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Diedre Downs from Alabama waves after being
crowned Miss America 2005 at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, N.J.,
on Sept. 18, 2004. (Reuters) |
Downs, 24, was crowned Miss America 2005 after beating 51 other
contestants from every state plus the District of Columbia and the U.S.
Virgin Islands. She defeated Miss Louisiana, Jennifer Dupont, in a final
head-to-head talent
competition.
Downs, from Birmingham, Alabama, pledged to use her
year as Miss America to reestablish the competition as a major cultural
event amid criticism that it is a outdated forum and has little relevance
to modern women.
"I would like to be the Miss America that brings
this organization back into the realm of popular culture," she said.
The Miss America Organization had paid for her to go to college
and will now pay for medical school, she said, although she conceded her
medical training may be deferred. She wins $50,000 in scholarship money.
"People don't realize all the positive aspects of this program,"
she said. "People don't see it as more than a
pageant. It's a scholarship program and it's not afraid to
be glamorous."
She also defended the scanty swimsuits that raised
eyebrows in this year's competition, and said swimwear should remain a
part of the event because it demonstrates a healthy lifestyle at a time
when obesity has become an epidemic.
The Miss America
Organization, a non-profit group, was criticized for the unusually
revealing swimsuits contestants were required to wear as part of a
two-year contract with the swimsuit manufacturer Speedo.
And in a
bid to boost sagging TV
ratings on the 50th anniversary of the first live telecast of the final,
officials cut the talent portion of the show from five contestants to two.
The idea of a head-to-head talent competition between the last two
contestants was intended to mimic popular "reality TV" shows, said Miss
America Organization head Art McMaster.
"It's more of a
reality-based thing to keep America watching," he said.
The field
was narrowed at the start of the evening to 10 finalists: North Carolina,
California, Oklahoma, Georgia, Kansas, New York, Louisiana, Alabama,
Arkansas and Texas. After the casual wear and swimsuit competitions,
Alabama, Louisiana, California, Arkansas and North Carolina remained.
A quiz on current affairs, counting for 5 percent of a
contestant's score, was jointly won by California, Alabama and Arkansas.
Only three of the five knew that U.S. presidential candidates need 270
electoral votes to win the general election.
The final talent
competition, the first in the history of the event, matched a jazz dance
routine by Dupont against a ballad sung by Downs.
Dupont, 23, wins
$40,000 in scholarship money. The other runners up were Miss North
Carolina, Kristin Elrod; Miss Arkansas, Lacy Fleming and Miss California,
Veena Goel. (CRIENGLISH.com) |