Miss America 2011 Winner: Miss Nebraska Teresa Scanlan

The annual Miss America pageant aired tonight and the winner has just been announced. Your 2011 Miss America is Miss Nebraska Teresa Scanlan - but did she deserve it?

Many fans were upset that Miss Delaware Kayla Martell didn’t get a question and make it into the finals and many were upset that Miss Texas Ashley Melnick didn’t make it either (she and Miss Hawaii were my picks from the first round so I’m just as disappointed as many of you are)

Here are some interesting facts about Miss Nebraska (via the Miss America Website):

Age: 17

Education:
Scottsbluff High School

Platform Issue: Eating Disorders: A Generation at Risk

Talent: Piano

Scholastic Honors: To attend law school

Career Ambition: To become a judge and eventually a politician

Local Competition Sponsor: Miss Southeast Nebraska Scholarship Program

State Competition Sponsor: Miss Nebraska Scholarship Program

Teresa Scanlan competed against several beautiful women in the coveted Miss America competition – not to be confused with the Miss USA pageant – but was ultimately decided as the winner by the panel of judges.

What’s the Difference Between the Miss America Pageant and the Miss USA Pageant?

This is a famous question that has been asked by pageant fans all over the world every year. The difference between the Miss America pageant and the Miss USA pageant isn’t as easy to explain as you might think – but I’ll give it a try: Basically, they are two very similar competitions, just owned by different organizations. It would be like comparing Ellen Degeneres and Oprah Winfrey – they’re both popular talk show hosts, just owned by different television networks.

The other notable differences between Miss USA and Miss America are that the Miss America pageant has a talent portion of the competition and the winner of Miss USA goes on to compete in the Miss Universe pageant, the winner of Miss America does not.

Miss Nebraska’s Teresa Scanlan will be responsible for holding the title and representing the Miss America organization over the next year.