 By OSKAR GARCIA, Associated Press Writer – Sun Jan 31, 12:30 pm ET LAS VEGAS – A 22-year-old Virginia woman who said she once thought her only talent was singing is the nation's newest Miss America, emerging from a field of 53 contestants picked for their beauty, compassion and interview savvy. Caressa Cameron, a broadcast journalism student at Virginia Commonwealth University, now plans a second year away from college as she travels extensively to raise money for charity and carry the 89-year-old pageant's crown. "I hope to gain inspiration, I hope to gain momentum so that when this 365 days is over, I can shoot through the moon," Cameron told The Associated Press. Cameron, the first black Miss America since Ericka Dunlap in 2005, says she wants to get a master's degree and eventually become a news anchor. Cameron, the daughter of a background researcher for the government and a contractor, said she was inspired to compete in pageants at age 14, when Miss Virginia 2003 Nancy Redd visited her school. "At that time, all I knew that I could do was sing — that's all I had," the Fredericksburg, Va., native said. Cameron said that after that visit, she decided to try out for a school musical, which snowballed into more opportunities in the arts, drama and other areas. "More doors and more doors continued to open," she said. "It's so important that we reach our young people, because there are so many young people that are at the very same crossroads that I was at." "We need those people to let them know that just because your circumstances are a certain way, you don't have to succumb to them," she said. "You can do something amazing, like become Miss America." The last Miss America from Virginia was Nicole Johnson in 1999. Cameron won the title and a $50,000 scholarship Saturday night after strutting in a skintight yellow dress, belting Beyonce's "Listen" from "Dreamgirls" and advising parents to limit video games and television when asked about childhood obesity during an onstage interview. "We need to get our kids back outside, playing with sticks in the street like I did when I was little," she said. "Expand your mind, go outside and get to see what this world is like." Miss California Kristy Cavinder was the first runner-up, winning $25,000. The young women who came out on stage at the beginning of the pageant and danced to "I Gotta Feeling" by the Black Eyed Peas are from all 50 states plus the District of Columbia, Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico. After a week of preliminary competition that counted 30 percent toward their final scores, they each introduced themselves to the crowd Saturday at the Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino. "From the home of the Governator, I am here to pump you up," Cavinder said as she was introduced. The judges, the public and contestants themselves then trimmed the field over the next two hours.
 By Robin Leach (contact)
Friday, Jan. 29, 2010 | 6:52 a.m.
Miss Michigan Nicole Blaszczyk was named last night’s preliminary Talent winner for her lyrical dance performance to “Lifetime" during the third and concluding preliminary night of competition of the 2010 Miss America Pageant at Planet Hollywood. Nicole receives a $2,000 scholarship. Also in the spotlight was Miss Oregon C.C. Barber, who was the preliminary Lifestyle & Fitness winner in a black Winnwear swimsuit. C.C. will receive a $1,000 scholarship. Last night’s host was Dena Blizzard, a former Miss New Jersey and comedienne. During the show, Dena judged the panel of six celebrity judges -- radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh won, and actress Vivica A. Fox was the runner-up. 2009 Miss America Katie Stam presented the winners with their awards, and our contributing photographer Tom Donoghue was front and center for our early morning photo gallery. Tune in to the one-hour special Miss America: Behind the Curtain tonight at 10 on TLC hosted by Clinton Kelly after his 250th broadcast of What Not to Wear. He will announce “America's Choice,” the 12 contestants selected by the other 41 pageant participants. For the first time, the contestants themselves will vote for who they think should be in the semifinals, and of course they cannot nominate themselves! TV viewers will be able to start voting for those 12 right after Clinton’s show ends tonight. The results are tabulated with the judges’ voting, and the Top 15 from judges and viewers will be announced within the first 20 minutes of tomorrow’s telecast. The 2010 Miss America Pageant airs on TLC at 8 p.m. EST and 7 p.m. CST. The telecast will be tape delayed to air at 8 p.m. PST and 9 p.m. MST. Vegas DeLuxe will be covering all the excitement during the broadcast and with our first interview with the new Miss America immediately after her first press conference. Shortly after her coronation, we’ll have that one-on-one video interview, plus the handing over the crown by 2009 Miss America Katie Stam and all the other emotional action photos. Follow Robin Leach on Twitter at Twitter.com/Robin_Leach. Source: Las Vegas Sun
 By Robin Leach (contact)
