First Black Woman Wears Miss Texas Crown
Category : Women Beauty, Women Business, Women Lifestyle
On Saturday, Frisco’s Shilah Phillips has been crowned Miss Texas and will be the first black woman to represent the Lone Star state in the Miss America pageant. “I really wasn’t expecting to be the winner, especially my first time competing,” said Phillips. “I was so happy, and so emotional. I didn’t realize I was the winner at first because I couldn’t believe it.”
“I feel so honored to have that title, and I feel that many more [African-American women] will enter the system knowing that they have a chance,” said Phillips.
While most pageant contestants go through the motions a couple times before winning a crown, Phillips won as a first-time participant. She decided to enter the world of pageantry after hearing about it from a friend.
Miss Frisco, Shilah Phillips, who was unsuccessful in her bid to win the popular reality TV show this year, was crowned Miss Texas on Saturday night at the Will Rogers Memorial Center Theater. “I was actually kicked off American Idol, so I’m looking forward to Miss America.” She says her experience there will help her while being filmed with other Miss America contestants in a reality television show as part of the pageant.
Her new title comes with a $10,000 prize and the chance to compete for the Miss America crown. In addition to being the first African-American Miss Texas, she will be the first to participate in a reality version of the traditional Miss America Pageant.
Miss America contestants will be filmed in a group living situation named “Finding Miss America,” and the program will be broadcast on the CMT network in January with viewers getting a chance to vote for finalists. The Miss America Pageant, which began in 1921 in Atlantic City, was switched to Las Vegas for the first time last year. Finding Miss America will follow the 52 Miss America finalists through the preliminary competitions prior to pageant. The series will air in the days leading up to the two-hour Miss America Pageant finals, which are scheduled to premier live in early 2007, also on CMT.
First runner-up to Miss Texas was Miss Woodlands, Molly Hazlett; followed by second runner-up, Miss Southlake, Shea Yarborough; third runner-up, Miss Houston, Brooke Webster; and fourth runner-up, Miss Plano, Heather Hodges. Others named to the top 10 were Miss Central Texas, Brooks Dennard; Miss Concho Valley, Madison Emert; Miss East Texas, Melissa Griffin; Miss Lufkin, Adrianna Nelson; and Miss Texarkana, Dawn Hughes.
This is the first year the Miss Texas pageant has been held in conjunction with the Miss Texas Outstanding Teen Pageant. Preliminaries for both pageants were conducted Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday last week, with the teen finalists announced Friday morning.
Named Miss Texas’ Outstanding Teen was Miss Southlake, Kendall Morris, a 15-year-old sophomore at Ennis High School. Her talent at playing Liberace’s Chopsticks earned her the right to compete at the second Miss America’s Outstanding Teen Pageant next month in Orlando, Fla. Megan Miller, a Beaumont native, won the first-ever national teen pageant last year.
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