After the list of competitors was narrowed down from 51 young women to five finalists – which included Miss North Carolina Emily Wakeman, Miss South Carolina Marley Stokes, Miss Alabama Erin Snow, and Miss Nevada Carissa Morrow – the Miss Teen USA Twitter account announced the five finalists with photos of the young women. In the first competition ever in which the swimsuit portion of the pageant was dropped in favor of an activewear category, the Texas teenager beat out 50 other contestants to earn the coveted crown.
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Sister competition Miss USA was far more diverse in 2016.
The Miss Teen USA pageant had already attracted criticism for the girls chosen to be in its Top 5: all white, all blonde, all blue-or-maybe-hazel-eyed.
Hay, who plans to attend in Texas A&M University, hopes to use her newfound fame to serve as an advocate of the effects of alcoholism and drug abuse. She even participates in a number of extracurricular activities that include “varsity cheer captain, yearbook editor and photographer”.
Total Divas star Eva Marie was on the competition’s judging panel, along with former Miss Teen USA Hilary Cruz, Style Studio founder Keylee Sanders, former Miss USA Lu Parker and musician Savannah Keyes.
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Olivia Jordan is Miss USA 2015 and Cody Johns is an actor as well as a social media personality. “Dreams really do come true”.
