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Event Information:
The
Miss USA , the 61st Miss USA
pageant will be held on June 3,
, at the Theatre for the
Performing Arts in Las Vegas,
Nevada. The winner will represent
the United States at Miss Universe
. Miss USA , Alyssa
Campanella of California will crown
her successor at the end of the
event. The 50 states and the
District of Columbia will compete
for the prestigious title and the
pageant will be televised live on
NBC in the U.S. and STAR World in
Asia-Pacific. A "condensed"
(time-edited) version of the pageant
will be webcast on the Xbox Live
service, which will be accessed via
their MSN and MSNBC applications and
will be available 12-24 hours after
the live pageant.
The
Miss USA beauty contest has been
held annually since 1952 to select
the United States entrant in the
Miss Universe pageant. The Miss
Universe Organization operates both
pageants, as well as Miss Teen USA.
The Miss USA pageant was conceived
in 1950 when Yolande Betbeze, winner
of the rival Miss America pageant,
refused to pose for publicity
pictures while wearing a swimsuit.
Pageant sponsor Catalina decided to
pull their sponsorship off the
pageant, and create their own
competition. Other owners have
included a subsidiary of
Gulf+Western Industries, ITT
Corporation, and billionaire Donald
Trump, the current owner who bought
the pageant in 1996.
The
first Miss USA and Miss Universe
pageants were held concurrently in
Long Beach, California in 1952; the
first Miss USA winner was Miss New
York USA Jackie Loughery. There were
thirty delegates in the first year
of competition, and many states did
not compete every year during the
first two decades of the pageant's
history. From the 1970s, each state
and the District of Columbia have
sent a delegate each year. Alaska
first competed in 1959 and Hawaii in
1960. Both had competed at Miss
Universe until this time. The modern
pageant consists of a preliminary
competition held a week before the
pageant when all contestants are
judged in swimsuit, gown and
interview. From this, semifinalists
are chosen, and they are announced
during the live broadcast of the
final competition. These
semifinalists then compete in
swimsuit and evening gown, and the
finalists are chosen. This is when
the interview competition is held.
The runners-up and winner are
announced at the end of the
telecast. Since 1997, the judges for
the finals have been different from
those who judged the Preliminary
competition.
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