The second round of the Miss Mississippi preliminary competitions ended Thursday night at the Vicksburg Convention Center with Miss Capital City Becky Williams winning in the talent phase of the competition and two contestants, Miss Heart of the South Sarah Randolph and Miss Lafayette County Madison Belk, tying for the evening gown phase.
Wearing a strapless teal gown from Faulkenbery’s with matching teal drop ear rings, Belk said she was excited when she heard her name called.
“It was a shell shocked moment because I heard Sarah’s name called, and Sarah and I are actually roommates,” Belk said. “So I was so, so proud of her in the moment and when I heard my title I was confused because I thought talent was going to be announced next. So it was just a full shell shocked moment.”
When Randolph heard her name called, she said she was excited, too.
“I was so shocked and happy.”
The Vicksburg resident wore a white one-shoulder gown also from Faulkenbery’s.
“I tried on a couple of dresses at the store and when I tried this one on the store owner and everyone there said this was the one and I felt confident in it,” Randolph said.
In addition to being named the evening gown preliminary winners, both contestants were awarded a $400 scholarship by the Miss Mississippi Organization.
Dancing to Queen’s “You Can’t Stop Me Now,” Williams, like Randolph and Belk, said she was excited when her name was called as the preliminary talent winner.
“I have dreamed of dancing on the Miss Mississippi stage since I was six years old,” she said.
Williams, who was a member of the Mississippi State University Pom Squad while in college, began dancing when she was six years old and has been practicing many hours in preparation for the talent phase of the competition.
She said she decided on this performance because of the message of the song.
“(The lyrics) ‘you can’t stop me when I’m having fun,’ that’s really what stuck out to me,” she said. “Getting to share energy, positivity, radiate light to everyone is my goal in life.”
As the preliminary talent winner, Williams was awarded a $500 scholarship by the Miss Mississippi Organization.
In Wednesday night’s first round of preliminary competitions, Miss Madison County Gracie Bassett won the evening gown phase and Miss Mississippi State University Morgan Nelson won talent.
The final round of preliminary competitions will begin at 7 p.m. Friday.
The score for each phase of the preliminary competitions are 30 percent for private interview; 20 percent for talent/HER Story; 20 percent for health and fitness; 20 percent for evening gown and 10 percent for on-stage question.
On Saturday, beginning at 8 p.m., the top ten contestants with the highest scores will be named. They will each re-compete in all phases of the competition except for the judge’s interview and the one with the top score will be crowned Miss Mississippi. Scores for the final round of the competition are 30 percent for the composite score; 20 percent for talent/HER Story; 20 percent for Health and fitness; 20 percent evening gown and 10 percent for on stage question.
Tickets for the final night of preliminary competitions and the final night of competition and the crowning are $50 each. Tickets are available by calling, 601-638-6746.
The competition is also being livestreamed at www.missmisslive.com . The cost is $20 for the preliminary rounds and $35 for the final night of competition.
The final round of competition will also air on WLBT-Jackson, WLOX-Biloxi, WMC Bounce – Memphis, WTVA-Tupelo, WTOK- Meridian and WDAM-Hattiesburg.
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