The top pageant news stories of 2005 (chosen by the staff of PNB):
1. For the first time since the mid-1930s, there was no Miss America Pageant. See item below.
2. The Miss America Pageant found a new network and left Atlantic City. The venerable pageant, once a network TV powerhouse, had lost its contract with ABC in 2004, and faced the prospect of no television. It finally reached a deal with the cable network CMT and arranged to hold the pageant in Las Vegas. With no time to stage a 2005 event, it scheduled the contest for Jan. 21, 2006. CMT promised to end the "politically correct" slide and bring back pageant traditions, including the long-banished sash.
3. Beauty queens as crime victims became unfortunate "stars." Some American media outlets, including cable news organizations, have focused on missing and murdered women since 2001. First came Chandra Levy, then Laci Peterson, then Elizabeth Smart, then Natalee Holloway (among others). Holloway, whose disappearance in Aruba was garishly covered in 2005, had no known pageant background. But several beauty queens were in the news as crime victims during the year. Police in Napa, Calif., said they had charged a man in the 2004 slayings of former South Carolina beauty queen and "Amazing Race" star Leslie Mazzara and her roommate Adriane Insogna. (In contrast to lurid speculation about Mazzara's romances, the suspect was apparently better acquainted with Insogna.) Barbara Rogers, 60, a Southern California resident who was Miss Iowa 1965, vanished from her home Aug. 15 and was found slain on Sept. 7. Police were investigating but had few clues. Former Miss Georgia contestant Tara Grinstead, 30, disappeared from her Ocilla, Ga., home on Oct. 22. Rumors about the unmarried schoolteacher's personal life were a staple of some supermarket newspapers, and her male acquaintances were questioned. But nothing was proved, and as of year's end, her fate remained unknown. On Dec. 15, Nona Dirksmeyer -- who was Miss Petit Jean Valley 2005 and a Miss Arkansas contestant -- was found slain in her Russellville, Ark., residence. The 19-year-old beauty queen attended nearby Arkansas Tech University. That investigation was ongoing at the end of the year. "All this harks back to JonBenet Ramsey," said PNB founder Gerdeen Dyer, a veteran journalist who has written and lectured on missing and murdered women. "For the media, the pageant angle adds a perverse touch of spice to some of these tragic stories. The coverage is not always an edifying spectacle, but if it helps solve crimes, it is definitely worth it."
Looking back:
Top news 1999
Top news 2000
Top news 2001
Top news 2002
Top news 2003
Top news 2004
