The Miss Illinois USA pageant is a competition that selects the representative for the state

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...

in the

Miss USA Miss USA is an American beauty pageant that has been held annually since 1952 to select the entrant from United States in the Miss Universe pageant. The Miss Universe Organization operated both pageants, as well as Miss Teen USA, until 2020, ...

pageant. It is directed by Vanbros and Associates and is previously directed by D&D Productions from 2001 to 2014 before becoming part of Vanbros organization in 2014, headquartered in

Lenexa, Kansas Lenexa is a city in Johnson County, Kansas, United States. It is one of four principal cities of the Kansas City Metropolitan Area and 9th most populated city of Kansas. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 57,434. It is t ...

. Illinois is one of the most successful states in the competition. It is one of only four states to have won four or more Miss USA titles and one of only four states to win two Miss USA titles in consecutive years. All four winners came from the early history of the competition, with their last Miss USA being

Karen Morrison Karen Jean Morrison-Comstock (born August 4, 1954) is an American model and beauty queen from St. Charles, Illinois who held the Miss USA 1974 title. Pageants Comstock entered the Miss Illinois USA pageant at the suggestion of her modeling agency ...

, who held the title in 1974. The pageant's most successful years were from 1984 to 1996, when all but two delegates made the cut at Miss USA. That period was followed by many years without a placement. In 1986, sisters Tricia and Laura Bach won the title consecutively, the first occasion of this in the history of the Miss Universe organization. Later on, in 1994, Kathleen Farrell, sister of

Miss Florida USA The Miss Florida USA competition is the pageant that selects the representative for the state of Florida in the Miss USA pageant. Up until the 2017 pageant, both Miss and Teen state pageants were held separately in different months. In recent ...

1988, won the title, making the state pageant the first to have two sisters compete in Miss USA. Until 2013, no Illinois delegate had previously competed at

Miss Illinois Teen USA The Miss Illinois Teen USA competition is the pageant that selects the representative for the state of Illinois in the Miss Teen USA pageant. It is directed by Vanbros and Associates and is previously directed by D&D Productions from 2001 to ...

but one was previously competed in

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 Mis ...

, Stacie Juris became the first former Teen titleholder to appear a crossover in Miss USA, the second-to-the last state to do so (

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered on ...

would make its first Teen to Miss crossover four years later). The most recent placement was Angel Reyes placing 4th runner-up in 2022. Angel Reyes of

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

was crowned Miss Illinois USA 2022 on May 30, 2022 at Braden Auditorium in

Normal Normal(s) or The Normal(s) may refer to: Film and television * ''Normal'' (2003 film), starring Jessica Lange and Tom Wilkinson * ''Normal'' (2007 film), starring Carrie-Anne Moss, Kevin Zegers, Callum Keith Rennie, and Andrew Airlie * ''Norma ...

. She represented Illinois for the title of Miss USA 2022, finished as 4th runner-up.

Results summary

Placements

*Miss USAs:

Myrna Hansen Myrna Hansen (born August 5, 1934) is an American actress, model and beauty pageant titleholder who won Miss USA 1953. Education Hansen is the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Raymond E. Hansen. She graduated from Carl Schurz High School in Chicago, ...

(1953),

Marite Ozers Marite Ozers (born Mārīte Ozere; April 9, 1944) is an American beauty pageant titleholder who was crowned Miss USA 1963. Ozers was born in Latvia, and immigrated with her family to Chicago as refugees amidst World War II. Her father was Maksis ...

(1963), Amanda Jones (1973),

(1974) *2nd runners-up: Laura Bach (1985), Nichole Holmes (1995), Stacie Juris (2013) *3rd runners-up: June Pickney (1958), Debra Niego (1979), Jill Gulseth (2005), Sydni Dion Bennett (2021) *4th runners-up: Celeste Ravel (1954), Angel Reyes (2022) *Top 5/6: Lisa Morgan (1991), Whitney Wandland (2017) *Top 10/12: Kathy Schmalen (1976), LaVonne Misselle (1984), Tricia Bach (1986), Joan Berge (1987), Gina Zordani (1988), Kelly Holub (1989), Carla Myers (1990), Kathleen Farrell (1994), Bernadette Przybycien (1996), Olivia Pura (2020) *Top 15: Dianne Daniggelis (1955),

Marianne Gaba Marianne Gaba (November 13, 1939 – May 3, 2016) was an American model, actress, and beauty queen. She was Miss Illinois USA 1957 and ''Playboy'' magazine's Playmate of the Month for its September 1959 issue. Personal life Gaba was born in ...

(1957), Jean Donnelly (1962), Beverly Lacek (1967), Catherine Warren (2006), Renee Wronecki (2015) Illinois holds a record of 31 placements at

Awards

* Miss Photogenic: Elizabeth Curran (1977), Nichole Holmes (1995), Angel Reyes (2022) *Best State Costume: Kelly Holub (1989)

Titleholders

;Color key

References

External links

Miss Illinois USA website
{{Miss USA state

Illinois culture Women in Illinois Lake Forest High School (Illinois) alumni