Miss America 2020 Contestant Portraits: Meet The Women Competing In This Year’s Pageant

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It’s almost time for the 2020 Miss America pageant! Ahead of the big event, get to know the 51 women competing for the title of Miss America here.

Fifty one women from across the United States will be taking the stage at Mohegan Sun in Connecticut on Dec. 19, with hopes of being named the next Miss America. Each state, along with the District of Columbia, will have one woman representing them in the pageant. We rounded up all of the ladies’ gorgeous portraits in the gallery above, so you can get to know them a little better. At the end of the competition, Miss America 2019 winner, Nia Franklin, will crown her successor.

The stakes are higher than ever before at this Miss America pageant, because the ladies will have to rely on much more than just their looks to earn the title. At the 2019 competition, the swimsuit portion of the event was eliminated, and the evening gown portion was tamed down. This year, the women will only wear their evening gowns during introductions. During the interview round, the contestants are urged to wear an outfit that they would wear to a job interview or to give a TED talk. Then, the finalists will wear outfits of their choice, with instructions to pick what they would want to be wearing if they are crowned Miss America.

Of course, some of the biggest decisions in the competition were already made in the preliminary rounds, during which the ladies were judged on their private interviews, on-stage interviews, talents and ‘social impact pitches.’ The top 15 from the preliminaries will be announced during the Miss America broadcast, and those women will advance.

The winners of night one of the preliminary rounds were: Victoria Hill (Miss Georgia) for Talent, Jade Glab (Miss New Jersey) for On-Stage Interview, and Mallory Rivard (Miss Michigan) for Overall Interview. The winners of night two were: Victoria Hill (Miss Georgia) for Onstage Question, Shivali Kadam (Miss Oregon) for Private Interview, and Camille Schrier (Miss Virginia) for Talent. Miss America airs at 8:00 p.m. on NBC.