My last post was about the 2008 Miss Alabama pageant. Now, a few weeks later and we're in full-swing for the 2009 preliminary season. Last Friday, one of my former Miss JSU's, Jessica Andrews, won the first local title of the year, Miss Shelby County. Congratulations, Jessica! I'm so proud of you! My current Miss JSU, Lauren Moon, was the 2nd alternate at this pageant!
For those wondering about how Miss Alabama turned-out, I'll admit it was a surprise to me that Amanda Tapley, a first-time Miss Alabama contestant, walked away with the crown. You can see some pictures of Amanda on the Miss Alabama website at http://www.missalabama.com/. I wish her the best of luck on a successful year.
Personally, I felt like any of the others in the Top 5 would've been a smarter choice, from a business standpoint, but I wasn't asked for my opinion. You see, its been a long time since a first-year contestant won the title of Miss Alabama. Why? Because we tend to pick well-educated, well-spoken young women who have a true understanding of the job that's required of Miss Alabama. "Job?" would be your next question...yes, its a full-time job! Or at least it has been in the past. Miss Alabama spends her year speaking to various groups, age, socio-economic, etc. concerning her personal platform, the National Platform of the Children's Miracle Network, the Miss America system, and other motivational topics. She may have an appearance at an elementary school that morning, speak at a civic luncheon, perform at a nursing home that afternoon, and attend a black-tie political affair that evening. All of this while preparing herself to compete in the upcoming Miss America pageant!
Now, I'm not saying that Amanda isn't ready for the job, but I have to wonder if she fully understood it. Those young women who have 2, 3, 6 or 7 years invested in the program, understand what the obligations and responsibilities of the job of Miss Alabama tend to be.
Not only that, but many of those appearances are linked directly to the woman chosen as Miss Alabama. Let's say a young woman has competed at Miss Alabama for 4-years. That young woman has represented 4 local preliminaries and made ties and connections to 4 separate communities. Those communities want that young woman back now that she's serving as Miss Alabama and will book appearances appropriately. That young woman will be booked numerous times by numerous groups in those communities. Each school that she spoke to when she was "Miss Local" will want to pay to have her back now that she's Miss Alabama. Each civic organization that proudly supported her local pageant will host an event where she can entertain. Does a first-year girl have the same booking potential? Probably not.
Coupled with the number of paid appearances is the amount of money brought-in by that local winner's supporters. Think about this (as it was pointed out to me by a Dad of a 'veteran'), how many season ticket orders did this first-year girl have? 10-15? Many 'veterans' are bringing with them 50+ supporters each night. Couple this with the yearly golf teams, program ads, gala tickets, fashion show luncheons, etc. and you'll see that the 'veterans' are the ones bringing the vast majority of scholarship fundraising to the party!
If the current trend continues next year and another 'newby' is crowned, will the 'veterans' stay? Well, I don't know if this volunteer will!
Best of luck to those competing this weekend in the Miss Tombigbee pageant and on July 4 at Miss Point Mallard!
5 comments:
I want to call to your attention that Amanda Tapley IS VERY well-educated and VERY well-spoken. Obviously you are unaware of at least these two attributes which she possesses. Also, she has worked extremely hard all her short life - so she is well qualified to take on the job of Miss Alabama. She has always been at the top of her class or very, very close to it academically all the way through her schooling. She loves challenges - she's a competitive tennis player and excels unbelievably at piano. This young lady doesn't need any extra years to be ready for Miss Alabama responsibilities as maybe so many do. Please don't judge her - or at least until you know about her or get to know her. She is truly outstanding in every way. I feel you are slighting her.
As you've chosen to leave your comment anonymously, I can't direct my response directly to you. I will, however, say that I've had the opportunity to see and hear Amanda speak at two recent Miss Alabama preliminaries and its quite obvious that she's not quite up to the task of a pageant emcee at this point. Will she learn? Who's to say? But having years of experience in the system, I do feel qualified to say that she didn't do an outstanding job at either venue. If you want to contact me personally, my email is listed on the page.
How tacky was your post about Amanda Tapley. How tacky and VERY low class.
If you are as "qualified" as you state that you are, why were you not asked to judge?
Obviously the judges saw something in this girl that you are apparently unqualified to recognize. Why don't you leave the judging to the experts?
Amanda was picked by a panel of qualified judges chosen by the Alabama board(it appears). I am not aware that anyone else was a part of the judging(that was the purpose of hiring a qualified panel of judges)so THEY picked their best girl. No one else was supposed to have anything to do with who was chosen Miss Alabama to my knowledge but you seem to think "we" chose the wrong girl. She was awarded the Overall Interview out of the 50 girls. She may not be up to YOUR standards for emceeing pageants, but I don't recall THAT being a part of the judging for the week at Miss Alabama. I agree with you that she has made remarkable improvements just within a year of competing at preliminaries. I would imagine that she will continue to improve in all categories(including emceeing) as she has demonstrated how she can grow/improve so quickly. Give her some slack and encourgement - she is new but how outstanding in the areas which are MOST important! Also I will add(in case you are unaware) - she was also OVERALL FITNESS winner and OVERALL TALENT winner. That's 2 more of the categories the girls are judged in, as you may know, and she was at the very top of all 50 girls in every category. So how could the panel of judges not choose her??? Maybe ist's a disappointment to you since your girl was not chosen, but it looks to me like Amanda won it fair and square!
As wonderful as you feel Amanda is, I've yet to meet the young woman. NO WHERE in my post did I critize her personally. I said that from a BUSINESS standpoint, choosing a first-year contestant as the winner wouldn't have been my selection. You are all entitled to your opinion, but I'm also entitled to mine. You choose to come to my PERSONAL blog and berate me for my OPINION. Which the top of the page clearly indicates this is.
I did wish her a successful year and NO WHERE on my original post nor on my reply did I question her talent, intelligence, poise, or physical fitness. I stated that I would've chosen differently, based on a knowledge of the backbone of the system - repeat contestants.
Why was I not asked to judge? Because I'm a volunteer within the sytem and as such have personal biases toward contestants.
What are your qualifications for questioning mine, Mom?
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