The job of being a state titleholder is truly unlike any other. My year as Miss North Carolina has been one full of support, love, generosity, travel, and growth. The people of this fabulous state have embraced me with open arms and loving hearts, and for that I am so grateful. I have traveled thousands of miles, visited several other states, learned a tremendous amount about North Carolina, and have shared my passion for children throughout my reign.
I have had many exciting opportunities as well as difficult weeks of exhausting driving. I recently traveled to Los Angeles with six other state titleholders to visit our Miss America judge, Mark Ballas, and to support him at Dancing with the Stars! I had a wonderful time with my sisters, and made memories that will last a lifetime. The day after my return, I went to Wilmington for a fun-filled week of Azalea festival!
A few weekends ago I was in Birmingham, AL receiving my bronze Duke of Edinburgh medal from His Royal Highness, Prince Phillip! I even had the chance to perform my talent song for him. It was incredible!
This year is a year of service, first and foremost, but it is also a year of networking and growth. I have taken full advantage of both of those tasks as well, learning so much about myself along the way. I have truly developed into the strong, independent woman I always knew I could be.

A few weeks ago, a friend approached me about supporting him in his project to promote a particular side of a political issue being addressed in the May 8 election. I chose to participate in supporting his efforts, and most importantly to me, chose to support my friends. Without asking for permission from the Miss North Carolina or Miss America organizations, I allowed him to photograph me wearing a tshirt in support of his movement while wearing my crown and sash. We also recorded a video explaining my argument in support of him and his project. The Miss North Carolina Organization has received much negative feedback because of my actions, and for that I am truly sorry. I apologize for causing hurt or anger in anyone within our state. I apologize to the Board of Miss North Carolina, to the volunteers, to the local committees, and to the local titleholders. This was not an action taken by the organization, but solely by me, Hailey Best. I hope you will all accept my deepest, most sincere apology on this issue, and will remember all the great things we have all accomplished together for the organization. I have truly been blessed with some of the most wonderful supporters this year, and to you, I apologize for my actions as well.

I thank you all for continuing to believe in the difference the Miss North Carolina organization can make in the life of a young woman, and hope you will all continue your belief in us all.

I hope you will all join us as we celebrate 75 years of service at our Miss North Carolina pageant, June 18-23.

Thank you so much,
Hailey Best

Since our block of rooms at the Marriott City Center have been filled, we would like to offer a block of rooms at the Residence Inn by Marriott in Raleigh’s Mid-Town. Click for more Information

http://cwp.marriott.com/rdurb/missncpageant/

The last month an a half have been very busy– full of pageants and school visits especially! I attended several local pageants last month, as well at Garner’s Outstanding Little Miss. All of them were lots of fun! I was even given the opportunity to crown some gorgeous Carolina Princesses at a couple pageants too, which was a special treat for me!

I enjoyed a fun Daddy Daughter Date Night at Chick-fil-A of Henderson where I took lots of pictures and signed many autographs for precious girls and their fathers. I enjoyed a yummy dinner and a milkshake with them as well! I was joined that evening by some Henderson natives, BrieAnna Hester and her mom, along with a friend, Taylor. We had a blast watching the cute daddy-daughter couples!

I was asked to perform at a very special Volunteer Appreciation Dinner in Sanford, where my good friend Cheryl Rodriguez (who I met earlier in the year at the Lee Regional Fair) serve as my chaperone for the evening. It was so much fun catching up with her while signing autographs and enjoying a great meal serves by some local boy scouts! I performed a couple songs, told my story about my journey as Miss NC so far, and explained my work with the Live On Foundation and Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals. Everyone at the dinner Had volunteered closely with the Soup Kitchen of Lee County, so many of them were interested in the work I had done with homeless children. I learned a lot about the tragedies they dealt with after the tornadoes last year, and about the tremendous work these volunteers had done to help families in need.

My beautiful friend Zelle Brown, Miss Garner 2011, joined me at Marbles Museum in Raleigh for the Arc of Wake County Gala last month. We enjoyed greeting guests, seeing old and new friends, and indulged in a delicious dinner (desserts too!). We loved checking out the silent auction items and Zelle took lots of pictures as I served as the “Vanna White” of the night during the live auction. It was lots of fun!!

I also made several fun school visits last month. I loved spending the day with Charli and Deborah Rosenburg as I went to both Four Oaks Elementary an Middle Schools. I spoke to hundreds of students about the importance of setting goals and working toward them no matter what, the importance of standing up against bullying, and the importance of staying away from drugs and staying I’m schools. The students were very receptive an had tons of funny and intelligent questions for me at the end!

