Smart Girl? Use it To Your Advantage

Show The Judges You’re Smart in the Interviews

Today’s pageant winners have to have brains. Whether she seeks the title of Miss T.E.E.N. or Miss Universe, a major titleholder’s job involves press conferences and interviews, talk shows, appearances for corporate sponsors, and countless speeches, sometimes before state legislatures and congressional subcommittees.

Judges know that, whatever the title, their winner has to be able to capably express her views on complex issues. “I look for an intelligent young woman who is vitally interested in what is going on in the world around her, an articulate young woman who has something to say about the issues,” says Donna Axum. “This is not a memorized surface answer, but a digestion of the issue, an understanding of the problem, and an answer that reflects her opinion on that issue based upon her beliefs and values.”

Interestingly, in recent years all major pageant systems have expected their titleholders to be intelligent young women whose education, knowledge, and accomplishments reflect well upon the pageant. Consider recent Miss Americas. Gretchen Carlson (1989) was an honors student at Stanford and Oxford, Debbye Turner (1990) was earning her doctorate in veterinary medicine, and Marjorie Vincent (1991) was a law student at Duke University.

Even in the Miss USA Pageant, unashamedly a “beauty pageant,” recent winners have been increasingly well-educated women. Miss USA 1994, Lu Parker, was a master’s degree recipient from the Citadel and founder of H.A.T.S., Help All Teens Survive. “The girls are glamorous and beautiful, yet they have so much more going for them!” explains Paula Miles, Parker’s state director. “For instance, Lu certainly had a purpose. Now that’s not a requirement to be in the pageant, but it gave her something to focus on and be knowledgeable about, and to appear intelligent and worldly.” As Lu Parker discovered, it pays to show them you’re smart.

Brains Pay Off in Pageants

The impressive educational accomplishments of many titleholders at the time they competed and won their titles demonstrate that brains pay off in pageants:

  • Miss America 2005, Deidre Downs – Entering medical school at University of Alabama
  • Miss America 2003, Erika Harold – Accepted to Harvard Law School
  • Miss USA 1994, Lu Parker – Masters Degree from The Citadel
  • Miss South Carolina 1992, Dr. Carrie Lee Davis – Graduate of Medical University of South Carolina, practicing doctor
  • Miss USA 1992, Shannon Marketic – Attended Pepperdine University on an academic scholarship
  • Miss World 1991, Ninibeth Beatriz Jiménez – Industrial engineering major
  • Miss America 1990, Debbye Turner – Pursuing a doctoral degree in veterinary medicine
  • Miss America 1989, Gretchen Carlson – Honors graduated from Stanford, had studied at Oxford
  • Mrs. USA 1991, Deborah A Williams – Held Ph.D. in Psychology
  • Miss Universe 1981, Irene Sáez – Engineering student
  • Miss Nebraska-USA 1992, Jeanna Margaret Blom – Emergency room doctor
  • Miss Iowa-USA 1993, Jan Hoyer – Medical doctor
  • Miss America 1975, Shirley Cothran – Held a Masters degree; was pursuing a PhD

Need More Pageant Question Examples?

Pageant Questions – Samples – page 1
Pageant Questions – Samples – page 2
Pageant Questions – Samples – page 3

Wonder what judges might ask in a pageant interview? The following questions are taken from actual judges’ interviews and on-stage question-answer segments. If you want to download the entire collection of questions for pageant interviews and onstage questions, click here.

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