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Move Over Miss America!

© Shauna Zamarripa

Move over Miss America! This week we'll be discussing the America Junior Miss scholarship program, which honors high school seniors.

The America's Junior Miss Program is held annually to honor the nation's outstanding high school senior girls. This nationwide scholarship and honors program recognizes, rewards and encourages excellence while promoting self-esteem among these young women. With the scholarships they win, America's Junior Misses not only become role models for others, but also go on to pursue their own college and career goals. The America's Junior Miss Program (AJM) is held each summer in Mobile, Alabama and brings 50 of America's best and brightest high school senior women to Mobile for its National Finals. AJM is the oldest and largest scholarship program for high school seniors in the United States.

The AJM program is conducted on the local, state and national levels and allows thousands of outstanding young women to participate each year. Each Junior Miss who makes it to the National Finals has competed at the local and state levels and represents her home state in the finals. The winner of the AJM title represents the program across the country during the next year.

The AJM Program is a nonprofit organization governed by a board comprised of civic, business and professional leaders. The board issues a franchise to an organization in each state to conduct that state's program. The state franchise holder issues franchises to civic and service groups, schools and other community organizations to conduct local programs.

The Judges Panel and the Scholastic Evaluation Panel determine the honorees for the America's Junior Miss awards using the following procedure. Using a 1-to-10 point system, with 1 being the lowest score, each member of the Judge's Panel scores each contestant immediately following her completion of each of the following categories: Judge's Interview, Creative and Performing Arts, Fitness, and Presence and Composure. Prior to the contestant's arrival in Mobile, Alabama for the finals, each member of the Scholastic Evaluation Panel is sent an official copy of each contestant's academic records. After reviewing the information, each judge scores each contestant using the same 1-to-10 point scale. Each scholastic judge also provides a 1-to-50 ranking of the contestants. Each contestant's score in the various categories is weighted according to the following percentages: Judge's Interview 25% Creative and Performing Arts 25% Scholastic Achievement 20% Fitness 15% Presence and Composure 15% After the total weighted score for each contestant is tabulated, the Judge's Panel determines, during a monitored discussion, which eight of the nine highest scoring contestants will be named to compete for the title of America's Junior Miss.

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