Candace Otto (born 8 April 1980 in

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...

) is a

pageant Pageant may refer to: * Procession or ceremony in elaborate costume * Beauty pageant, or beauty contest * Latter Day Saint plays and pageants, run by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints or by members local to the area of the pageant * ...

titleholder from

Murrysville, Pennsylvania Murrysville, known formally by its legal name in its Charter as The Municipality of Murrysville, is designated as a home rule status community in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population ...

who held the

Miss Pennsylvania The Miss Pennsylvania competition is the pageant that selects the representative for the state of Pennsylvania in the Miss America pageant. Pennsylvania, including early years' city representatives, has won the Miss America crown on five occasi ...

2003 title and competed in the

Miss America Miss America is an annual competition that is open to women from the United States between the ages of 17 and 25. Originating in 1921 as a "bathing beauty revue", the contest is now judged on competitors' talent performances and interviews. As ...

pageant.

Pageants

Otto first competed in a pageant in 1996 when she competed at

Miss Pennsylvania Teen USA The Miss Pennsylvania Teen USA competition is the pageant that selects the representative for the state of Pennsylvania in the Miss Teen USA pageant. This pageant is independently conducted and produced by Proctor Productions based in Cincinna ...

. In 2001, while attending college in Evanston she entered the

Miss Illinois The Miss Illinois is a pageant program affiliated with Miss America, which is competition for women models representing the state of Illinois. The first "Miss Illinois" sent to the national pageant was Lois Delander who subsequently won the Mi ...

contest and won the non-finalist talent award. Two years later, after winning the Miss Three Rivers local title, Otto competed in her first

pageant. She won the Talent award in preliminary competition and was crowned Miss Pennsylvania at the conclusion of the final competition on July 12, 2003. She was the first Miss Pennsylvania from Murrysville. Her win earned her a $6,000 scholarship. In September she went on to compete in the

Miss America 2004 Miss America 2004, the 77th Miss America pageant, was broadcast from the Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey on Saturday, September 20, 2003 on ABC Network. Results Placements Awards Preliminary awards Quality of Life award Final ...

pageant where she performed "Non Ti Scordar Di Me" as her talent selection, the same song she performed in the state pageant. At the

Pageant, she was the first Miss Pennsylvania to win the Bernie Wayne Performing Arts Award and the first Miss Pennsylvania since 1991 to win a non-finalist talent award. During her reign she made over 150 appearances as a keynote speaker or featured performer, travelling between 2,000 and 4,000 miles each month crisscrossing the state by car. Her platform issue "Challenging Americans to Address Poverty" was inspired by her work with National Student Partnerships (NSP), for which she served as co-director in 2001. She also appeared on the game show

Pyramid A pyramid (from el, πυραμίς ') is a structure whose outer surfaces are triangular and converge to a single step at the top, making the shape roughly a pyramid in the geometric sense. The base of a pyramid can be trilateral, quadrilat ...

Candace was a co-founder of NSP Evanston and has served on the advisory board of NSP Pittsburgh.

Education and career

Otto is an accomplished performer and vocalist. She started taking acting classes at age six and in subsequent years performed in a number of minor roles that were noted in local newspapers. She then took voice lessons and joined the chorus of the Civic Light Opera. After graduating from

Shady Side Academy } Shady Side Academy is an independent preparatory school located in the Borough of Fox Chapel (suburban Pittsburgh), and in the Point Breeze neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1883 as an all-male night school in the Shadyside ...

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...

, in 1998, she studied Musical Theater at

Northwestern University Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston, Illinois. Founded in 1851, Northwestern is the oldest chartered university in Illinois and is ranked among the most prestigious academic institutions in the world. Charte ...

. After graduation, Candace was given an opportunity to study opera with the Ezio Pinza Council of American Singers of Opera, in Italy. In November 2001 she performed with the Sistine choir before a papal audience of 250,000 at the

Vatican City Vatican City (), officially the Vatican City State ( it, Stato della Città del Vaticano; la, Status Civitatis Vaticanae),—' * german: Vatikanstadt, cf. '—' (in Austria: ') * pl, Miasto Watykańskie, cf. '—' * pt, Cidade do Vati ...

. Otto married Matthew McDonald on June 10, 2006.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Otto, Candace Living people Miss America 2004 delegates Musicians from Pittsburgh People from Murrysville, Pennsylvania 1980 births Shady Side Academy alumni