VICKSBURG, Miss. (WLBT) – Miss Mississippi judges decide the winners on the first night of the preliminary competition.
Miss Mississippi 2023 Vivian O’Neal will crown the new title holder on Saturday night.
the results from the first night of the Miss Mississippi 2024 preliminary competition.
Gracie Bassett, Miss Madison County is the winner in talent and Morgan Nelson, Miss Mississippi State University takes top honors in evening gowns.
O’Neal, Miss Mississippi 2023, says the year went by in an instant.
O’Neal said: “The year has flown by, but at the same time I feel like I’ve always been doing this. So it’s definitely a strange and surreal feeling.”
She made history by becoming the first Miss Mississippi to win an Athletic Gear or Fitness preliminary award at Miss America.
“It was incredible and totally unexpected. I mean, I’ve worked really hard. Sure. But I never won a single preliminary in my entire life. I competed in the teen pageant for two years. I competed in the Miss pageant for five years. During all that time, I never won a single preliminary and was the first name mentioned on the first preliminary night of the Miss America competition. “It was definitely worth the wait,” O’Neal said.
O’Neal, a published author, is planning a series of books based on her brother and his disability.
O’Neal said, “The more I realized, and I saw that, there was a gap where students with disabilities were never the main character. Really, in any medium, if you see them on TV or in movies, they are never the main character. And, you know, I think it’s very important, especially for children. And that’s why I wanted to do a children’s book because it’s so influential that an influential age and everything they absorb from everything they consume will become part of who they are and shake up their opinions and their worldview.”
O’Neal says this is a job he has wanted since he was 12 years old.
“(I) never thought this would actually happen for the first few years. When I was a teenager, I wasn’t even in the top 15. I never received an award. I got the generic scholarship that you get just for competing. But, you know, I always had this feeling. I just felt like I was supposed to be here,” O’Neal said.
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