Archive for the 'General News' Category

Since my YA novel Dark Before Dawn appeals to young girls, I welcomed the opportunity to spread the word about the Miss Heart of the USA Pageant, which teaches young ladies the importance of giving back to their community. Please find more information below.

The Miss Heart of the USA Pageant strives to provide ladies of all ages with the opportunity to have fun, establish lasting friendships, build confidence, and self esteem; all while encouraging them to get involved with
organizations in their community, that benefit those in need.

Miss Heart of the USA Queens are involved at the local level with many organizations like the humane society, the March of Dimes, Children’s Hospitals, etc.

The pageant began as a food drive for a local Rescue Mission and blossomed into a National Pageant Program that has distributed over 750,000 non perishable food items to non profit organizations, collected toys for Toys for Tots and even assisted a Women’s Hope Center by collecting much needed baby items to be distributed to mothers in need.

So what makes this pageant so different? When Ciera Nitkowski began this program she wanted to teach the contestants and future queens the importance of giving back to their community. She wanted to do something that at the end of the day, the girls could look around a room and see the impact they had made. The very first pageant collected over 3,500 non perishable food items.

In 2010 their program sponsored the Miss Pink Pageant and raised over $3,000 for the American Cancer Society’s Making Strides event. In Christmas of 2011 a pageant was held for Sand Hills Santa and over 850 toys were collected to be distributed to hospitalized children all over North Florida.

The Miss Heart of the USA Pageant currently holds State Pageants in:
Alabama
Florida
Georgia
Mississippi
Louisiana
South Carolina
Texas
Illinois
Massachusetts

The Miss Heart of the USA National Pageant will be held on November 17th, 2012 at the International Palms Resort in Orlando, Florida. Each year, Miss Heart of the USA awards a $5,000 Scholarship at Nationals. Winner from each state pageant will advance to Nationals with their entry fee paid where they will represent their state. If you live in a state that does not currently have a state pageant, you can register at large to represent your state. You will receive a rhinestone crown, monogrammed sash, rhinestone sash pin and referral cards and can immediately begin representing your state as a Miss Heart of the USA Queen. We have a division for all ages!

Baby Miss (Ages 0-23 months)
Tiny Miss (Ages 2-4 years)
Little Miss (Ages 5-7)
Petite Miss (Ages 8-10)
Junior Miss (Ages 11-13)
Teen Miss (Ages 14-16)
Miss (Ages 17-23)
Ms (ages 24 and up)

For more information visit www.missheartoftheusa.com or become a fan on Facebook.