Friday, Jan. 29, 2010 | 9:45 p.m.Tonight’s Evening of Dreams gala of the 2010 Miss America Pageant at Planet Hollywood became the Evening of Engagement for 2009 Miss America Katie Stam: Brian Irk, her boyfriend of four years, proposed to her at the end of the event! Originally, Katie was to sing the Nat King Cole and Natalie Cole hit “Unforgettable,” but as was the case a year ago, she is suffering from laryngitis. Instead, I asked her to speak her two favorite lines from the song. I told her she was unforgettable, and her yearlong reign also was unforgettable. It definitely called for a toast. We raised our glasses to toast, and then I stopped and said it would be unfair for Katie to be onstage alone with me, and I asked her boyfriend Brian to join us. When he came onstage, as we had prearranged it, Brian dropped to his knee and popped the question. Katie said yes! Katie was in tears and took off her Miss America ring to move it to her right hand so that the square, multi-carat diamond engagement ring was alone on her left fourth finger. The room erupted in cheers and applause, and everybody grouped around her afterward to offer congratulations. Katie said, “I’m shaking! I can’t tell if it’s as much as it was when my name was called for Miss America, but I’m lucky to have the right man. He’s a keeper. I couldn’t be happier. I had no idea at all this was going to happen! It’s a Miss America first. I will never forget it, and ‘Unforgettable’ will now always be our song.” Brian said, “She’s the best girl in the world.” He revealed that on their first date four years ago, she kissed him first! You can view photos of the proposal on my Twitter account. A year ago, I chatted with LaPorte, Ind.-born Brian, who at the time lived in Indianapolis as a fitness trainer. Katie and he had been dating for three years. I asked him what he was now prepared for with her title and crown. “I will wait the year out patiently. It is only one year in a lifetime,” he told me. “I wanted her to win this. She has my full support. I know I’ll be doing a lot of flying, so I can intercept her during her free moments in faraway places, so we will have plenty of reunions together over the year. I’m very close with her parents, so I’ll also be spending a lot of time with them.” Katie admitted to me: “My life has completely changed. Brian and I have been dating for three years, so it’s really wonderful and very serious. He is a real blessing in my life. I love him dearly. “Brian is one of my greatest supporters, and he’s willing to make the trips to catch up with me whenever we can. We had a conversation right before I came out to Las Vegas. ‘Whatever happens,’ and he told me I want this for you because you want it. He’s such a great supporter of mine. “It will work out. This won’t weaken what we have. This will strengthen what we have. I am a great believer that if two people want something to work, it will work.” Vegas DeLuxe congratulates Brian and Katie on their engagement! More Miss America newsThe 53 Miss America Pageant contestants on tonight’s TLC special Miss America: Behind the Curtain chose their Top 12 hopefuls who are now up for vote by the public at TLC.com to comprise the Top 15 for tomorrow night’s telecast. The “America’s Choice” Top 12 are Miss Kentucky, Miss Michigan, Miss Oklahoma, Miss Arkansas, Miss Oregon, Miss Washington, Miss Colorado, Miss Wisconsin, Miss North Carolina, Miss Ohio, Miss California and Miss Hawaii. Start voting! Follow Robin Leach on Twitter at Twitter.com/Robin_Leach. Source: Las Vegas Sun
 Las Vegas, NV - January 27, 2010 - Miss California Kristy Cavinder was named Wednesday night's preliminary Talent winner for her Ballet en Pointe performance to the Slave Maiden Variation from "Le Corsaire," during the second night of competition of the 2010 Miss America Pageant at the Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino in Las Vegas. Kristy will receive a $2,000 scholarship. Also in the spotlight was Miss New York Alyse Zwick, who was the preliminary Lifestyle and Fitness winner in a black Winnwear swimsuit. Alyse will receive a $1,000 scholarship. Be sure to tune in to the one-hour special, Miss America: Behind the Curtain on Friday, January 29 at 10:00 p.m. on TLC. And watch live as a new Miss America is crowned at the 2010 Miss America Pageant airing live on TLC, Saturday, January 30, at 8 p.m. EST and 7 p.m. Central. The 2010 Miss America Pageant will be tape delayed to air at 8 p.m. PST and 9 p.m. Mountain. As the world's largest provider of scholarship assistance for young women and one of the nation's leading achievement programs, the Miss America Organization last year made available more than $45 million in cash and scholarship assistance. The Miss America Organization provides young women with a vehicle to further their personal and professional goals and instills a spirit of community service through a variety of nationwide community-based programs. Additional information about the Miss America Organization can be found at www.MissAmerica.org. For up-to-the-minute competition news and information, as well as downloadable high-resolution images of Miss America 2009 Katie Stam and the 2010 contestants, visit the 24-hour online pressroom at www.MissAmericaPressRoom.com. To download photos of tonight's preliminary winners, go to www.missamerica.org. Photos will be available for download, starting at 9:00am ET the morning following the preliminary competition. # # # PRESS CONTACTSharon Pearce Miss America Organization sharon@missamerica.org
Posted January 27, 2010 • 1:35 p.m.
