Miss Division

Miss Rapid City Candidate Guide 2023 

Welcome to the Miss Rapid City Pageant.  We invite you to discover the Miss America experience embodied in our local programs and realize the rewards of the world’s largest scholarship program for young women. The Miss Rapid City local pageant, to be held Saturday, February 11, 2023, is a preliminary event that will qualify the titleholders to participate in the Miss South Dakota competition to be held in Brookings, South Dakota, June 1-3, 2023.  The young lady chosen in Brookings moves on to compete in the Miss America Pageant.  For more information, visit www.misssd.org.   

For age eligibility in the Miss division, here are the details: 

• Must be at least 19 years old by December 31, 2023. 
• Must not be older than 26 years of age as of December 31, 2023. 

You must also be a resident of South Dakota, or a student attending school in South Dakota, or employed in South Dakota, for six months to qualify for participation (see details in the contract).  If you attend school out of state but your parents’ address in South Dakota is your permanent home address, you qualify as a resident of South Dakota.  Some local pageants may have more restrictive geographical residency requirements, but ALL titles the Miss Rapid City Pageant will give out are unrestricted – anyone throughout the state meeting the state residency requirement may win any of the titles.   

The more contestants we have, the more titles we can give. The top-scoring contestants receive these titles, regardless of where they live, but the name of the title will be determined the night of the pageant. For instance, if we have enough contestants to give two titles at the pageant, and the highest-scoring contestant is from east river and the second-highest scoring contestant is from Rapid City, the first will be given the Miss Central States Fair title, and the second will be given the Miss Rapid City title. If a top-scorer goes to BHSU, she may get the Miss BHSU title.  We hope to have enough contestants to give a Miss Rushmore, Miss Badlands, and Miss SDSMT titles as well.  All titles qualify the recipients to compete at the Miss South Dakota Pageant in Brookings.    

As a titleholder, please keep in mind that you will represent this local pageant at the Miss South Dakota Pageant, be a spokeswoman for your social impact initiative, attend various functions when you can, and be a positive voice for the entire state of South Dakota as well as the Miss America Organization.   

Sara Frankenstein will be your contact person whose email address is smfranken@hotmail.com.  When your official contestant paperwork is fully completed and received, you will be placed as a contestant in this local pageant.  Phone calls, e-mails requests, etc., WILL NOT be considered as official entries.  Official paperwork includes the fact sheet and the contestant’s contract. Return this paperwork to smfranken@hotmail.com.   

It takes some time for us to put together the program book we sell at the door.  Please email Sara Frankenstein the following as soon as possible: 

• A color headshot or head and shoulder photo 
• Your parents’ names (how you would like them listed in the program book) 
• Your age 
• Your talent type (“flute”, “lyrical dance”, “cheer dance”, “classical piano”, “comedic monologue”, “speed painting”, etc. - your exact talent song/name is not needed) 
• Your social impact initiative title or general topic (e.g. “Buckle Up for Safety” or “importance of wearing seatbelts” - catchy titles are fine but not necessary) 
• Hometown 
• Your school, university, homeschool, or place of employment  
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The Miss Rapid City Pageant will be held on February 11, 2023 at 7:00pm at the Performing Arts Center (previously the Dakota Middle School) in Rapid City, SD.  Check with your Executive Director (Sara Frankenstein) or www.missrapidcity.org for schedules and other information.   

CAUTION TO ALL CONTESTANTS THAT USE SOCIAL MEDIA.   

Many people use social media as a means to communicate with their friends.  The Miss South Dakota Board would like to remind you that items posted on these sites can easily be viewed by others.  Other viewers may include pageant judges and potential employers.  Some postings may not portray the image you would like to have of yourself as you strive to become Miss South Dakota and Miss America.  If you do choose to have a site, you may wish to password-protect it to only close friends, or if you choose for it to be open, please remember that everything contained on the page (photographs, quotations, and friend comments) is a reflection of you as a Miss South Dakota candidate.  Please make sure all public content adheres to the image Miss South Dakota should uphold, as detailed in the contestant contract.   

THE JUDGING PROCESS:   

The Miss America competition judging system is designed to promote diversity, individuality and overall achievement among all contestants.  Judges score the individual contestants immediately following each phase of competition.  Contestants are scored on a 1-10 point scale, in whole numbers, within each category (more than one contestant may receive the same score.)  All five judges have been educated about the Miss America judging system and represent a variety of professional sectors within their communities.   

WEIGHTING OF SCORES, SUGGESTIONS FOR COMPETITION ATTIRE, AND HELPFUL HINTS FOR SUCCESSFUL COMPETITION:  

Interview is 25% of your score.  

Wear a suit or dress of choice – something you would wear for a job interview.  Your personal taste should dictate all your clothing choices, but avoid extreme styles.  Typically, contestants choose suits or dresses with above-the-knee skirts, but you may choose a longer skirt or pants suit.  Busy patterns, styles, or excessive jewelry and scarves may distract the judges’ attention from what you are saying, so keep them minimal.   