I visited Bugg Elementary School in Raleigh, and New Market Elementary in the High Point area to read during Dr. Seuss week! At Bugg, the Kindergarten students made me a huge ladybug with pictures of their classes on it, and decorated it with lots of glitter and a crown on her head! One student asked me if I was going to hang it up “in the tower of my castle”?! Of course, since I call The Manor my castle, I assured them that the ladybug would live happily in my castle with me! They were so precious. Their teacher emailed me later and said the girls had been practicing their best princess behavior, their walks, and of course “the wave”. I LOVE IT!!!

I am still LOVING my job, and am soaking it all in! This year is flying by… And I can hardly believe it’s almost over… But I am going to keep on rolling until June 23! I am so appreciative of the love and support everyone has shown me this year. Thank you so much for allowing me to be your representative of the BEST state in the US this year!!

-Your North Carolina lady

Excitement mounts as the list of returning former Miss North Carolina’s is released for the festivities surrounding the 75th anniversary!

1946, Trudy Riley
1950, Carolyn Edwards
1951, LuLong Medlin
1952, Barbara Anne Harris (luncheon only)
1957, Elaine Herndon
1958, Betty Lane Evans Winslow
1960, Ann Farrington Herring Fox
1961, Maria Beale Fletcher (Miss America 1962)
1963, Jeanne Robertson
1964, Sharon Finch Van Vechten
1966, Nannette Minor Godwin
1969, Patricia Elaine Johnson
1971, Patsy Wood Surles
1972, Connie Dorn Rist
1975, Susan Lawrence Googe
1976, Susie Proffitt Abercrombie
1977, Kathy Flemimg Cook
1978, Debbie Shook Lacey
1979, Monta Maki
1980, Janet Ward Black (gala and luncheon only)
1981, Lynn Williford
1982, Elizabeth Grayson Williams
1983, Deneen Graham Kerns
1984, Dr. Francesca Adler Baeder
1986, Karen Bloomquist
1988, Lee Beamon Grissom
1989, Kelly Fletcher
1991, Jennifer Vaden Barth
1992, Heidi Sue Williams Kouns
1994, Dana Stephenson
1996, Jennifer Roberts Badger
1997, Michelle Warren Hilton
2000, Lorna McNeil Ricotta
2001, Ashley House Calverly
2003, Dana Reason Evans
2004, Kirsten Elrod
2005, Brooke McLaurin Autry
2006, Elizabeth Horton Peress
2007, Jessica Jacobs Marquardt
2008, Amanda Watson Bailey
2009, Katherine Southard
2010, Adrienne Leigh Core
2011, Hailey Elizabeth Best

We are happy to announce the dates and location for the 2012 Miss North Carolina Pageant, our 75th anniversary event!  Preliminary competition will take place this year on Monday, June 18th through Wednesday, June 20th.  We will crown our Outstanding Teen during the finals on Thursday, June 21st.  On Friday, our Carolina Princess Pageant will be held at Garner Historic Auditorium and our annual Miss North Carolina Golf Tournament will begin early that morning at Riverwood Golf Course in Clayton.  We are very excited about the black tie gala held at the NC Museum of History on Friday evening where a six month exhibit celebrating the history of our organization that will begin at 5:30pm.  Please visit www.missncsisterhood.org for ticket information.  We will crown the 75th Miss North Carolina at 8pm on Saturday night, June 23rd at the Progress Energy Center for the Perfoming Arts.

Hotel block reservations are limited and should be booked at the Raleigh City Center Marriott with the reservation code Miss NC.  Rate of $119 per night.  Tickets to the pageant will be available to the public on this website at the end of April.

Saturday March 31, 2012 @ The Garner Historic Auditorium

Starts at 7:00pm

Ticket Price is $10.00

Free Admission for:

Local Executive Directors

Miss Preliminary Title Holders

Outstanding Teen Title Holders and a Chaperone

Outstanding Little Miss State Queens and a Chaperone

Come out and support these wonderful Miss and Outstanding Teen Contestants as they compete for a chance to participate in the 75^th Miss North Carolina Pageant.

We are thrilled to announce the return of our Sweeps Pageant, which will be held on Saturday March 31^st, 2012 at the Garner Historic Auditorium.  We will crown three Miss contestants and three Outstanding Teen contestants, giving six ladies the opportunity to compete in the 2012 Miss North Carolina and Miss North Carolina’s Outstanding Teen Pageant. Interested candidates should meet the following requirements:

• Must have competed in a local preliminary pageant.
• Must have given up a title and seeks opportunity to compete again.

Potential contestants must continue to compete in any local in which she residentially qualifies. Simply said, if you are an outgoing queen, you must show an attempt to requalify and cannot decide to compete only at sweeps.  Contestants who have competed during the current pageant year without earning a title must also continue to compete where they qualify and not simply decide to sit out and wait for the sweeps pageant.  Although we wish we could allow all ladies the opportunity to compete, we must limit participation to no more than 15 Miss and 15 Teens.  Ladies who have any interest should send an email to kevindriver@missnc.org, to guarantee that you are on the e-mail list of potential contestants. Once the last Local Preliminary has taken place on March 3^rd, an instructional e-mail will go out to all Miss and Teens who have interest in competing in the sweeps pageant. The first 15 Miss and the first 15 Teens to respond will be guaranteed a spot as a sweeps contestant.

Both miss and OT contestants will complete a standard preliminary contract. Miss will follow the $100.00 CMNH donation entry method, and the outstanding teen contestants will pay a $100.00 entry fee to the Miss North Carolina Organization. Winners of the Miss/ OT Durham, Tar Heel, and Raleigh titles are released to re-compete after the state pageant in June. Contestants may continue to represent their tittle until they win another title or until March 1^st, 2013.  The winners of the Outstanding Teen titles will be responsible for the $400 entry fee to compete at the state pageant.

When reflecting back on what was honestly a 10 day journey of my dreams unfolding, it’s very difficult to put into words the emotions I felt throughout that time, or to explain the level of friendships which I made. My time at Miss America was a time that will surely always be remembered at “the time of my life”. From the minute my parents took me to the airport (riding in style in a limo fit for a queen), to the moment I got patted down in RDU security because “all my bling made the machine blow up” (haha) I knew the trip was going to be interesting!

Funny enough, I met some great NC folks on my flight from Denver to Las Vegas. They were from Aberdeen and became new friends and wonderful supporters too! That gave me a sense of peacefulness going into the week of the unknown! I arrived at LAS and was greeted by Miss America security and taken straight to the hotel where I began my whirlwind. From checking my competition wardrobe in, to fittings with Express and the Miss America staff, to having an interview with ABC’s On the Red Carpet (from LA), to finally applying lip gloss and combing my hair before the Arrival Ceremony, I was already tired! After the official Arrival Ceremony, all the contestants went to our rooms and dressed down for a big kick off meeting. This is when I finally saw my hotel room, and my wonderful roommate for the next 10 days!

The next few days were in sane! We were in rehearsals ALL day long, with meals and interviews galore mixed in there somewhere! In our “down

time”, we learned more about each contestant, forming small groups on the carpet in the corner of the huge ballroom and just chatting away until we exhausted ourselves! Thankfully MAO kept a plentiful supply of tea and coffee to keep us going! (Thanks MAO!!) It was funny to see girls curled up in the corner napping during down time at rehearsal, or in another corner doing crunches and lunges to make sure they were 100% swimsuit ready! Funny enough….I was always in the talkative, get-to-know-you group! We were the ones snacking and chatting, chatting and snacking!! I made some AMAZING friends in the process though!

Throughout the week before competition, we had several special trips from Phantom of the Opera, to Buca di Bepo and PF Chang’s for dinner, and even an IHOP pancake breakfast! We also participated in an awesome fashion show for Express, followed by an autograph signing at the mall. These were all fun chances for us to bond even more and take over parts of Las Vegas as a team!! We had a great time.

Our Sunday full of filming at several different spots around Las Vegas was a long one, but very fun! We literally danced ALL DAY and learned a lot about how to keep ourselves going even when we really wanted to just sleep! We ate on the bus going from destination to the next, and tried not to freeze to death in our Joseph Ribkoff outfits at 11pm on the rooftops of the hotels! What a cool experience it was, and what an awesome finished product! (The opening number Parade of States video everyone saw on Saturday night finals) Being in front of the camera that whole day and learning the ins and outs of filming something like that was a learning experience in itself! So much fun.

Interview was Tuesday morning for me. It went amazingly well! I had so much fun with the judges, and truly felt like I was at lunch with friends. They were all so down to earth! I really felt like they were trying to get to know ME, rather than trying to stump me with questions that told them nothing about who I really am and what I stand for. They were very interested in my musical family and my music/performance background, my nervous butterflies in my feet, and my opera singing dog! It was a lot of fun, and could not have gone any better! (What a relief!!)

Once preliminaries started, another burst of adrenaline kicked in (which was much needed after many rehearsals and filming days, etc). We finally got to perform what we had all been working so hard at for weeks, months, and even years! We were also ready for visitation—a chance to FINALLY see our wonderful families and friends! Preliminary competition was awesome. I could not be happier with the way I performed swimsuit and evening gown on Tuesday night, Talent on Wednesday night, and finally On-Stage Question on Thursday. I truly felt like I gave 150% to my performance, and wouldn’t change a thing if I could do it again!

Thursday night before competition began, Teresa Scanlan came into our dressing room to give everyone a pep talk before the final night of preliminary competition. She gave a wonderful speech about how she truly admired each one of us for chasing our dreams and for working so diligently. She went on to explain that she knew only one of us would walk away with the Miss America crown, but she thought every one of us deserved it. So, she removed 53 stones from her crown and placed them in necklaces for each one of us to keep around our necks as a reminder that we all were Miss America in the eyes of our states and our families and friends, and were all representatives of

what that sparkling jewel represents. I was touched beyond words, and will be forever grateful to Teresa for honoring each of us that evening with something so meaningful and special.

During the week, I was presented with both the Duke of Edinburgh award and the Miracle Maker Award for raising over $40,000 for Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals. Both were amazing honors that I will cherish forever.

Friday was a long day of TV rehearsal and finally the Crown Gala with our families and state committees. Beth and I got to walk the red carpet and be introduced together, hand in hand, as a wonderful NC team along with all the other state titleholders and their EDs. Then, I joined my family and friends for a lovely dinner and a presentation by Teresa Scanlan of military families who had lost a loved one at war. Many of them were from North Carolina, and I had the honor of meeting them and taking pictures with them after the wonderful presentation. The gala was a nice time to relax with my biggest fans, and to really take every bit of the experience in with no pressure of competition that night.

Saturday, we had rehearsal again….imagine that! It was all about getting “camera ready” and prepared for the big night. And then, it was time!!!! The night we had all been waiting for was finally here. We danced our hearts out in the opening, then anxiously awaited the Top 15 names to be called. After several LONG commercial breaks, I heard my name! Lucky number 13, Miss North Carolina Hailey Best!!!! WOW….what a feeling! I can’t even explain the joy and excitement and rush of adrenaline I felt at that moment. I was so thankful to the judges, and to my supporters for believing in me all the way! I quickly rushed to put on my swimsuit and competed in that phase of competition wearing my teeny weeny bikini for all to see on national television! After swimsuit came the yucky elimination process everyone has been asking about. Alabama, Virginia, and I stood at the front of the stage and waited for our fellow contestants to line up behind us to show their support. I will never be able to express my thanks enough to my dear friend Ariana Walker, Miss North Dakota, for reaching her arms from behind me to hug me and whispering “I’ve got your back girl”. It was at that moment that I felt completely content with whatever happened next. I knew that I had made friends for a lifetime, even if I did not move on in the competition. That was enough for me!  After being eliminated, I joined the other non-finalist girls, and was received warmly with hugs and kisses and lots of tears! The girls went on to say they were sorry about what we just went through, and explained that if they had known what production was going to make them do, they would have formed a large circle around the 3 girls at the front of the stage, held hands, and refused to choose between 3 of their sisters. Of course there was no time to think of that and communicate it to everyone in the short amount of time they were given, but it was so nice to know that we truly are a sisterhood, and a family that will stick together no matter what. I sat over in the lounge for the remainder of the evening and cheered on some of my greatest new friends as they competed in evening gown and talent competitions. We were then rushed to the dressing room to put on our evening gowns for the crowning ceremony. You should have seen all the pizza and m&ms being eaten in those sparkly gowns!! I am definitely guilty of that! J We were then escorted back out on stage to watch one of our sisters be crowned Miss America 2012. I was so happy for one of my dearest friends, Betty Thompson, who was named first runner up! She is truly a class act and a wonderful friend, who was very deserving of how far she went in the competition. Go Betty!!

Laura Kaeppeler, Miss Wisconsin, was named Miss America 2012! What a beautiful, kind, deserving young lady she is. Laura is absolutely gorgeous, so well spoken, and so passionate about her platform. She will represent us so well. I am so honored to say that I am her sister in the class of 2012, and will continue to support her throughout her reign and beyond this year as well. Thank you, Laura, for representing us so well and for the amazing job you are already doing as our nation’s most beautiful representative.

I am truly and eternally grateful to all of my supporters, my friends, and my family, for the tremendous amount of love I have felt so far in my journey as Miss NC. Miss America was a wonderful 10 days of learning, growing, developing friendships, and becoming an even stronger and more passionate Hailey Best, Miss North Carolina 2011. I can never thank all of you enough. I am so proud to be your state representative, and will continue to travel our state with enthusiasm and passion!

The Miss America Organization is proud to announce your opportunity to vote for a finalist at the 2012 Miss America Pageant, broadcast live from Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino in Las Vegas on Saturday, January 14, 2012 on ABC. MAO has posted 53 exciting videos made by each of their 2012 contestants, showing off their style and personality and explaining why they should be chosen as the next Miss America!

There is a limit of one (1) vote per person and internet accessible device per contestant throughout the Voting Period, regardless of method of voting. Voting closes at 11:59 p.m. PST on January 12, 2012. CLICK HERE TO GO TO HAILEY’S VIDEO!

We are in the process of contacting those who have booked rooms at Planet Hollywood through the Miss North Carolina Organization.  Please be patient as you are contacted with information concerning an overbooking of rooms by PH and the resulting shift to another hotel.  For more information, please contact Beth Knox at bethknox@missnc.org