Miss Georgia garners two awards in preliminaries

Wins in talent, on-stage interview bode well for Hill in Thursday finals.

Miss America won’t be crowned until Thursday night, but Miss Georgia is already a double winner.

Victoria Hill of Canton took home two preliminary awards in competition Sunday and Monday. The Reinhardt University vocal performance student first won the talent award Sunday, performing an aria from the opera “La Fille du Regiment.”

Like she did at the Miss Georgia competition in June, Hill wore a military- and menswear-inspired costume while singing the piece, originally written for a tenor but transposed to Hill’s soprano range. Hill previously won talent awards at Miss Georgia for the performance.

Hill was a winner again Monday night, taking home the on-stage interview preliminary award. That award replaced the longstanding preliminary swimsuit competition last year, when Miss America pivoted from branding itself a pageant and instead began using the word “competition.” The evening gown portion will also be gone from this year’s event, but contestants, including Hill, have still worn gowns for the preliminary on-stage interviews.

The talent award comes with a $2,000 scholarship and the on-stage interview award comes with a $1,000 scholarship, according to the Miss America Organization. Hill is the only contestant to win two awards in preliminary competition, positioning her to perform well in Thursday night’s finals. Each contestant’s preliminary scores are used to determine who will make the top 15 and are part of the composite score that determines who wins Miss America.

Miss America will air at 8 p.m. Thursday on NBC.

B. VARTAN BOYAJIAN/FOR THE WASHINGTON POST Miss Georgia Victoria Hill, of Canton, performs an aria in Miss America preliminary competition. Hill won the talent and on-stage interview preliminary awards, which include scholarships, ahead of Thursday’s finals at the Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Connecticut.