Miss Scenic City Hannah Robison and Miss Music City Aria Stiles greet the audience at the Miss Tennessee Pageant in Jackson after winning Friday's preliminaries. Miss Robison added a swimsuit win to her talent victory on Thursday and Miss Stiles was awarded for her violin performance of Gypsy Airs.
photo by Earl Neikirk
Miss Scenic City Hannah Robison was a triple award winner on Friday at the Miss Tennessee Pageant when she won the swimsuit preliminary, was named the recipient of the State Quality of Life Award for excellence in community service and became the first Tennessee local titleholder to receive the Duke of Edinburgh USA gold medal for physical fitness, leadership and volunteering.
The senior chemistry major at the University of Tennessee at Martin is this year’s only double preliminary winner after receiving the talent award on Thursday for her piano presentation of “El Cubanchero” and would become the second consecutive Scenic City Pageants titleholder to be named Miss Tennessee and the third in four years at tonight’s finals starting at 9pm ET onwww.eplustv6.com. Ms. Robison’s winning Quality of Life platform is the Campaign Against Pain focusing on arthritis awareness which directly affects several members of her family and she received a $1,000 scholarship.
Miss Chattanooga Stephanie McKain was awarded the Miss America State Academic Award and a $1,000 scholarship plus the Duke of Edinburgh silver medal. She is a graduate student at Middle Tennessee State University where she is pursuing her Masters in Business Administration.
Miss Tennessee Valley Sydney Shadrix and Miss Dogwood Festival Rachel Holder received Duke of Edinburgh bronze medals.
The top 16 finalists will advance to tonight’s final round of competition where they will compete in swimsuit before the field narrows to 12 for talent followed by the top 10 in evening wear. The top five will then answer on-stage questions to determine the order of finish.
The new Miss Tennessee will receive an $18,000 scholarship and represent the state at the Miss America Pageant in September. The successor to the 2014 winner and former Miss Tennessee Valley Hayley Lewis will serve as the Governor’s Official Spokesperson for Character Education and as a Children’s Miracle Network Goodwill Ambassador.
Miss Scenic City Hannah Robison and Miss Music City Aria Stiles
photo by Wendy King