Jennifer Berry's crowning as Miss America 2006 greets visitors at the Aladdin/Planet Hollywood Casino in Las Vegas. Chattanooga's Blaire Pancake is Tennessee's representative for the 2007 competition which gets underway tonight with the first of three preliminary rounds. The new Miss America will be named on Monday night at the conclusion of CMT's telecast of the finals.
photo by Wendy King
LAS VEGAS - It was a Southwest sweep during the first night of preliminary competition at the Miss America Pageant as the entrants from Texas and Oklahoma emerged victorious.
Shilah Phillips, who became the first African-American Miss Texas last summer, won the talent segment with her rendition of Whitney Houston’s “I Believe in You and Me” from the film “The Preacher’s Wife” before an appreciative crowd at the Planet Hollywood/Aladdin Performing Arts Center.
Meanwhile, Miss Oklahoma Lauren Nelson wore a yellow bikini to capture top honors in the lifestyle and fitness in swimsuit category. Should Miss Nelson become Miss America 2007 when the finals are telecast Monday night on Country Music Television (CMT), it would mark the first time in 47 years that a state would have consecutive Miss Americas as former Miss Oklahoma Jennifer Berry won last year’s pageant, the first held in Las Vegas.
Chattanooga’s Miss Tennessee Blaire Pancake was in the group that answered a question relating to their platforms. Miss Pancake, the founder of the website Keep Tennessee Kids Safe and the spokesperson for Prevent Child Abuse Tennessee, told preliminary emcee Kellye Cash, the last Miss Tennessee to become Miss America 21 years ago, that there needs to be open lines of communication between children and their parents.
Miss Pancake will compete in both swimsuit and evening wear during the second round of preliminaries Friday night. On Saturday, she will sing “Attitude” in the talent portion.
Blaire Pancake at Miss America in Las Vegas
photo by Jim Grillot