Structure of the Miss America Organization

For those that are not active members of the "pageant world," keeping track of the many different national, state, and local systems can be a lot. The Miss Arkansas Valley & Johnson County Organization is a foundational piece of the Miss America Organization. The Miss America system alone has an extensive structure that requires the dedication of hundreds of volunteers across the United States and Puerto Rico. 

Every state's process and production leading up to the national level is unique. For example, some states skip the local preliminary level completely. Therefore, the information included below can only truly apply for those interested learning more about Arkansas. ​

The Miss America Organization functions in cycles (eg. Cycle '25, Cycle '26). ​Each cycle, in Arkansas, begins with the crowning of local titleholders. We crown approximately 36 Teen and 46 Miss titleholders for each cycle. These numbers vary some from year to year. The reason that there is a discrepancy between Teen and Miss numbers is mostly due to the University/College titles. Six of the seven University/College titles crown a Miss titleholder only. 

Occasionally, Arkansas will also include a few "at-large" titles. These are local level titles that may be bought, instead of won at a local competition. This is a common practice in some states and many other pageant systems, as well. 

Each local title is organized by at least one Executive Director (ED). In Arkansas, it is common for there to be teams of EDs and groups of titles that are crowned on the same evening. Crowning multiple titles in one evening is often referred to as a "dual" pageant or "sister" pageants. The EDs are responsible for hosting the local competition and preparing the winner(s) for that cycle's state competition.

It is also important to note that some local organizations operate with a board. There is still a person(s) that is designated as the ED, but having a board can help with overall operations (social media, scholarships, etc.). 

Each Local Executive Director/Titleholder is assigned a Field Director (FD). There is a small number of FDs that manage groups of titles across the state. These individuals oversee the scoring operations and judges orientation on the day of the local competitions. In addition, they serve as a resource to the EDs throughout each cycle when there are questions regarding operations, dates, etc. 

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The second portion of the cycle is the state competition. In Arkansas, this occurs early in the month of June at the Robinson Center in Little Rock. All of the local titleholders and at-large contestants gather to compete. By the end of the state competition, one Miss local titleholder and one Teen will be crowned Miss Arkansas and Miss Arkansas' Teen.   

The Miss Arkansas Organization is ran by a board. The board members are the volunteers that organize the state competition and prepare the state level titleholders for the Miss America and Miss America's Teen competition. 

In addition to the board, Arkansas' scholarship monies are managed by the Miss Arkansas Foundation. Because of this group of people, over $200,000 in scholarship monies are awarded during Miss Arkansas week each year. I do not know this for fact, but would argue that Arkansas is one of the highest awarding states for scholarship dollars within the Miss America Organization. 

Meet the Miss Arkansas Board

The Miss Arkansas Scholarship Foundation

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The final portion of the cycle is the crowning of Miss America and Miss America's Teen. All of the state-level winners including, 51 Teen delegates and 52 Miss delegates representing every single state, Washington DC and Puerto Rico vie for the ultimate titles within the Miss America Opportunity. 

The Miss America Opportunity is a 103 year old brand that is managed by CEO/owner, Robin Fleming. The two young ladies that win Miss America and Miss America's Teen become brand ambassadors for this organization and spend the year representing all over the nation. Similar to the structure of the Arkansas organization, Miss America also has a Scholarship Foundation that is ran by a board. 

The Miss America Opportunity

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A local, state or national-level titleholder will continue their reign and mission with their current title until the next cycle's title is crowned. You may have heard the term "give up your crown," and this phrase is often used to mark the end of a titleholder's reign. 

The timeline in which cycles occur can be very confusing. Essentially, local titleholders are being crowned for the next cycle BEFORE the current cycle's Miss America and Miss America's Teen have been crowned. To give an example, Miss Arkansas Valley and Miss Johnson County 2025 were crowned in July of 2024. This initiates the local preliminary cycle in Arkansas. The year on their sash is cohesive with the year that they will compete for the state title, NOT the year that they were crowned in. Meanwhile, our Cycle '24 state titleholders were preparing for Miss America and Miss America's Teen which took place in January of 2025. Below is the attempt of a timeline to better illustrate what this looks like in Arkansas. 

It would be impossible to name every single volunteer at the local, state and national level. However, I do hope that the information above hints to the sheer magnitude of people that the Miss America Opportunity continues to impact every day.