Tomorrow night, the 53 Miss America Pageant contestants face a difficult decision of voting for who they believe should be in the Top 12 -- and they can’t choose themselves! Their selections also will remain secret.
Those 12 winning names will be tabulated by TLC producers and will be part of “America’s Choice” for viewer voting on the first TV special airing Friday night. Those votes will then be figured in with the judges’ selections, and the 15 semifinalists will be revealed after the parade of states and the introduction of the celebrity judging panel by emcee Mario Lopez on the Saturday night broadcast.
It’s just one of the elements being added to this year’s TLC telecast from Planet Hollywood’s Theater for the Performing Arts.
“We’ve still got a couple of surprises up our sleeves in terms of what we’ll be doing with the production and the video screens this year,” Brent Zacky, program development chief at TLC, told me in an exclusive interview. “We’ve outdone ourselves with the staging this year.
“But there will be one big unexpected twist toward the beginning of the show that will become instantly apparent and involves the entire show. It will remain totally secret until it happens.”
 Las Vegas, NV - January 26, 2010 -Miss Virginia Caressa Cameron was named Tuesday night's preliminary Talent winner for her Vocal performance of "Listen," during the first night of competition of the 2010 Miss America Pageant at the Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino in Las Vegas. Caressa will receive a $2,000 scholarship. Also in the spotlight was Miss Puerto Rico Mimi Pabon, who was the preliminary Lifestyle and Fitness winner in a black Winnwear swimsuit. Mimi will receive a $1,000 scholarship.
Be sure to tune in to the one-hour special, Miss America: Behind the Curtain on Friday, January 29 at 10:00 p.m. on TLC. And watch live as a new Miss America is crowned at the 2010 Miss America Pageant airing live on TLC, Saturday, January 30, at 8 p.m. EST and 7 p.m. Central. The 2010 Miss America Pageant will be tape delayed to air at 8 p.m. PST and 9 p.m. Mountain.
As the world's largest provider of scholarship assistance for young women and one of the nation's leading achievement programs, the Miss America Organization last year made available more than $45 million in cash and scholarship assistance. The Miss America Organization provides young women with a vehicle to further their personal and professional goals and instills a spirit of community service through a variety of nationwide community-based programs.
Additional information about the Miss America Organization can be found at www.MissAmerica.org.
For up-to-the-minute competition news and information, as well as downloadable high-resolution images of Miss America 2009 Katie Stam and the 2010 contestants, visit the 24-hour online pressroom at www.MissAmericaPressRoom.com.
To download photos of tonight's preliminary winners, go to www.missamerica.org. Photos will be available for download, starting at 9:00am ET the morning following the preliminary competition.
# # #
PRESS CONTACT
Sharon Pearce
Miss America Organization
sharon@missamerica.org
 By Robin Leach (contact)
Tuesday, Jan. 26, 2010 | 1:58 p.m.
No less than seven of the 53 Miss America Pageant contestants in Las Vegas right now for Saturday’s coronation and telecast are celebrating birthdays while in town. Congratulations to Miss Delaware Heather Lehman on her 21st birthday and Miss Pennsylvania Shannon Doyle on her 25th.
The ladies were presented a birthday cake when they dined at Buca di Beppo for a celebration dinner over the weekend, and Paisano partner and General Manager Ryan Smith made the presentation.
Two of the charming contestants will celebrate their birthdays the night before the pageant at our Evening of Dreams dinner at Planet Hollywood: Miss New Mexico Nicole Miner and Miss Arkansas Sarah Slocum. The remaining three birthday beauties are Miss Rhode Island Julianna Strout, Miss Nebraska Brittany Jeffers and Miss New York Alyse Zwick.
This morning ahead of tonight’s first of three preliminary pageant competition parades, officials from TLC and the Miss America Organization announced that What Not to Wear star Clinton Kelly is hosting the one-hour, advance “get ready to vote” special broadcast at 10 p.m. this Friday on TLC ahead of the Miss America Pageant, which airs Saturday, also on TLC.
I’m reliably told that there will be a new look to the broadcast and one dramatically new routine for the contestants, but that “wow factor” will be kept a surprise right up until the pageant starts. The Theater for the Performing Arts is closed and under watch during those specific rehearsals. The new routine will not be seen during the three nights of preliminary pageant competition that get underway tonight.
