America's Junior Miss
America's Junior Miss is a national scholarship program created to provide
young high school seniors with the opportunity and support needed to succeed
before, during, and after attending college. In its existence, over 700,000
young ladies have participated in competitions spanning the United States,
including the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. Among the participants, over
2000 lucky contestants have reached the national finals held in the program's
birthplace of Mobile, Alabama.
The Early Years
In the late 1920s, Mobile's Junior Chamber of Commerce, better known today as
the Jaycees, began the earliest form of the Junior Miss program as an annual
floral pageant in the spring to encourage participation from residents in local
beautification projects, including azalea flowers. The winner of the pageant
would eventually choose her successor to carry on the role of representing the
annual program: an act similar to what every America's Junior Miss has done a
year after winning the title, but it's the judges who decide first.
Shortly after the Second World War, the Junior Chamber changed the program
especially for young high school seniors to participate. Prizes included the
honor of being queen of the Azalea Trail Maids, Mobile's official hostesses at
special events. Before 1957, the Junior Chamber realized that not only were
Mobilians participating in their program, so were Mississippi and Florida
residents. It was decided that year to make the program national, allowing high
school seniors from every state to participate in the renamed Junior Miss
America Pageant. Unlike the Miss America pageant, Junior Miss America did not
judge on beauty, but on talent, fitness, poise, and scholastic achievement.
The first national finals were held in March 1958 at the Saenger Theater in
downtown Mobile, with 18 states represented and a budget of $10,000 in
scholarship money. Phyllis Whitenack of West Virginia would leave Mobile with
$5000 to attend college, along with the title of Junior Miss America. Junior
Miss America became America's Junior Miss in 1959.
