Image Size: | 200 |
Date: | January 26, 2008 |
Presenters: | Mark Steines |
Venue: | Planet Hollywood Theatre for the Performing Arts, Las Vegas, Nevada |
Broadcaster: | TLC |
Winner: | Kirsten Haglund |
Represented: | Michigan |
Entrants: | 53 |
Placements: | 16 |
Before: | 2007 |
Next: | 2009 |
Miss America 2008, the 81st Miss America pageant, was held on the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada, on Saturday, January 26, 2008.
The pageant was broadcast live on TLC from the Theatre for the Performing Arts at the Planet Hollywood Resort and Casino, only the third time that the pageant had been held outside Atlantic City.
Kirsten Haglund (Michigan) was crowned Miss America 2008 by Miss America 2007, Lauren Nelson.
The pageant's new network, TLC, premiered a four-week reality competition, titled Miss America: Reality Check, on January 4, 2008, hosted by Ugly Betty actor Michael Urie. The premise of the show is to show the contestants preparing for the pageant and to update the image of the Miss America pageant, which had seen a decline in popularity over the last few decades. In addition, viewers were able to vote online and choose one of the delegates to be a finalist in the pageant.[1]
The seven judges for the competition were fashion designer Trace Ayala, magazine editor Sarah Ivens, Olympic athlete and gold medalist Jackie Joyner-Kersee, casting director Jason La Padura, personal trainer Kim Lyons, television news anchor Robin Meade, and motivational speaker James Arthur Ray.[2]
All delegates compete in an interview competition with the judges, based on their platform issue, and also in the swimsuit, evening gown and talent competitions.
Prior to the nationally televised competition, the delegates participate in three nights of preliminary competition, where preliminary award winners are chosen in each category.
For the first time, sixteen semi-finalists were chosen (fifteen based on the judges' vote and one extra "People's Choice" contestant based on internet voting). The top sixteen competed in the swimsuit competition, after which judges eliminated six contestants. This was the first time the eliminated contestants were called, rather than contestants called to progress to the next round. The top ten contestants competed in the evening gown competition, and then prepared for the talent competition. Eight contestants participated in Talent, and two were eliminated in the midst of the competition. The top eight then participated in a quickfire interview competition. In a return to past proceedings, the runners-up and winner were called out of the top eight.
State/district | Name | Hometown | Age | Talent | Placement | Special awards | Notes | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Alabama | Jamie Langley[3] | 24 | Vocal, "Listen" | CMN Miracle Maker Award 2nd runner-up Quality of Life Award Finalist | ||||
Cari Leyva[4] | Anchorage | 23 | Vocal, "Habanera" from Carmen | Previously Miss Alaska USA 2004[5] | ||||
Arizona | Nicole Turner | 24 | Jazz Dance, "Proud Mary" | |||||
Katie Bailey | 25 | Vocal, "Feeling Good" | Top 16 | |||||
Melissa Chaty[6] | Ukiah | 23 | Operatic Vocal, "The Jewel Song" from Faust | Top 8 | Previously Miss Teenage California 2003 | |||
Maggie Ireland | 22 | Irish Step Dance, "Dueling Violins" & "Footloose" | ||||||
Dana Daunis | 22 | Vocal, "Let Him Fly" | Non-finalist Talent Award Preliminary Talent Award | Contestant at National Sweetheart 2006 pageant | ||||
Delaware | Brittany Dempsey | 20 | Jazz Dance, "Rhythm of the Night" | Previously Delaware's Junior Miss 2005 | ||||
District of Columbia | Shayna Rudd | 22 | Jazz Dance, "Feeling Good" | Non-finalist Talent Award | ||||
Kylie Williams[7] | Jasper | 24 | Country Vocal, "I Want to Be a Cowboy's Sweetheart" | Top 16 | Quality of Life Award 1st runner-up[8] | |||
Georgia | Leah Massee | 22 | Vocal, "If I Had My Way" | Top 10 | ||||
Ashley Layfield[9] | 21 | Lyrical Dance, "Listen" from Dreamgirls | Sister of Miss Hawaii USA 2008, Jonelle Layfield 2nd runner-up in Miss New York USA 2012 and 2013 pageants[10] | |||||
Idaho | Sadie Quigley | 19 | Piano, "Devilish Inspiration, Op. 4, No. 4" by Sergei Prokofiev | Non-finalist Talent Award | ||||
Illinois | Ashley Hatfield[11] | 24 | Vocal, "To Love You More" | |||||
Indiana | Nicole Rash[12] | 23 | Vocal, "Bandito" | 1st runner-up | Top 10 at National Sweetheart 2006 pageant Later Ms. America 2012[13] Later Mrs. America 2018 (under married name, Nicole Cook)[14] Top 6 at Mrs. World 2018 pageant | |||
