The Road to Miss America Begins Here

[February 22, 2008]  SPRINGFIELD -- The Miss Capital City Scholarship Organization is pleased to announce its 2008 competition, which will be at 7 p.m. Saturday at Springfield High School Auditorium. Contestants from all over central Illinois will compete to represent Springfield at the Miss Illinois Pageant in June, while earning valuable scholarship dollars. The Miss Capital City winner will earn a $1,000 scholarship to the college of her choice.

The Miss Capital City Scholarship program is not-for-profit local preliminary to the Miss America Pageant. The Miss America Organization is one of the nation's leading service organizations and the world's largest provider of scholarship assistance for young women in the world. Last year, the national organization and its state and local affiliates made available more than $45 million in cash and scholarship assistance.

Rich in history and social significance, the Miss America Organization is a not-for-profit organization that has maintained decades-old tradition of empowering American women to achieve their personal and professional goals, while providing a forum in which to express their opinions, values and talents. On an annual basis, Miss America state and local titleholders, along with the organization's network of volunteers, participate in more than 9,000 community service projects, providing in excess of 500,000 service hours to worthy causes.

Beginning in 2007, Miss America has developed a national platform and has partnered with Children's Miracle Network, a nonprofit organization dedicated to saving and improving the lives of children by raising funds for children's hospitals across North America. Each year the 170 Children's Miracle Network hospitals -- one of which is in Springfield -- provide the finest medical care, lifesaving research and preventive education to help millions of kids overcome diseases and injuries of every kind. The Miss Capital City program has raised over $2,000 for Children's Miracle Network this year alone.

For more information about the Miss Capital City program, the Miss Illinois Scholarship Association and the Miss America Organization, visit www.missillinois.org or www.missamerica.org.

For additional information about Miss America's commitment to Children's Miracle Network, please visit www.missamerica4kids.org.

[Text from file received from Sarah Lokaitis, Miss Capital City 2007]