 By Robin Leach ( contact) Tuesday, Jan. 26, 2010 | 10:36 a.m. Anthony Crivello (The Phantom of the Opera), Kristi Holden (Christine Daae) and Andrew Ragone (Raoul) joined the 2010 Miss America Pageant contestants for a group photo after last night’s performance at The Venetian. The popular Strip musical’s stars also posed for our contributing photographer Tom Donoghue with their home state princesses. Anthony was joined by Miss Illinois Erin O’Connor and Miss Wisconsin Kristina Smaby, Kristi with Miss Colorado Katie Lucille Layman and Miss Maryland Brooke Poklemba and Andrew with Miss California Kristy Cavinder and Miss Florida Rachael Todd. Tonight is the first evening of preliminary competition at Planet Hollywood’s Theater for the Performing Arts. The Evening of Dreams dinner on Friday night at Planet Hollywood will be hosted by yours truly. The pageant, hosted by Mario Lopez, is Saturday at 5 p.m. at Planet Hollywood and airs on TLC. Follow Robin Leach on Twitter at Twitter.com/Robin_Leach.
Source: Las Vegas Sun
ADA, Mich., January 26, 2010 /PRNewswire/ — Amway Global is proud to announce that ARTISTRY® Skin Care and Cosmetics, beauty power brand of Amway Global, is the Official Skin Care and Cosmetics Provider of the Miss America Pageant. Artistry will hold the title for both the 2010 and 2011 Miss America Pageants. The sponsorship will also give the Miss America Organization the opportunity to work with the entire Amway Global family of brands.
“Partnering with the Miss America Organization is an incredible opportunity for us,” said Jori Hartwig, Vice President of Marketing at Amway Global. “As a leader in prestige beauty, Artistry is dedicated to helping women of all ages feel confident that they’re putting their best face forward every day. We’re excited to introduce this brand to the Miss America contestants and look forward to showing them how it can let their inner beauty shine through on their big night.”
The Artistry scholarship, sponsored by Amway Global, will also allow women to shine, but in a different way. The Miss America Organization is one of the nation's leading achievement programs and the world's largest provider of scholarship assistance for young women. The Artistry Scholarship was created to empower American women to help achieve their personal and professional goals.
“I take so much pride in introducing this partnership with Artistry. I’m excited to see the great things that are going to happen in years to come,” said Katie Stam, Miss America 2009.
About Artistry
Artistry is a global leader in prestige beauty, offering unprecedented skin care solutions backed by dermatologist testing, the most advanced science, unparalleled proof of performance, and personalized service unmatched by any beauty counter in the world. Artistry generates more than $1 billion in annual global sales and has been one of the world's top five best-selling prestige beauty brands for more than ten years.*
About Amway Global
Based in Ada, Mich., Amway Global is part of the Alticor group of companies, founded by the DeVos and Van Andel families. Alticor Inc. is led by Steve Van Andel, Chairman, and Doug DeVos, President. Global sales for the Alticor group of companies, which include Amway, Access Business Group, LLC, Alticor Corporate Enterprises (ACE), and Amway Global (formerly Quixtar), reached $8.2 billion in fiscal 2008.
*Based on Euromonitor studies of 1998-2007 global retail sales of facial skin care and colour cosmetics.
 It was the final evening of relaxation for 46 of the 2010 Miss America Pageant contestants last night, and Monte Carlo resident headliner Lance Burton joined them for some added magic. The remaining seven beauties were tapped for tapings for Friday night’s one-hour TLC special that sets the public voting in play for Saturday’s coronation of this year’s Miss America.
Public and judges’ votes
I’ve exclusively learned that a major change is in place for this year’s pageant: All 53 contestants have had to vote for whom they think should be in the final 12! Here’s how it will work:
At-home viewers on Friday will learn the 12 contestants that the 53 have nominated to be among the final 15 on the Saturday broadcast. Then they will vote their selections in a 1-12 order. If they correspond with the judges, then the judges’ next picks will balance out the final 15. So viewers and judges could jointly select 11, with America solely choosing four, or America and the judges agreeing on all 12, and then the next three judges’ picks would be on deck.
In theory, and probably in practice, this means that the contestants and the public have chosen one candidate who will become Miss America. “It’s much fairer, and the public gets a real say in the final choice,” one Miss America official told me.
On Saturday, the 53 candidates, including Miss Puerto Rico for the first time in more than 50 years, will be cut to the 15 selected by at-home viewers and judges. It will be interesting to see if the viewers and the judges agreed with one another.
After one competitive segment -- swimsuit for fitness, ball gown and talent -- the contestants will be reduced to 12. The 12 will get cut to 10, and then down to a final seven. From those remaining seven, the four runners-up in fourth, third, second and first will be named. That will leave three girls onstage with host Mario Lopez, and only one of them will win the Miss America title and crown.
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