Diana Reed[15] | Norwalk | 23 | Baton, "You Can't Stop the Beat" from Hairspray | Top 10 | Preliminary Talent Award | |||
Alyssa George[16] | 21 | Classical Piano | ||||||
Kentucky | Kaitlynne Postel[17] | 21 | Vocal, "So Much Better" from Legally Blonde | Daughter of Miss Maryland 1982, Lynne Graham Postel | ||||
Louisiana | Amanda Joseph | 21 | Ballet en Pointe, "Canned Heat" | |||||
Maine | Tara Allain[18] | 22 | Dance, "Hangin' By a Thread" | |||||
Maryland | Shana Powell[19] | 22 | Classical Vocal, "Glitter and Be Gay" from Candide | |||||
Massachusetts | Valerie Amaral[20] | Acushnet | 22 | Vocal, "Anyway" | CMN Miracle Maker Award Non-finalist Talent Award Preliminary Talent Award Quality of Life Award Finalist | Previously Miss Massachusetts' Outstanding Teen 2001[21] Contestant at National Sweetheart 2006 pageant | ||
19 | Vocal, "Over the Rainbow" | Winner[22] | Preliminary Lifestyle & Fitness Award | Granddaughter of Miss Detroit 1944, Iora June Victor[23] | ||||
Minnesota | Jennifer Hudspeth[24] | 23 | Vocal, "Life of the Party" from The Wild Party | Quality of Life Award Finalist | ||||
Mississippi | Kimberly Morgan[25] | 24 | Vocal, "God Bless the Child" | Top 16 | ||||
Missouri | Lindsay Casmaer | Florissant | 24 | Ballet en Pointe, "Piano Fantasy" | ||||
Montana | Kristen Mantooth | 22 | Lyrical Dance, "Beauty from Pain" | |||||
Nebraska | Ashley Bauer | 21 | Vocal, "This Is My Life"' | Contestant at National Sweetheart 2006 pageant | ||||
Nevada | Caleche Manos | 23 | Vocal, "Love Is a Battlefield" | Quality of Life Award | Contestant at National Sweetheart 2006 pageant | |||
New Hampshire | Rachel Barker | 20 | Ballet en Pointe, "Someone Like You" from Jekyll & Hyde | Pyramid Scholarship for Public Relations & Marketing | ||||
New Jersey | Amy Polumbo[26] | 22 | Vocal, "Astonishing" from Little Women | Non-finalist Talent Award | ||||
Jenny Marlowe | 23 | Vocal, "Born For This" | ||||||
Elisabeth Baldanza | 23 | Contemporary Ballet, "Your Daddy's Son" from Ragtime | ||||||
Jessica Jacobs | 23 | Ballet en pointe, "Spring" from The Four Seasons | 4th runner-up | |||||
North Dakota | Ashley Young[27] | 20 | Classical Vocal, "Adele's Laughing Song" from Die Fledermaus | Miss Congeniality | ||||
Ohio | Roberta Camp | 23 | Vocal, "Blessed" | |||||
Makenna Smith | 24 | Vocal, "Wheels of a Dream" from Ragtime | Quality of Life Award 2nd runner-up | |||||
Kari Virding[28] | Portland | 24 | Vocal, "The Girl in 14G" | Non-finalist Talent Award | Previously Miss Oregon Teen USA 2000 | |||
Rachel Brooks | 24 | Vocal, "Summertime" | Non-finalist Talent Award | |||||
Ashley Bickford | 22 | Ballet en Pointe | Miss Photogenic Preliminary Lifestyle & Fitness Award Quality of Life Award Finalist | Previously Miss Connecticut Teen USA 2002 Top 10 at Miss Teen USA 2002 pageant Later Miss Connecticut USA 2010 | ||||
South Carolina | Crystal Garrett[29] | 21 | Vocal, "As If We Never Said Goodbye" from Sunset Boulevard | Top 16 | ||||
Kate Wismer | 22 | Classical Vocal, "The Doll Song" from The Tales of Hoffmann | ||||||
Tennessee | 24 | Vocal, "What a Wonderful Day" | Top 16 | Quality of Life Award Finalist | Previously Miss Mississippi Teen USA 2002 | |||
Molly Hazlett[30] | 21 | Character Jazz en Pointe, "Rich Man's Frug" from Sweet Charity | Top 8 | Preliminary Lifestyle & Fitness Award | ||||
24 | Vocal, "Shy" from Once Upon a Mattress | Top 16 | America's Choice | |||||
Rachel Ann Cole | 22 | Monologue, "Queen Hermione" from A Winter's Tale | ||||||
Virgin Islands | Janeisha John | 20 | Jazz Dance | Later Miss US Virgin Islands 2010 | ||||
Virginia | Hannah Kiefer[31] | High Point, NC | 21 | Classical Ballet en Pointe, "The Chocolate Dance" from The Nutcracker | 3rd runner-up | Charles and Theresa Brown Scholarship | Eligible as a student at Hollins University | |
23 | Popular Vocal, "Angels" | 2nd runner-up[32] [33] | 3rd runner-up at National Sweetheart 2006 pageant Contestant on | |||||
Summer Wyatt | Athens | 21 | Vocal, "Why Haven't I Heard from You" | |||||
Wisconsin | Christina Thompson[34] | Pleasant Prairie | 23 | Classical Violin, "Praeludium & Allegro" by Fritz Kreisler | Top 8 | |||
Jennifer McCafferty | 23 | Vocal, "Gimme, Gimme" from Thoroughly Modern Millie | Eligible to compete as a student at the University of Wyoming |
For the first time since Miss America 2003, four former Miss Universe Organization titleholders competed at Miss America.They are: