A new Miss America has been crowned: Abbie Stockard, a 22-year-old Auburn University nursing student and cheerleader who was named Miss Alabama, has been crowned Miss America.
Stockard triumphed over 51 other hopefuls, one from each US state, as well as Washington D.C. and Puerto Rico, at the annual pageant in Orlando, Florida. Annette Addo-Yobo, the first foreign-born delegate to win Miss Texas, was named runner up, with representatives from Tennessee, Florida and Ohio completing the top five.
The pageant began with contestants taking the stage in glittering gold mini dresses and black sashes before they were swiftly narrowed down to 11 finalists based on the results of preliminary events earlier in the week.
Also in the pageant, delegates answered questions on randomly assigned topics such as housing, censorship and the national debt. Stockard, when asked to comment on unemployment, spoke to the declining labor force participation rate among 25-to-54-year-olds following the Covid-19 pandemic, though the employment rate for that demographic has since increased.
