For most girls, their introduction to National American Miss begins with a letter or a postcard. Our journey was no different. We received the letter inviting us to an “open call” in early 2012. We were offered a free photo shoot and interview to determine whether or not our daughter was a good fit for the National American Miss program.
True to their word, there was a photo shoot and we did receive the photos on a disc before we left. She did have an interview where they asked her about school and what she liked to do for fun, etc. Very easy questions. We were told that once a decision had been made, they would contact us to let us know if she had been chosen. We eventually got the congratulatory letter in the mail along with a red ribbon as a keepsake.
We had done a few pageants prior to NAM, but nothing could’ve prepared us for what was to come. Thankfully, National American Miss is extremely thorough in communicating everything about their program to their contestants and their parents. Over the coming weeks leading up to Pageant Weekend we would receive four separate magazines containing everything we needed to know about the competition. The beauty of NAM is that what the contestants see, the judges see. The rules regarding makeup, attire, etc are all strictly enforced. Even better, NAM provided a FREE WORKSHOP about 3 months prior to Pageant Weekend to practice the walk and introduction and sample interview questions. We got to meet reigning queens and staff as well. It was extremely impressive!
My background is in entertainment and I competed in scholarship pageants when I was a preteen, so I had an inkling of what to expect, but even with my past experience, I was not fully prepared for the experience that was NAM. We live in Florida and in 2012, there were a LOT of girls competing. Our program book had nearly 200 girls in the 7-9 age division! There were so many that the group was split in half by age so that Division 1 had 7/8 year olds and Division 2 had 8/9 year olds. At NAM, your age division is decided based on your age as of January 1st. That meant that my daughter who turned 8 in February was a Jr. Pre-Teen (7-9 years old) in Division 1. In actuality, only about 70 girls were present for competition in Division 1. To put it in perspective, that was more girls than compete at either Miss America or Miss USA and sometimes even Miss Universe! And that was only half of the total age division! Florida at that time had so many contestants that the state was split into two or three regions for separate pageants! Ours has always been in Central Florida and until recently there was a North Florida and South Florida pageant as well!
Can you imagine getting 68 little girls plus the state and national queens to all face the camera at the same time? It’s like herding cats, but the NAM staff is so professional, they manage to do it in under 5 minutes. Professionalism is the one word that best describes NAM, actually. From your first interaction and every subsequent one they are consummate professionals who run ON TIME. This is one of the biggest draws for me as parent. Another is the absolute focus on a positive family experience.
Yes, it’s a competition and yes, there are prizes involved. But the directors and staff make it known abundantly clearly that their first priority is for each contestant to grow as a person and to have quality family time. That’s why for us, NAM has become a summer tradition. We take the weekend and use it as a staycation and family time.
It’s hard to believe they were ever that little. Now they are all teenagers! By the time our state pageant rolls around they will be 17, 15 and 13, respectively. Pictured here they are 10, 8 and 6. They all still look forward to NAM weekend, though! There is always plenty of time for fun even in the middle of competition because the schedule was built for families. There’s time to eat, relax, play, nap, and yes, compete.
Speaking of competition, there are only three required elements:
- Personal Introduction
- Interview
- Escorted Formal Wear
Contestants wear an interview appropriate suit or dress for both Introduction and Interview. Personal Introduction is everyone’s chance to get to know the contestants. They will give a memorized introduction that has to include their name, where they are from and ambition in under 30 seconds. From there they proceed to a closed-room interview where they will have one-on-one time with each judge.
After these competitions are over, contestants will compete in “Escorted Formal Wear” where either a male family member or friend will escort the contestant on stage for preliminary gown competition. If a girl doesn’t have an escort of her own, there are always plenty of “special pageant friends” to fill in.
At the conclusion of Formal Wear, the scores are tallied and a top five will be chosen. The results of the Top Five won’t be announced until the next day at the Finale Show where every girl is showcased on stage in her gown after a fun opening number where all the girls are in the official tshirt/denim shorts seen in the group photo. Once the semi-finalists have all been called, every girl comes back on stage in her gown and the optional awards are called. After all optional awards have been called, they announce the Top Five: 4th Runner Up, 3rd Runner Up, 2nd Runner Up, Queen.
Our first year, we got the “thank you for participating” trophy that every girl receives. But it didn’t feel like a loss because the weekend was dedicated to family and fun. And as a wise man once said, you either win or you learn. We learned a lot from our first year. In subsequent posts, I’ll share what we learned and did differently.