NAM National Director,Steve Mayes, with Rhonda Shappert, owner of Winning Through Pageantry.
http://www.namiss.com/
The mission of the National American Miss Pageant (NAM) is to celebrate America's greatness and encourage its future leaders. Each year, the pageant awards one million dollars in cash, scholarships and prizes to recognize and assist the development of young women nationwide.
There are five groups that compete at the state level.
All age groups are based on your age as of January 1st.
*Princess: 4-6
*Jr. Pre-Teen: 7-9
*Pre-Teen: 10-12
*Jr. Teen: 13-15
*Teen: 16-18
At the national level, there is a Miss division for contestants ages 19-20. Most of the information I am sharing with you was taken from the national website. I would encourage you to check there for the most up to date information regarding the pageant if you are thinking of competing. NAM is in all 50 states so to find your state director; you will need to go to www.namiss.com.
NAM is a natural pageant and doesn't allow makeup on girls under the age of 13. Makeup, hair, and clothing choices need to be age appropriate for all the contestants.
For the overall queens' titles, there are four areas of competition: formal wear, personal introduction, interview and community service.
Formal Wear 30%
Formal Wear counts for 30% of your final pageant score. Every contestant will be individually introduced on stage, with all the lights, sounds, and excitement. This is your moment alone in the spotlight wearing the dress of your choice.
Choose a dress that shows off your unique personality. The color and style are your choice. You should feel confident and excited about who you are and who you were created to be.
As you are introduced on stage, you will be escorted by your father, grandfather, uncle, cousin, godfather or any other friend. If no one is available, they will be happy to provide an escort for you at no cost. The above photo of my clients is an excellent example of the type of gown contestants will want to wear during this phase of competition.
Personal Introduction 30%
Personal Introduction counts for 30% of your final pageant score. During this competition, you will be learning how to speak effectively into a microphone and how to confidently and professionally present yourself on stage to a live audience.
Contestants will introduce themselves on stage, saying their name, hometown, where they see themselves in the future or something interesting about themselves. The introduction is around 30 seconds in length and contestants wear their interview suit during this phase of competition. Feel free to creatively put together your introduction. The judges want to get a sense of who you are and your personality.
Interview 30%
Interview counts for 30% of your final pageant score. You will talk one-on-one with each of the pageant judges for about a minute.
This is the time for you to let your personality shine. You will take home valuable interviewing skills, such as making good eye contact, speaking confidently, and sitting properly during an interview.
The judges will be asking questions simply to find out more about your. They will not ask questions with a right or wrong answer, and there will be 5 or more judges on the panel. Attire for the interview is a suit. Since it is very difficult to find suits for young girls, most contestants have their suits custom made by seamstresses. You can also find suit around Easter time in JCPenney's, or a similar department store. The suit should be tailored to fit your daughter perfectly.
Community Involvement 10%
The Pageant Weekend Community Involvement Project is incredibly fun, easy, and rewarding! A full 10% of your final pageant score will be awarded to your when you donate a children's book or stuffed animal on pageant weekend.
There are several optional competitions including talent, spokesmodel, casual wear modeling, photogenic, actress and many more. There really is something for everyone to showcase themselves.
Here in Ohio, the state pageant for each age group spans three days.
The first day is check in, a workshop and a fun Decades Get Acquainted Party in the evening where the girls dress in their favorite decades outfit.
Day two is filled with all of the optional competitions, rehearsals, and the Personal Introduction and Escorted Formal Wear competition in the evening.
Morning of Day Three, contestants will have Interviews with the judges, have a final rehearsal, and the Pageant Finale will take place that evening. The finale will open with a dance number that the girls have learned that weekend.
The Queens and appointed state queens (an appointed state queen is if your state didn't have a pageant, and you were selected through a comprehensive essay and interview process to represent your state at the national pageant) compete for the title of National American Miss held at Disneyland in November during Thanksgiving week.
Queens' courts (first through fourth runners up of the state pageants), appointed city queens (if states didn't have a pageant, representative are selected) State Cover Girls, and State Ambassadors (which are advertising titles), will represent their cities for the title of National All-American Miss. It, too, takes place at the same time and location as the National American Miss pageant.
The Winner in any of the State Talent, Photogenic, Spokesmodel, Casual Wear Modeling or Actress competitions, may compete in any of the Optional Contests at the National Pageant as well as compete for the title of National All-American Miss.
The top 5 in any of your State Talent, Photogenic, Spokesmodel, Casual Wear Modeling or Actress competitions, may compete in any of the Optional Contests at the National Pageant. They'll also be able to participate in the opening production number dance, the special presentation in formal wear, all Disney Activities and more!
For the 7 days contestants are at nationals in California, their days are filled with parties, optional competitions, rehearsals, formal wear competition, interview, personal introduction, a day at Disney and a tour of Hollywood. Again, schedules and events have a tendency to change, so check the national website or contact the national office for any questions that you may have at www.namiss.com.
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Rhonda Shappert is an expert pageant coach and an iPEC trained personal development life coach. She created Winning Through Pageantry™, to partner with pageant contestants and their support people to provide complete pageant preparation and achieve winning results in life through pageantry. She was Mrs.Ohio America 2005, and has held multiple titles at the local, state and national levels. Rhonda graduated Cum Laude with a Bachelors degree in Musical Theater from The Ohio State University and has performed on stage in 15 countries on the Asian, European and American continents. This mother of three home educates their children and has been married 21 years to her husband Stephen, is the former mayor of her community, and serves on the Board of Trustees for the Ohio Virtual Academy. She and her husband perform original contemporary Christian music. Their music CD entitled Cana is available through www.cdbaby.com/cd/shappert or on her website. For more information on Rhonda, visit www.WinningThroughPageantry.com.