Judging is the very heart of the pageant business. Without it, there would be no beauty queens for the public to idolize. But judging has always been a touchy subject in the industry. After almost every contest, great or small, there are whispers of suspicion circulating through the audience: "How did she win?". . . "Something isn't right." . . . "It's not fair!" A certain amount of post-pageant griping is inevitable, and most of it should not be taken too seriously. But some pageants recognized years ago that public suspicion can eat away at a contest's credibility. The Miss America Organization, in particular, dealt with this issue by establishing a system of certifying judges. Until recently, however, most pageants have followed no discernible standards in selecting their judges. That situation can no longer continue. Thanks to the international boom in pageants, and increased worldwide communication over the Internet, more people than ever know what is going on in distant corners of the pageant world. They know about the personal relationships that exist in the business. When someone with connections to the pageant press is romancing a beauty queen in one area and judging her potential rivals in another, does he think no one will know? Does he think no one will mind? If a young woman is being judged by a man she once talked of marrying, is a fair judgment possible? We at PNB believe that pageant people, on the whole, have relatively high moral standards. But the issue is not private morality; it is professional integrity. Millions of pageant haters are convinced that all beauty contests are rigged, that women win titles by feminine wiles and "playing politics." Every scandal reinforces this prejudice, and it is absurd for columnists to blame the "tabloid press" for stating the facts. What is needed is not defensiveness, but reform. The Pageant News Bureau is eager to play a lead role in encouraging more standardization in judging. This may require some sacrifices and leading by example. PNB's board has convened a meeting to determine whether permanent board members, all of whom work as professional journalists, will be allowed to judge in the future. Most PNB correspondents would not be affected by such a ban, but the editor and other founding members would. The results of this meeting will be announced in the near future. Meanwhile, we invite your comments.
PNB readers speak out This is in response to the former Miss America volunteer who alleges that judges often select the contestant the directors prefer. I don't know where this happens, but it is clear that this person never judged in California. I am a certified judge within the Miss California Organization and I have NEVER been briefed by a director to favor a specific contestant. If it ever occurs, I will disregard the instruction and report the director to the president of the Miss California Organization. Such "tampering" with the judging process is not tolerated here. It simply isn't done. Moreover, local organizations here DO have control over their judges' panels. Only three - and no more than four - of the five to seven judges must be certified. There are no hard and fast requirements on who the other members of the panel may be. We are being encouraged to include at least one "peer" judge (one whose age is around 25-30) on every local panel, and I believe this is a good thing. Anyone who wants to study an excellent model for certifying judges and for determining preliminary panels should look at what's done in the Miss California Organization. I am proud to be one of its certified judges. I will never compromise my impartiality nor will anyone I know who is certified here. Russ Gladden
Executive Director, The Miss Hollywood Organization
As a former pageant volunteer and judge for several years within the Miss America system, I rarely witnessed a judge showing any favoritism due to a personal agenda. The only times I was asked to be biased in judging a pageant was after the local pageant director informed the judges' panel that a particular contestant was preferred or not wanted. I don't think the scrutiny should all be placed on the judge but rather on the state and local directors, who have the ability to influence the outcome of a pageant. I can only speak about what I observed within the Miss America system and not with any other pageant system. I also want to emphasize that I am not directing this [solely] to any particular state or local pageant.. However, these situations continue to occur . . . I feel confident that the general consensus among the public these days is that pageants are sometimes rigged. This is due to the outcome of some past pageants . . . Rather than implementing many rigid rules on banners, platforms, etc., the Miss America Organization should look at public perception and how to increase interest in the pageant system. MAO should work on developing a judging system, from the local organizations on up, that eliminates all pageant politics. One final comment: If the state and local organizations had no control over the selection of their judges' panels, l think pageant judges could always feel free to choose the best candidate. However, until MAO eliminates the influence of state and local organizations on the composition of judges' panels, pageant politics will continue to occur and judges will continue to select the contestant the directors prefer in order to avoid being blackballed from the Miss America judging system. A former pageant volunteer
PNB responds: These allegations are disturbing, but they have been echoed in correspondence from others. In fairness, we deleted some of the writer's references to specific people and locales, because unfair judging is almost impossible to prove unless a judge acknowledges bias. We also wish to point out that while many people are calling for reform of the Miss America judging system, it is at least a system. Judging in some other pageant organizations is not standardized or regulated at all. We invite comments from people in an official capacity in the Miss America Organization.
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