The Miss Jacksonville / Miss First Coast Scholarship Pageant 2005

     Who is Miss Jacksonville and Miss First Coast? They are role models who care about their role and the role of women in society. They are attractive and poised women with a confident and commanding presence. They are talented and intelligent and are independent and eloquent communicators. Miss Jacksonville and Miss First Coast are ideal leaders, take pride in their health and physical fitness, and are involved with their community.

    As Miss Jacksonville or Miss First Coast, you will represent the Jacksonville/First Coast area as an official ambassador. You will gain much through the rich personal experience of meeting and associating with many exciting people throughout the pageant year.

    The Miss Jacksonville/Miss First Coast Scholarship Pageant is a part of the Miss America Program. You will represent Jacksonville and the First Coast at the Miss Florida Pageant to be held in June 2005. The winner of the state pageant travels to Atlantic City to compete in the Miss America Pageant. At the local, state, and national levels, all winners will receive scholarships totaling approximately $45 million. This is the largest scholarship program of its kind for young women in the world.

    As you consider this opportunity today, remember, "YOU could be the next Miss Jacksonville, Miss First Coast, Miss Florida, and even Miss America." It's all up to you!

    To enter the Miss Jacksonville/Miss First Coast Scholarship Pageant, or any other Miss America local preliminary competition, contestants must meet certain basic requirements and agree to abide by all of the rules of the local, state, and national Miss America Pageants now in effect or announced hereafter. To be a contestant in the Miss Jacksonville/Miss First Coast Pageant you must:

      The Miss Jacksonville / Miss First Coast Scholarship Pageant will be held at 7:00 PM on Saturday, January 8th, 2005, at the Florida Theatre in downtown Jacksonville. Interviews will be held prior to the pageant on Friday, January 7th, 2005 at a location to be announced.

     Contestants will compete in four phases of competition, including private interview, swimsuit, talent, and evening wear (with on stage questions). Each contestant is scored individually from 1 to 10 in each category. All contestants will supply their own wardrobe, to include interview and talent outfits, a swimsuit, and evening wear. You will also be asked to furnish a production number outfit.

REGISTRATION

     Contact the pageant today! Fill out an application, provide your birth certificate, and contact the Executive Directors: Kevin & Cammie Sanders at (904) 384-3578. You may also contact the pageant through its email address: MissJacksonville@juno.com. You will need to attend an orientation meeting or visit with the directors individually, so call today to set an appointment to get signed up even sooner!

HOW TO GET STARTED

ORIENTATION
       Your Orientation Meeting with the Executive Directors is your first official function as a contestant in the Miss Jacksonville / Miss First Coast Pageant. At the Orientation Meeting, you will meet the pageant committee or Director, and you will receive all paperwork and a complete orientation regarding all pageant events and activities. We suggest that only one parent attend with the contestant. The Orientation Meetings schedule is still be to determined, but will be in the Fall (July - November), and these meetings will be held at 817 Willow Branch Avenue, Jacksonville (phone 384-3578) unless otherwise specifically designated to be held elsewhere. Contact the directors to indicate which meeting you will be attending, and to confirm that the location has not been changed.   Please furnish your Birth Certificate ASAP (Now!). If you can not make one of these orientation meetings, call the executive directors to make an appointment with them individually or to see if additional orientation meetings have been scheduled.

YOUR YEAR AS MISS JACKSONVILLE OR MISS FIRST COAST

    As a winner of the Miss Jacksonville / Miss First Coast Pageant, you will serve for approximately one year as an "ambassador" for the city at social, civic, and community events on a volunteer basis. Selected members of the pageant committee will help to coordinate your preparation for the Miss Florida Pageant, which will be held during the month of June, 2005.

MISCELLANEOUS

PLATFORM 

As with the Miss America Pageant, each contestant is to have a platform or community involvement which she participates in and/or feels strongly about. It is best to choose a platform which the contestant is actively involved in and to which she has a strong personal commitment.

Contestants must submit one (1) original and (10) copies of her answers to the Platform Questions. Please put the platform title at the top of the page and add your name. You should include the reason you chose this platform, your involvement, and your plans for this platform should you win this pageant. You will get this paperwork at your orientation meeting.

SPONSOR(S)

Each contestant is asked to seek at least one (1) sponsor page which will be placed in the official pageant program book. The full size page will feature the contestant's photograph and recognition of the sponsor (see contestant's paperwork for costs of sponsor page and for the benefits of obtaining a sponsor, such paperwork will be available at the orientation meeting). This sponsor page can list more than one business or individual (preferably not over 3) who would like to "honor" the contestant. The pageant will set up this "sponsorship" page. For all other ad sales, you will need to submit camera ready ads. A non-camera-ready ad requires an additional set-up fee of $25.00. More information is available by contacting the Executive Directors.

