2008 Woodie Awards
Poor ratings put "Miss America" in debt
Associated Press
Issue date: 1/26/06 Section: A & E
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Jennifer Berry, a student at the University of Oklahoma, outlasted 51 other women to become Miss America 2006, earning a $30,000 college scholarship and a yearlong speaking tour in the process.
Miss Georgia, Monica Pang was first runner-up and Miss Alabama, Alexa Jones second runner-up. Miss Virginia, Kristi Lauren Glakas and Miss District of Columbia Shannon Schambeau rounded out the top five. Miss Hawaii Malika Dudley won Miss Congeniality.
Berry, an advocate for the prevention of drunken driving, wowed the judges by dancing ballet for her talent routine.
Berry, who competed for five years in Oklahoma's state pageant, finished as third runner-up twice before winning last year and getting a shot at the national title.
"This is an honor, this is surreal," she said. "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."
Berry said she looked much different in sixth grade: "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 said she was "heartbroken" by the comment, but that it ultimately helped her "become the woman that I am by accepting the person that I am."
She succeeds Miss America 2005 Deidre Downs, who ended up wearing the crown 16 months because this year's pageant was postponed by four months.
An Atlantic City institution for 85 years, the pageant traded the Boardwalk for the Strip this year in a bid to revive interest. Without coverage from a major television network for the first time since 1954, it aired on Country Music Television.
The pageant, which dabbled in reality TV-style gimmicks in recent years as it tried to lure viewers back, struck a more old-fashioned theme this time out, despite the move to Sin City.