Criteria considered in interview include whether the contestant has qualities and attributes of a Miss America, first impression, personality, intelligence, opinions, articulation, confidence, style, and charisma. Questions may come from your fact sheet, current events, controversial issues, issues relevant to women, career goals, and your social impact initiative.   

The interview time will be a total of ten minutes.  There will be nine minutes and thirty seconds of interview by the judges and then a thirty-second closing statement by the contestant.  The contestant will enter the room and the judge designated to ask the contestant her first question will begin the interview.  Be prepared with some thoughts for your closing statement, which cannot go over 30 seconds.  A podium may be used.   

Ways to prepare for interview:  Read the newspaper or a news magazine regularly. Compile statistics relating to your social impact initiative.  Become an expert in your specific area of concern with your social impact initiative.  Learn facts, trends, differing methods, etc. that exist in our state or nation and know which methods persuade you most.  Ask yourself every possible question you can think of and formulate responses in your head.  Know your opinion on controversial subjects in the news or related to your platform.  Practice with someone acting as a judge.  Get constructive criticism and use it to your benefit.  Watch yourself speak in front of a mirror or on video.  Remember judges do not want to hear a wishy-washy response.  Know your opinions and why you believe the way you do.   

Fitness -- There is no more fitness/swimsuit competition! There is still a fitness routine in the Teen division, but no fitness or swimsuit competition in the Miss division. 

Talent is 40% of your score.  Your talent routine may not exceed 90 seconds, but can be less. 

If you need special props other than microphones, please let Sara Frankenstein know.  We no longer allow aerial silks for the talent competition.  Your attire should complement the performance you are delivering.  Judges are looking for your personality, interpretive ability, skill level, stage presence, and entertainment value.   

No live accompaniment is allowed.  All background music must be on thumbdrive or emailed only.  You must bring a thumbdrive of your background music with you to rehearsal if you do not email it prior to.  Backup voices are allowed only if there is no melody being sung on the accompaniment CD.  Your talent must be demonstrated on stage as a live performance.  It should be memorized if possible.  Talent accompaniment on anything other than thumbdrives or emailed will NOT be allowed.  You can find 90-second accompaniment tracks at www.musicalcreations.com, or create your own.  Bring your back-up thumbdrives to rehearsal with your name and cell phone number.  

Evening Wear/Social Impact Statement is 20% of your score.   

Your choice of gown should show YOU off, not the gown.  Cost is not the factor here.  Scoring areas are qualities and attributes of a Miss America, first impression, sense of confidence, stage presence, posture, sense of style, and attractiveness.   

In your gown, you will give a 30-45 second pitch about your social impact statement.  Prepare what you want to say ahead of time.  We will practice this several times on stage with the mic. 

On-Stage Interview is 15% of your score.  

Two questions are generally taken from your interview or fact sheets.  Judges are looking for how you handle the pressure of speaking on stage in front of an audience consisting of your family, friends, and strangers.  They want to hear your answers to the questions in the context in which they were asked.   

Production Attire for the Miss Rapid City Pageant:  

Other than your competition outfits, you will need black leggings, black shoes, and a tan/nude tank top or camisole for the opening numbers.  We will hand out sparkly tops at rehearsal, but some are sheer and need a nude tank top underneath.  Make sure you can do choreography in your outfit and shoes (keep the heels low to medium).   

Please bring along things such as a portable hanging rod to hang up your dresses (otherwise there is limited place to hang up your gowns at the Performing Arts Center) robe, steamer, curling iron, or whatever else you think you’ll need.  We will not have any such items there other than what you bring.     

HOW TO SIGN UP: 

1. Click this link: www.missamerica.org/signup/  
2. click "Miss America Program Registration" and pay the $35 fee to register for the Miss America System (one-time fee) 
3. click "2023 Local Competition Registration" and pay the $75 local registration fee (you’ll have to pay for each local you compete in). This is where you will type which local you want to compete in (Miss Rapid City). 

You will need to create a personal resume not exceeding two pages. This can be filled with whatever you feel best represents you and your background.   The resume can look any way you would like (whatever font, colors, format you like is fine).  

You will also need to write a social impact initiative (previously called your “platform”) statement. This will outline what you will advocate as a titleholder, what you have done in that area, what you hope to do, or whatever else you would like to talk about regarding your social impact initiative. Your social impact initiative can be anything you are passionate about, something you feel needs more attention, a charity, an organization with which you volunteer, a program you created, etc.  

You will also need a headshot and will need to fill out the contract. As for the headshot, it does not need to be anything fancy. You can even take a quick photo on your phone to submit. Just be sure to have a plain background. 

We hope this information helps prepare you for competition.  We hope to see you soon! 

Sincerely,   

The Miss Rapid City Scholarship Program 

If you have questions, please contact:

Executive Director
Sara Frankenstein
4470 Rimrock Drive
Rapid City, SD 57702
Email: smfranken@hotmail.com
Home: (605) 787-4835
Cell: (605) 381-1693
Work: (605) 342-1078