Blissfield, MI — The 26th Annual Miss River Raisin Scholarship Competition has been postponed to July 2021 in response to a decision made by the Miss America Organization (MAO) to postpone the 100th anniversary Miss America Competition to late 2021 due to concerns surrounding the coronavirus pandemic.
The Miss Michigan Program also postponed its upcoming competition to June 2021. No local competitions in Michigan including the Miss River Raisin Scholarship Program will be conducted until next summer.
Miss River Raisin Festival Sydney Papenhagen, who would have represented Lenawee County at the Miss Michigan Competition this summer, will continue on as the local titleholder and will then compete for the title of Miss Michigan next June. If she would win that title, she would represent Michigan at the 100th anniversary Miss America Competition.
“We had 12 wonderful young women signed up to compete for our title in July, but we are hoping they will continue on with us and compete in 2021,” said Marcia Loader, executive director of the local program. “We are sad not to be able to conduct our competition and offer the scholarship opportunities we have provided for 25 years, but we are taking this year to help Sydney Papenhagen hone her skills and hopefully become Miss Michigan 2021; to assist our local candidates in preparation throughout the year from mock interviews to working with their social impact initiative; and to strengthen our local program from top to bottom.”
MAO, in its announcement, said the move was made for the safety, health and welfare of the enormous community necessary to make the Miss America competition possible, including participants, volunteers, organizers, and fans. The Miss America Board of Directors unanimously voted in favor of postponing the Miss America 2021 Competition and has advised the 51 qualifying competitions across the country to do so as well.
“As we all know, this moment in our history is one that will change the course of many programs, businesses, and institutions, and the Miss America Organization is not alone in navigating these challenges,” said Shantel Krebs, MAO board chair. ”At this time, as an organization, our greatest concern is to make sure the thousands of people who are involved in or volunteer for our program are safe. This coming year will be our 100th anniversary for this iconic American institution, and we want to make sure that we take the time to ensure our annual broadcast and the surrounding experiences reflect our time-honored tradition.”
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*Information courtesy of a press release sent to WLEN News*