Last night, Jennifer Berry went from being just another pretty Oklahoma girl to being the envy of all American girls. For, the aspiring teacher bagged the Miss America 2005 crown at a Las Vegas ceremony Saturday night. Berry's win will go down in history for one more reason. She is the first to wear the Miss America crown outside New Jersey's Atlantic City, which had hosted the pageant for the last 84 years ever since it made its debut in 1921.
Moreover, for the first time since 1954, the pageant, instead of being captured by a nationally renowned channel, was aired on Country Music Television (CMT), a cable channel that has around 78 million subscribers.
Berry, who was competing as Miss Oklahoma, beat runner-up Miss Georgia Monica Pang and second runner-up Miss Alabama Alexa Jones, to claim the title. “This is an honor. This is surreal. I don't believe it right now. Hopefully, it will sink in, maybe tomorrow. It's a dream come true but more importantly it's a job that I'm honored to have,” she said of her win.
The success didn't come easy to 22-year-old Berry, a tall Tulsa girl who participated in the state qualifying pageant five times before she was selected to represent Oklahoma in the national Miss America contest. “I had some hard times to go through. I've obviously come through,” Berry said after her win. She took the crown over from Miss America 2005, Deidre Downs. Others in the top five list included Miss Virginia Kristi Lauren Glakas and Miss District of Columbia Shannon Schambeau.
This year's pageant, held at the Aladdin Resort & Casino, also saw Berry, who is a ballerina, belt out a dance to pianist William Joseph's
Within in the talent round. The University of Oklahoma student spiked 51 others to win a US$ 30,000 college scholarship. Asked the one cause that she strongly believes in, Berry said she advocated prevention of driving under influence.
After the crowning, she nibbled at French fries, admittedly her favorite snack. Berry also shared her childhood story about her less-than-perfect looks when she was in school. “I had big huge glasses, frizzy hair and I was about 5-foot-8. And I remember being in music class and a girl came up to me and said, 'Why did you have that picture taken with those horrid glasses?'” she recalled admitting to being 'heartbroken' then.
Besides the change of location, this year's Miss America pageant saw some earlier changes being withdrawn too. The contestants sported sashes naming the states that they came from and also voted for a Miss Congeniality from among them. Miss Hawaii Malika Dudley was voted the best-liked contestant. The last time Miss Congeniality was held was in 1974. In addition, the casual wear round and the quiz show rounds were also done away with to revive the pageant's fairy tale element that had recently suffered due to the advent of reality TV.
To remind viewers of the grandeur that Miss America contest enjoyed in yesteryears, the organizers aired clips of old pageants, with renowned host Bert Parks, now deceased, singing
There She Is, Miss America. The latest ceremony was hosted by James Denton, best known as Mike Delfino in the hit show
Desperate Housewives.
The Miss America contest has been battling low funds and falling viewership in recent years. Last year, the Miss American Organization lost its contract with ABC channel when the viewership fell by 500,000 to 9.8 million. The development hit the organizers hard and the prize money for Miss America winner was chopped down to US$ 30,000 this year, US$20,000 less than the reward last year.
