High heels, hair spray and perfect smiles reigned supreme at the Miss D.C. 2013 auditions Feb. 23 in the Katzen Arts Center. Despite the drizzling rain outside, all of the contestants managed to look polished.
The Miss D.C. pageant is a subsidiary of the Miss America Organization. The Miss America program was created to “provide personal and professional opportunities for young women and to promote their voices in culture, politics and the community,” according to their website.
Samantha Herman, a junior at George Washington University, said that she was competing because she loved the organization, having competed before in the Miss Florida competition, and that it was very inspirational. When asked if she would like to become Miss America, she said no because she can do more good with her platform, which is recycling on the local level.
School of Communication sophomore Samantha Hogan and SOC and College of Arts & Sciences senior Haely Jardas were also contestants at the auditions at the Katzen Arts Center.
To be eligible to become Miss D.C., contestants must be: a U.S. citizen, a resident of the District of Columbia for at least six months, born a female, between the ages of 17- 24, and be physically able to participate in the contest. In addition, contestants must never have been: married, pregnant, an adoptive parent, engaged in “immoral behavior,” arrested or charged with a criminal crime, consumed a dangerous or illegal substance, according to the Miss D.C. website.
Contestants then must participate in auditions that decide whether or not they will advance on to the actual Miss D.C. competition. The auditions consisted of a talent portion and an interview. Each contestant had 90 seconds for their talent portion and a four-minute interview, which was conducted by a panel of judges.
“I have been competing since I was 16, when I won as an Outstanding Teen and then when I was a runner up in the Miss North Carolina pageant,” said Bindhu Pamarti, a graduate of the University of North Carolina and a current Georgetown Law student. “It’s always been a dream of mine and a big part of my life.”
While between 35 and 40 contestants will be in the preliminary round, only between 12 and 18 will compete in the final round.
The final round consists of a personal interview (25 percent of overall score), an onstage question (5 percent of overall score), talent (35 percent of total score), evening wear (20 percent of total score) and lifestyle and fitness in swimsuit (15 percent of overall score).
The final competition will take place June 9 at the Arena Stage in Southwest D.C.
Full disclosure: Hogan is the student life editor at The Eagle.
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