Pageant News Bureau - Miss West Virginia

P a g e a n t N e w s B u r e a u

Miss West Virginia 2004

Julia Burton with Nicole Johnson Baker, Miss America 1999

West Virginia is a friendly state. Long ago, when it broke away from Virginia during wartime, it even hung on to the "Virginia" name. That meant the two states would forever be neighbors, not enemies.

PNB got a taste of Mountain State friendliness in June 2004, at the Miss West Virginia Pageant. Organizers and officials could not have been more open and cooperative, and the people of Morgantown made the trip seem more like a homecoming than a first visit. We made up our minds to tell everybody about this place.

Photos by
Joe Whiteko / PNB

Julia Burton with Jessica Schueler, Miss Teen West Virginia 2004

And the best way to tell everybody is to show them the winner. Julia Burton, an award-winning writer who was crowned Miss West Virginia 2004, may be the state's most visible ambassador. And of course she will represent West Virginia at Miss America.

Her smile is beautiful, isn't it? If we could sum up West Virginia without using words, we would simply point you to that smile.

P a g e a n t N e w s B u r e a u