Sara Milliken Is Not ‘The’ Miss Alabama

sara milliken is not miss alabama

Sara Milliken is not Miss Alabama. I’ve only recently learned there is a pageant not affiliated with the well-known competitor-type pageants that send its contestants to more significant competitions.

For example, the real Miss Alabama pageant winner will go on to compete in Miss USA.

Sara Milliken won the National American Miss Pageant, not associated with the Miss Universe organizations.

The Miss Universe Organization currently owns and runs the Miss Universe, Miss USA, and Miss Teen USA beauty pageants. – Wikipedia

 

But everyone and their mother got in an uproar and believed Sara Milliken had won the Miss Alabama competition.

Just Google Miss Alabama and you won’t find Diane Westhoven anywhere. All you get is Sara Milliken. Well played, Sara.

The winner of Miss Alabama USA in 2024 was Diane Westhoven. No one had won Miss America Alabama 2024 as of this writing. But Milliken competed in neither of those pageants. Instead, Milliken was crowned in the National American Miss contest. – Snopes

 

And look, I am all for someone being confident and comfortable in their own body but let’s not push it as a healthy lifestyle. It’s not.

To confuse you further, yes, there are differences between Miss USA and Miss America. I had no idea until today while writing this blog post. And by the way, that article from USA Today was published in 2022, so I have no idea if anything has changed since then.

On more Googling, I found this relatively recent article from The Sun explaining the differences between Miss America and Miss USA.

Miss America operates largely as a nonprofit organization and calls itself a scholarship competition rather than a traditional beauty pageant.

Miss USA, on the other hand, has been owned by various corporations and businessmen, from Catalina Swimwear, Gulf & Western, and ITT Inc. – The Sun

So there you go, and now you know.

From what I can tell, Miss America stands alone, while the winner of Miss USA can go on to compete in Miss Universe.

I am still unclear where the Miss America or Miss USA contests come from. Does the winner of Miss Alabama (or winners from each state) go on to compete in either Miss America or Miss USA, or can she compete in both?

It appears that the Miss Alabama competition is the one that feeds the winner to Miss America.

Gah, who knew beauty was so confusing.

But, back to this National American Miss, the pageant that Sara Milliken won after several attempts.

Sara Milliken worked for eight years to win the title of Miss National American Alabama. Finally, in 2024, after three attempts, she was crowned in May. – 1819 News

 

The National American Miss pageant’s website seems to be for all ages. The website shows images of girls winning certain categories of the pageant who are looking to be elementary-age school students. I am guessing they have all age classifications.

And here’s a blurb from the website:

National American Miss is so much more than just a pageant! Our program is carefully designed to grow your confidence, teach you life-long skills such as interviewing, public speaking and presenting yourself in front of an audience all while gaining the competitive edge to succeed in whatever fields you may choose in your future. Aside from the 1 million dollars we award our contestants each year through cash scholarships and prizes, you and your family will create lifelong memories and friendships while gaining the skills necessary to succeed not only in this competition, but also in life!

 

If you win your state, as Sara did, you can put Miss Alabama on your resume. Again, well played, Sara.

So, is everyone clear now?

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