Miss North Carolina

From the very get-go, Miss North Carolina 2011 Hailey Best was on our 'list to watch' at Miss America.  She's been on stage half her life, she's incredibly photogenic, and she was very active with her platform. Then, when we saw her in hot pink heels at 'Phantom of the Opera' at Miss America, we knew we'd chosen correctly (Phantom Photo Here!).

Hailey was a Top 15 finalist at Miss America, many thought she might win preliminary talent the night Betty Thompson's Irish Dance won instead, and she was a Duke of Edinburgh Award recipient.  In fact, this is a fabulous photo of her and Laura Kaeppeler in Birmingham during the awards ceremonies...

Miss North Carolina History: NC has had 1 Miss America, Maria Beale Fletcher in '62.  We saw Maria in Vegas as she was honored on her 50th anniversary and let me say, she was radiant!  A great reminder that Miss America can/will endure as long as we continue crowning qualified, capable and competent young women!  In addition to one Miss America, we'll always remember NC as having back-to-back 1st runner up finishes in '98 and '99 (Michelle Warren to Kate Shindle and Kelli Bradshaw to Nicole Johnson).

Best Junkie Research Tool:  Check out these videos by a local news outlet (who's broadcasting the Saturday night finals)... Just click here and you can see  the girls who are comfortable on camera (aka, most likely to be comfortable in the interview room).  You can also see all the contestants on the Miss NC Facebook page here...

Items of Note:  THE JUNKIES ARE HEADED TO NORTH CAROLINA and couldn't be more excited to celebrate the 75th Anniversary of Miss North Carolina!  We can't wait to bring you the inside scoop and be there live to see Miss NC 2012 crowned!  The Junkies are PUMPED to say the least!!! :)


Who to Watch:  Even though we're headed to Miss NC, we'd like to make it clear that we've never met any of the contestants before... this list is solely based on our own research!


Maddisson Shephard - 2nd runner up in' 11, prelim Talent winner

Mary Catherine Tucker - 4th runner up in '11,

Kensley Leonard - probably our favorite video, former OT contestant, Watermelon Festival Queen

Sarah Southard - Top 10 in '09, 3rd time at Miss NC, sister to Miss NC 09 Katherine Southard

Brianna Hester - NC OT in 07, Top 10 last year, definitely stands out due to her bangs :)

Also to watch:
Malloy Honeycutt - Top 10 in '09 and prelim swimsuit,
Bindhu Pamarathi - Top 5 in '10
Amanda Sowards - To 10 in '09 and prelim swimsuit winner,  3rd time at Miss NC

Prelims for Miss NC begin MONDAY NIGHT (which is honesty why we had to get this blog done!)... Mon-Wed prelims, Thursday Teen Finals, Friday 75th Anniversary Gala, Saturday Miss NC Finals!  Whooooooooooooooooooooooooo Hooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!! :)

MAJ