Miss USA vs. Miss America: How to tell the difference between the two biggest pageants

How did the Miss America and Miss USA pageants begin?

Miss America predates Miss USA by 31 years. The first pageant — held in September 1921 — was part of a strategy to bring tourists to Atlantic City after Labor Day, according to the Miss America website. It was won by a 16-year-old named Margaret Gorman, who was competing as “Miss Washington DC.”

The pageant also featured a “bathing beauty review,” which was an “act of rebellion during a time when women weren’t permitted to wear swimsuits in public,” the Miss America website states.

Miss USA began because of a very different act of rebellion. In 1951, the new Miss America winner, Yolande Betbeze, refused to pose for pictures in a swimsuit. Catalina, a swimwear company sponsoring the competition, was upset by her decision — so it decided to create its own pageants.

In 1952, Jackie Loughery was crowned the first Miss USA, and Armi Kuusela from Finland became the first Miss Universe. Every winner of Miss USA has continued to compete at the Miss Universe pageant. Nine American women have won Miss Universe since its inception — the most of any country.

What are Miss USA and Miss America’s different eligibility requirements?

To be eligible to compete in Miss America, contestants must be between the ages of 18 and 28. Women between the ages of 14 and 17 are eligible to compete for Miss America’s Teen, its sister pageant.

Miss America contestants cannot be married or have children. It’s a rule that past winners, including Grace Stanke and Camille Schrier, have defended in interviews with Business Insider.

The Miss America pageant also previously had a strict “anti-boyfriend” rule. But current Miss America Madison Marsh, who is engaged, told BI in February that the policy has changed under CEO Robin Fleming.

“She has been saying it’s a new day at Miss America, and she really meant that,” Marsh said. “There are a lot of outdated rules that have gone away, one being that you can’t be engaged and be Miss America.”

Miss USA has significantly changed its eligibility rules in the past two years. The pageant began allowing married women and mothers to compete in 2023, and this year will be the first that all women aged 18 and over are eligible (the previous cutoff age was 28). Women between the ages of 14 and 19 can compete at Miss Teen USA.

How are Miss USA and Miss America judged?

While many pageant queens compete at both Miss USA and Miss America, the two competitions consist of different rounds.

Miss USA contestants are judged on three rounds: swimsuit, evening gown, and interview.

All three rounds previously held equal weight in the contestants’ final scores. But under the leadership of Laylah Rose, who became president and CEO in 2023, the interview now makes up 50% of the total score, while evening-gown and swimsuit are each 25%. Rose also decided to remove questions involving politics, sex, or religion from the interview round — a decision that has disappointed many past contestants.

Unlike Miss USA, Miss America features a talent competition. It also features evening wear, interviews, and fitness rounds. The pageant removed its swimsuit round in 2018, announcing that it would no longer judge contestants based on their “outward physical appearance.”

What are the different prizes for Miss America and Miss USA?

According to its website, Miss America was one of the first organizations in the country to offer college scholarships to women — which it began doing in 1945.

The organization announced it would award over $250,000 in tuition scholarships at the 2024 Miss America and Miss America’s Teen pageants. The winner of Miss America received $60,000 for tuition. The teen winner could either receive a $60,000 tuition scholarship for an accredited college of her choosing or opt for a four-year scholarship at the University of Alabama.

The pageant also rewarded $10,000 each to the top five finalists.

Instead of offering scholarships, the Miss USA Organization pays the winner a $100,000 salary for their yearlong reign. In past years, the prize package has also included an apartment in New York or Los Angeles for their time as Miss USA.

Why are Miss USA and Miss America controversial?

Both the Miss USA and Miss America pageants have had their share of scandals in recent years.

Sam Haskell ran the Miss America Organization for 12 years before he stepped down in 2017 after his vulgar and offensive internal emails about past Miss America winners were leaked to the press.

In the 2023 A&E docuseries ​​”Secrets of Miss America,” Mallory Hagan, who won in 2013, said Haskell repeatedly spread false rumors about her sex life. Haskell claimed Hagan slept with more than 25 men in one of the emails, which were leaked to The Huffington Post.

Haskell resigned from the organization days after the emails were published. He was replaced by former Fox News host and Miss America 1989 Gretchen Carlson, who took over at the beginning of 2018. Carlson resigned in June 2019 after Cara Mund, who was Miss America at the time, spoke out against her leadership.

“Our chair and CEO have systematically silenced me, reduced me, marginalized me, and essentially erased me in my role as Miss America in subtle and not-so-subtle ways on a daily basis,” Mund wrote in a letter to former Miss America winners.

Miss USA made headlines in October 2022 when then-president Crystle Stewart was suspended after contestants claimed that year’s pageant had been rigged. The Miss Universe Organization said it found no evidence of rigging during its investigation, though Stewart and the organization parted ways.

The pageant has been back in the headlines this year after Miss USA Noelia Voigt and Miss Teen USA UmaSofia Srivastava gave up their crowns in May. It was the first time in the pageant’s 72-year history that a woman had given up her title.

Both pageant queens have said they cannot share details publicly due to nondisclosure agreements that Rose made every contestant sign before they competed at Miss USA 2023. But their mothers, Jackeline Voigt and Barbara Srivastava, told BI in an interview in May that their daughters experienced “eight months of torture and abuse” while working with Rose.

After Voigt and Srivastava relinquished their titles, Miss Colorado Arianna Lemus resigned in solidarity and Miss Teen USA first runner-up Stephanie Skinner refused to assume Srivastava’s title. Paula Miles and Kimberly Nicewonder — who both ran state pageants for the Miss USA organization for over three decades — also recently resigned due to Rose’s leadership, as they told BI. Rose did not respond to requests for comment on the resignations and Jackeline Voigt and Barbara Srivastava’s statements.

The 73rd annual Miss USA pageant will air on the CW Network on August 4. The Miss America 2025 pageant has not been scheduled yet.