CNN
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A new Miss America has been crowned: Abbie Stockard, a 22-year-old Auburn University nursing student and cheerleader who was named Miss Alabama last June before her senior year.

Stockard triumphed on Sunday at the annual pageant in Orlando, Florida, against 51 other candidates – one from each US state as well as Washington DC and Puerto Rico. Annette Addo-Yobo, the first foreign-born delegate to win Miss Texas, placed second, with representatives from Tennessee, Florida and Ohio rounding out the top five.

The competition began with contestants taking the stage in sparkly gold minidresses and black sashes before quickly being narrowed down to 11 finalists based on the results of the preliminary rounds earlier in the week.

As the evening progressed, the finalists came together, vying for the crown (and $50,000 in prize money). choreographed dance performances and participated in several live segments judged by, among others, former Olympic athlete Carl Lewis and cheerleader Gabi Butler from the Netflix series “Cheer.”

The event included a fitness portion, replacing swimwear in 2023, and saw attendees parading in red and gold athleisure two-pieces, as well as talent, black tie and interview rounds.

Talent performances included slam poetry (Miss Texas), Clogging (Miss Oklahoma) and a jazz dance routine to Lesley Gore’s 1963 hit “You Don’t Own Me” (Miss Wisconsin). Stockard performed a contemporary dance to a song by Christian musician Lauren Daigle and then took the stage in a backless, sparkly silver and white dress for her evening look.

Elsewhere in the pageant, delegates answered questions on randomly selected topics such as housing, censorship and national debt. When asked to comment on unemployment, Stockard spoke of the declining employment rate for those aged 25 to 54 as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic (although the employment rate for this demographic has since increased).

“I believe we need to encourage these (people) to enter the workforce, adapt to new skills and learn to grow in our current workforce and the industries we have today,” she said.

Meanwhile, Addo-Yobo was asked about immigration. She spoke about her personal experience in obtaining U.S. citizenship two years ago, telling the judges that her parents came to the country with “two suitcases, a few hundred dollars and a little girl who was me in a fur coat.”

In a video broadcast during the pageant, Stockard said she was inspired by her mother, who she said worked multiple jobs, and her best friend, who has cystic fibrosis and was in attendance Sunday night (Stockard’s pageant charity initiative raised money for it ). cystic fibrosis research).

A video posted to Miss America’s official Instagram account Sunday night showed Stockard reacting to her win, saying, “This is crazy. I don’t know what I did to deserve this.”

Founded in 1921 in Atlantic City, New Jersey, Miss America enjoyed a decade-long heyday as a televised event on major networks NBC and ABC before viewership declined. NBC’s streaming service Peacock aired the competition in 2022, but since then it has only been available on competition-specific streaming platforms.

Last year, the crown went to Madison Marsh, a 22-year-old U.S. Air Force lieutenant who made history as the first active-duty military member to win the national title. After her win, Marsh told CNN she felt like she had “broken stereotypes in beauty pageants and the military for women around the world.” She served as an ambassador for the Miss America Organization last year before passing the torch.

“You can serve beyond your uniform”: Miss America 2024 on defying stereotypes

The pageant also includes a teen competition where Peyton Bolling of Arkansas will be crowned Miss America Teen on Saturday evening. Contestants for Miss America Teen must be between 14 and 18 years old, while Miss America is between 18 and 28 years old.

Miss America raised its maximum age from 25 to 28 in 2023, even as other pageants have significantly relaxed their eligibility criteria in recent years. The Miss Universe Organization, which runs Miss USA (a separate pageant from Miss America), completely eliminated its upper age limit last year, resulting in 80-year-old Choi Soon-hwa and 71-year-old Marissa Teijo, among others The competitions started with Miss Universe Korea and Miss Texas USA respectively.

In September, a New York mother filed a lawsuit against the Miss America Organization and the Miss World Organization because their respective rules bar mothers from their pageants. According to Reuters, Miss America has also been at the center of an ongoing ownership dispute between estranged business partners Robin Fleming and Glenn Straub.