2nd night of prelims on tap for Miss America pageant

“It’s such an honor to be able to walk on that stage in the first place”, Burgess, 22, said of her win, which earned her a $2,000 scholarship.

The annual event, first held in 1921, will be held on Sept 11 in the beachfront town of Atlantic City, New Jersey.

Patricia Yurena, two-time victor of the Miss Spain contest and a runner-up in the 2013 Miss Universe competition also announced that she was a lesbian in 2014.

The process of picking a new Miss America gets underway Tuesday night in Atlantic City.

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (AP) – Miss Maryland and Miss Arkansas won preliminary contests Wednesday in the second night of the Miss America pageant.

Savvy Shields performed a jazz dance number to a tune from “Smash”.

The second night of preliminaries will start at 7 p.m. on Wednesday at Boardwalk Hall.

The 2017 Miss America will be crowned during Sunday night’s nationally televised finale on ABC. “Every girl here is so talented”.

The 23-year-old, who came out of the closet when she was just 18 years old, says she is happy to be in the position she is.

As far as “Smash”, Shields still has the soundtrack in her auto.

With 52 women vying for the crown, finding a way to stand out from the crowd is imperative, and contestants traditionally incorporate their home state into a humorous introduction of themselves.

Erin O’Flaherty, Miss Missouri, and better is the first lesbian contestant in the pageant’s history.

“From the state that gave you your first phone exchange – America, can you hear me now?” asked Miss Connecticut Alyssa Rae Taglia. The new Miss A.

Bullying, suicide prevention, support for the military and helping both children and the elderly figured prominently in the contestants’ onstage interviews. Miss Nebraska Aleah Peters was the lone outlier and twirled a baton for the audience at Boardwalk Hall.

“As we’ve all seen with this election year, a talk about immigration has been extremely painful”, she said.

Miss Iowa Kelly Koch spoke of her group Pinky Swear that raises money for the families of kids with cancer.

The competition will include contestants from all 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico.