexico was back in the Top 15 for the first time in eight years with Taylor's selection.


ILLINOIS

Abby Foster, America's Choice

America's Choice winner Abby brought Illinois back to the Top 15 for the first time in five years.


COLORADO

Meredith Winnefeld, Non-Finalist Talent

This is the third consecutive year that Colorado has won an award.


IOWA

Chelsea Dubczak, Non-Finalist Talent

Iowa has won an award four consecutive years and in nine of the last eleven years.


MINNESOTA

Brianna Drevlow, Talent Winner & Non-Finalist Talent

First award in four years for Minnesota.


UTAH

JessiKate Riley, Talent Winner & Non-Finalist Talent

First award in five years for Utah, and now tied with Massachusetts for the greatest number of
Non-Finalist Talent awards in the tv years - 17 each.


FLORIDA

Sara Zeng, Swimsuit Winner

Sara's Swimsuit prelim win makes seven consecutive years that Florida has won an award.

OVERALL RANKINGS for making Top 10 in the TV Years (1954-2017)

Which states made big jumps this year in the overall rankings?

TEXAS - Holds onto its # 1 ranking.

ALABAMA- Moves up from # 3 to # 2.

SOUTH CAROLINA - Moves up from # 12 to # 8.

MISSOURI - Moves up from # 32 to # 28.
NORTH DAKOTA - Moves up from # 42 to # 40.

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 64 competitions between 1954-2017.

An explanation of the various columns:

The "10" column shows the number of times a state rep made the Top 10 (including Top 5s).

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.

	STATE	10	5	TOP 5	SS	TAL	NFT	NFI	Top 15/20
1	Texas	39	14	W,W,1,2,2,2,3,3,3,3,4,4,4,4	7	7	4	1	3
2	Alabama	31	14	W,W,1,1,1,2,2,2,3,3,4,4,4,5	6	11	8	1	4
3	California	30	20	W,W,1,1,1,1,1,1,2,2,2,3,3,3,3,3,3,4,4,4	12	8	10		1
4	Mississippi	27	18	W,W,W,W,1,1,1,2,2,2,2,3,3,3,4,4,4,5	14	5	5		3
5	Florida	26	13	W,W,1,2,2,3,3,3,4,4,4,4,4	8	8	7	3	3
6	Oklahoma	25	16	W,W,W,W,W,1,2,2,2,2,2,2,4,4,4,4	6	9	8		2
7	New York	22	11	W,W,W,W,W,1,2,2,3,4,4	6	9	10		1
8	South Carolina	19	12	W,W,1,1,1,1,1,1,2,2,2,3	10	3	10		3
9	Arkansas	19	10	W,W,W,1,1,1,2,2,3,4	8	2	8	1	3
10	Tennessee	19	7	W,1,2,2,2,2,3	4	3	7	1	2
11	Hawaii	19	6	W,W,1,2,2,4	8	5	6
12	Ohio	18	12	W,W,W,1,1,1,2,3,3,3,4,4	5	10	7
13	Louisiana	18	9	1,1,1,1,3,3,3,4,4	6	7	10		1
14	Indiana	17	10	W,1,1,2,2,3,4,4,4,4	5	7	6	1	4
15	Virginia	17	9	W,W,W,1,1,1,3,3,4	5	5	12		2
16	Illinois	16	10	W,W,W,W,1,1,2,2,3,4	6	7	14		1
17	Pennsylvania	16	6	2,2,3,3,4,4	1	6	10
18	Georgia	15	8	W,1,1,1,1,2,2,3	5	4	7	1	2
19	Washington	15	6	2,2,3,3,3,4	6		3	1	1
20	Kansas	14	6	W,W,W,2,3,3	4	4	7
21	Kentucky	14	5	W,3,4,4,4	2	3	6		4
22	Massachusetts	14	4	1,1,2,4	1	4	17	1	1
23	Iowa	13	6	1,1,2,3,4	3	4	15		2
24	North Carolina	12	10	W,1,1,1,1,2,2,3,4,4	6	4	16		2
25	Wisconsin	12	8	W,W,1,1,1,2,2,4	4	4	8	1	1
26	Arizona	12	7	W,3,3,3,4,4,4	1	1	8		1
27	Oregon	12	6	W,1,1,2,3,3	2	3	7	1	2
28	Missouri	11	7	W,1,2,3,3,4,4	2	1	4		3
29	Michigan	11	6	W,W,W,W,3,4	5	3	12		1
30	Maryland	11	4	1,3,3,4	3	4	5		1
31	Colorado	10	7	W,W,W,1,2,2,3	1		11
32	Minnesota	10	7	W,W,3,4,4,4,4	4	7	11
33	New Jersey	10	7	1,2,2,2,2,2,3	3	1	12		1
34	District of Columbia	10	6	1,1,3,3,3,5	4	5	3
35	Utah	8	2	W,2	5	5	17		3
36	New Mexico	7					1	2	1
37	Nevada	5	2	2,3	2	1	7	1
38	Nebraska	5	1	W	1	3	11	1	2
39	Connecticut	5			1	3	10		1
40	North Dakota	4	1	W		2	4		1
41	West Virginia	3	1	2	2		7	1	1
42	Delaware	3			1	2	10
43	Maine	2	2	2,4		1	8
44	Idaho	2	1	1	1		12	2	2
45	Rhode Island	2	1	3	3	3	6	1	1
46	New Hampshire	2	1	4	2	2	6
47	Montana	2				2	4		1
48	South Dakota	2					5		1
49	Wyoming	1	1	3			5
50	Alaska	1			1		7		1
51	Vermont					1	13	1
52	Puerto Rico				1
53	Canada	2					2
54	Virgin Islands
	TOTALS	640	320		193	189	429	22	70