6 Miss America Rules You Didn’t Know Contestants Have to Follow

The newest winner of the Miss America pageant has just been announced, and already several eligibility updates have gone into effect for next year’s pageant cycle.

On Sunday, Sept. 7, the organization hosted its national pageant at Walt Disney Theater in Orlando, Fla., and crowned Cassie Donegan, 27, who represented New York after winning the state pageant this past July.

In addition to the crown, sash and title, she will claim a $50,000 tuition scholarship as part of her victory prize. Through the Miss America’s Scholarship Foundation Inc., the program awards the largest amount of scholarships to women in America.

According to the pageant’s website, “Miss America is the nation’s leading empowerment and service platform for young women, supporting their personal and professional growth while inspiring them to serve as positive role models in their communities.”

The pageant, which was first held on the boardwalk of Atlantic City, N.J., over 100 years ago in 1921, has grown into one of the country’s most recognizable pageants. The contest originally began as a “bather’s revue,” a type of swimsuit pageant whose photos were published in local newspapers to drum up interest in the pageant, as well as Atlantic City’s tourist attractions.

Over the last 100 years, the pageant has evolved and changed, and with it, the rules surrounding eligibility have also been updated.

Read below to find out what rules contestants must abide by in order to compete in the longstanding competition.

There is an age requirement for contestants

In 2025, the official Miss America organization announced updated rules surrounding the eligibility requirements for its contestants in the lead-up to the 2026 competition.

Now, Miss America delegates must be no older than 28 years of age as of Sept. 30, 2026, as well as must not be younger than 18 as of Sept. 1, 2026.

Another subdivision of the Miss America pageant, Miss America’s Teen, requires that delegates must be no younger than 14 as of Sept. 1, 2026, or no older than 18 on Sept. 30, 2026. 

Contestants who are 18 must choose between participating in Miss America’s Teen or Miss America

Per the official Miss America website, the headquarters for the organization allows 18-year-old contestants to have a “pivot” year to decide whether they would like to participate in the Teen or Miss division of the competition.

However, once a contestant decides on which division she would like to compete in, she may not change her decision until the next application cycle.

Contestants must abide by certain residency rules in their state in order to be eligible to compete

In order to be eligible to compete in the Miss America pageant, participants must first compete in their respective states or districts.

The Miss America competition lists strict eligibility requirements that will ensure a contestant is a proper resident of the state she intends to represent.

Delegates who wish to qualify for the pageant by residence must provide proof that they have lived in the state for 120 consecutive days in order to compete for that state.

There are, however, additional metrics that can qualify a woman to compete, including employment eligibility (if a woman works 40 hours a week, for 120 consecutive days in a state, she is eligible to compete) or student status (a woman can be enrolled as a full-time student at an accredited college or university located within the state).

Miss America contestants cannot be married or have children

Those wishing to participate in the Miss America pageant are not allowed to be married while competing. However, they may be divorced.

In 1949, Miss America Jacque Mercer was married and divorced, which prompted the Miss America organization to create a rule that pageant contestants must certify that they had never been married or pregnant.

However, in 1999, the rule was changed and contestants had only to certify that they were unmarried, not pregnant and had no children at the time of their competition.

Miss America contestants must participate in a ‘talent’ competition

Unlike the Miss USA pageant, the Miss America pageant includes a talent portion, which makes up 20% of each round of scoring.

Miss America also got rid of its iconic bathing suit competition portion of the evening in 2018.

“We will no longer judge our candidates on their outward physical appearance,” said Gretchen Carlson, the then-new head of the Miss America Organization, in an interview on Good Morning America in June 2018.

Contestants are judged on five main scoring categories

During each night of the competition, contestants are judged in five main categories, including a private interview, a fitness category, the talent section, an evening wear portion and an on-stage question.

The evening wear portion of the competition is a portion of the competition where contestants must walk the stage in evening wear. Judges then score participants on confidence and composure, as well as their future ability to represent the organization if they are to win the title.

The final nights of scoring and competition are based on a composite score of the contestant’s private interviews (worth 30% of their score), as well as 20% on fitness, 20% on the talent portion, 20% on the evening wear section, and 10% on the stage question segment.