The Other Side of the Miss United States Pageant

Recently I was offered the opportunity of judging the 2016 Miss United States Pageant held at the Palms Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. I had to be convinced to accept the responsibility by my wife because at that point I had a negative impression of beauty pageants. I believed pageants were superficial and emphasized physical appearance over moral substance. I felt that beauty pageants did more harm than good to the overall image and integrity of young women. That was however, before I sat on the other side of the table as a judge for this pageant.

I along with my wife and four other judges were tasked with judging the Little Miss (8 – 10), Pre-teen (10 – 12), Teen, Ms. and Ms. Women divisions of the pageant. Each division had its own set of challenges and parameters. The things you look for in a pre-teen contestant will be dramatically different than the characteristics you see in a grown woman. However, as an actor / performer myself there were four basic characteristics I was looking for from all the contestants regardless of age. Those four characteristics (which I call the four c's) were courage, confidence, charisma and character.

As this was my first experience being on the other side of the table judging other people on their appearance, talent and accomplishment my goal was to be as fair, balanced and unbiased as possible. I didn't realize how difficult that task would be until we entered into the interview portion of the judging process. As it turned out, the two youngest categories were the easiest (but by no means easy) categories to judge because there was no real interview process just an on stage question. The real challenge of being a judge came when it was time to judge the other age categories on their platform and reason for being in the pageant in the first place.

The teen and women contestants in the pageant each had a platform and social cause they were espousing by way of the pageant. These social causes ranged from ending domestic violence to stopping bullying (and cyber-bullying) to finding cures for mental and terminal diseases. Most if not all of the ladies’ stories were from first person or family experiences with the social malady; which made each contestant very passionate about her cause. Some of the teens and ladies had even formed foundations to publicize their efforts. The stories were so compelling it became almost impossible to rank one over the other. It was those stories however that changed my attitude about pageant life.

The courage it took for the ladies to expose their tragedies, the confidence it took to work against the shame or embarrassment in public and the charisma of doing it with a smile and positive attitude revealed the real character of each of the contestants. I saw healing and transformation as the ladies espoused their cause. I saw the process as cathartic and cleansing. It was a real eye opener for me.

I came away with a different appreciation for The Miss United States Pageant.

I cannot speak on other pageants since I have no reference, however my experience on the other side of the table with Miss United States has shown me that this event is about the true beauty inherent in womanhood and it goes much further than skin deep.

G. Eric Miles