Area contestants win awards at Miss Arkansas Pageant
LITTLE ROCK — More than $172,000 in scholarships was awarded to various contestants in the Miss Arkansas Scholarship Pageant, held June 13 through Saturday at the Robinson Center in Little Rock. Miss Greater Jonesboro Maggie Benton won the title of Miss Arkansas.
Several young women with ties to the River Valley
& Ozark Edition coverage area were among the awardwinners:
• Miss Arkansas Tech University Kelsey Stone was announced Saturday night as finishing 11-15 in random order. She received a $1,500 scholarship sponsored by the Miss Arkansas Scholarship Fund.
Stone, the 20-year-old daughter of Kim and Dee Stone of Texarkana, Texas, and a nursing major at Arkansas Tech in Russellville, also won the Buddy Coleman Memorial Overall Talent Award, a $2,500 scholarship given by the Buddy Coleman Family; the Frances Wilson Overall Alpha Talent Award for firsttime contestants, a $1,000 scholarship given by C.J. Wilson; the Overall Instrumentalist Award, a $500 scholarship given by Kerry Jucas; the Preliminary Artistic Expression in Talent Award on June 13, a $2,000 scholarship donated by Scott Heffington and Dr. Ricky Medlock; and the Savvy Shields Alpha Award in Talent for first-time contestants on June 13, a $500 scholarship donated by the Miss America Homecoming Celebration Committee.
For her talent, Stone presented a vocal and piano performance of “Rise Up.” Her platform is Healthy Habits 4 a Healthy Life.
• Miss Central Arkansas Hannah Burrow received a
Savvy Shields
Alpha Interview Award on June 13, a $250 scholarship given by the Miss America Homecoming Celebration Committee.
Burrow, the 24-year-old daughter of Chad and Rachelle Burrow of Foreman, is a family and consumer science major at the University of Central Arkansas in Conway. For her talent in the pageant, she presented a tap dance to “Play That Sax.” Her platform is See the S.I.G.N.S.: Deaf Awareness.
• Miss Diamond Lakes Jade Collins received the
Kattie Hansen Spirit of the Pageant Award, a $1,000 scholarship given by
Hansen to a contestant with the passion and spirit that represents Miss Arkansas.
Collins, of Hector, is the 21-year-old daughter of Brant Collins and Lorrie Ellis of Little Rock and Russellville and a strategic communications major at Arkansas State University. For her talent, she presented a vocal performance of “I Who Have Nothing.” Her platform is Live The United Way: Creating A Brighter Future Through Education.