INTERVIEWS

The Interview Competition is your first opportunity to meet the judges who will choose the new Miss Jacksonville and Miss First Coast. Standing at a podium, you will give a 45 second introduction on yourself, your platform, or your community involvement. This will be followed by an 8 ½ minute question and answer session with the judges. You may be asked questions regarding your application, your speech/introduction, your career goals, your platform, and current events. At the end of this 8½ minute time period, you will be asked if there are any other issues that you would like to comment on or clarify. If so, you may continue for up to 45 more seconds and further judges questions may follow, but will not continue past a total time of 10 minutes. If you have nothing more to discuss at the 8½ minute mark, then the interview will end. Interview is judged on content, not on length. Judges will observe your personality, validated opinions, speech, and personal appearance. The interview will be held prior to the pageant, mostly likely on Friday, January 7th, 2005 (time and location to be announced). Interview is 40% of a contestant's total score.

SWIMSUIT

The Swimsuit Competition represents how you maintain good physical fitness. The judges will be looking for overall proportion of figure, beauty of face and figure, walk, poise, grace, and confidence. This pageant encourages the contestants to keep their costs down and to buy "off-the-rack" swimsuits (one-piece or two-piece). There are detailed specifications with regard to the swimsuit which will be in your paperwork from the orientation meeting. Swimsuit counts 10% of a contestant's total score.

TALENT

You will give a talent presentation of not more than two (2) minutes which may include singing, dancing, playing a musical instrument, reciting a comedy or dramatic reading, baton, etc. Contestants are responsible for their own music, arrangements, etc. Judges will look for interpretive ability, technical skill, stage presence, entertainment value, and the integration of elements (costume, choreography, music). Talent is 30% of a contestant's total score. You will need to submit two good clean copies of your music by the appropriate deadline for the pageant to review and to time.

EVENING WEAR

The Evening Wear Competition will include two on-stage questions, one from your platform information and one from your "fact sheet". Judges are looking for personality, sense of confidence, stage presence, walk, posture, and grace. This pageant encourages the contestants to keep their costs down and to buy "off-the-rack" dresses whenever possible to reduce expenses on the contestant. The Evening Wear Competition is 10% of a contestant's total score. The final 10% of the score is a composite score. While you are answering your on-stage questions, the judges can reflect back on your overall performance and the qualities you possess to be a good titleholder, and thus come up with their composite score for you.

     The Miss Jacksonville / Miss First Coast Scholarship Pageant awards educational scholarships to the overall winners and to the finalists. Scholarships or awards may be given to the contestants who sell the most tickets and ads.

     As Miss Jacksonville or Miss First Coast, you will receive the official Miss America preliminary crown and a trophy. Trophies will also be awarded to the finalists. (All scholarships, awards, prizes, and gifts are subject to final confirmation and will be officially announced in the program book and/or on stage.)  During the years of 2002-2004, approximately $32,000.00 in scholarships were awarded to the pageant winners, finalists, and other award winners.

REHEARSALS

As with any production, there are necessary rehearsal periods to ensure that the pageant is produced in a professional manner. Rehearsals for the 2005 Miss Jacksonville/First Coast Pageant will be scheduled on the weekends, usually the two  Sunday afternoons prior to the pageant weekend (tentatively December 26th, 2004 and January 2nd, 2005, at 2PM). You will be given a confirmed schedule of rehearsals at your initial orientation, or as soon as they are set up. Attendance at all rehearsals is MANDATORY! Assistance will be available for interview and platform presentation as outlined by the pageant.

FOR MORE INFORMATION 

If you have any questions concerning the Miss Jacksonville and Miss First Coast Pageant, please call the Executive Directors, Kevin & Cammie Sanders at (904) 384-3578. You can also e-mail the pageant at: MissJacksonville@juno.com. With this informational flyer, also find the application to get the process started (along with obtaining a copy of your birth certificate).  .

APPLICATION PROCESS

     The completion of the official Miss Jacksonville and Miss First Coast application and presentation of your Birth Certificate are your first steps to becoming Miss Jacksonville or Miss First Coast. Please complete an application, attach a copy of your birth certificate, and return them to Cammie Sanders at 8011 Napo Drive, Jacksonville, FL 32217. The deadline is November 30th, 2004 to get your application and all other requirements in, so you must act soon! Due to a limited number of contestant slots available, it is suggested that you submit your completed application with birth certificate, and phone to reserve a slot for your registration time as soon as possible by calling the Executive Director.  We can take up to 30 total contestants (approximately 10-15 contestants to vie for each title).     Upon receipt of this paperwork, the Miss Jacksonville/First Coast Committee will verify the information and your qualifications.

     The Miss Jacksonville / Miss First Coast Pageant is a non-profit event presented by the North Florida Scholarship Organization, Inc., a non-profit 501(c)(3) scholarhsip organization, composed of all volunteers. If you would like to become involved with this fun and exciting community project and scholarship pageant, please contact the Executive Directors at 904-384-3578.