Miss Arkansas USA, previously known as Miss Arkansas Universe, is the

beauty pageant A beauty pageant is a competition that has traditionally focused on judging and ranking the physical attributes of the contestants. Pageants have now evolved to include inner beauty, with criteria covering judging of personality, intelligence, ...

that selects the representative for the state of

Arkansas Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the South Central United States. It is bordered by Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, and Texas and Oklahoma to the west. Its name is from the O ...

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, and the name of the title held by that winner. The pageant is directed by Vanbros and Associates. The current Miss Arkansas USA is Rylie Wagner of

Ozark, Arkansas Ozark is a city in Franklin County, Arkansas, United States and one of the county's two seats of government. The community is located along the Arkansas River in the Arkansas River Valley on the southern edge of the Ozark Mountains. As of the 2 ...

and was crowned on April 10, 2022. Wagner represented Arkansas for the title at

Miss USA 2022 Miss USA 2022 was the 71st Miss USA pageant. The competition was held on October 3, 2022 at the Grand Sierra Resort in Reno, Nevada and was broadcast on the FYI cable channel. The competition was hosted by Zuri Hall for the second consecutive ...

. Arkansas's most successful placement was in 1982, when

Terri Utley Terri Lea Britt ( née Utley; born 1961) is an American beauty queen, actress, television personality, author and motivational speaker from Arkansas who was crowned Miss USA in 1982. Early life As a young woman, Britt was involved in the Ameri ...

was crowned

. The most recent placement was Savannah Skidmore in 2019 who placed in the Top 5, the state's highest placement since 1982. Five Miss Arkansas USA titleholders were former

Miss Arkansas Teen USA The Miss Arkansas Teen USA competition is the beauty pageant, pageant that selects the representative for the state of Arkansas in the Miss Teen USA pageant. The state pageant was directed by Premier Pageants from 2002 to 2007 before becoming ...

titleholders who competed at

Miss Teen USA Miss Teen USA is a beauty pageant formerly run, since 1983, by the Miss Universe Organization for girls aged 14–19. Unlike its sister pageants Miss Universe, which currently broadcasts on Fox and Miss USA, this pageant is webcast on the M ...

. The longest reigning titleholder was Haley Rose Pontius in 2020, having held the title for 18 months, while the shortest titleholder was Stephanie Barber in 2021, having held the title for 10 months and 18 days. The state pageant was directed by Premier Pageants from 2002 to 2007 before becoming part of the Vanbros organization, 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 ...

. In 2018, Vanbros chose

Fort Smith, Arkansas Fort Smith is the third-largest city in Arkansas and one of the two county seats of Sebastian County. As of the 2020 Census, the population was 89,142. It is the principal city of the Fort Smith, Arkansas–Oklahoma Metropolitan Statistical Are ...

as the new host city of the pageant. Other host cities for the pageant have included Bentonville,

Little Rock ( The "Little Rock") , government_type = Council-manager , leader_title = Mayor , leader_name = Frank Scott Jr. , leader_party = D , leader_title2 = Council , leader_name2 ...

Magnolia ''Magnolia'' is a large genus of about 210 to 340The number of species in the genus ''Magnolia'' depends on the taxonomic view that one takes up. Recent molecular and morphological research shows that former genera ''Talauma'', ''Dugandiodendro ...

, and

West Memphis West Memphis is the largest city in Crittenden County, Arkansas, United States. The population was 26,245 at the 2010 census, ranking it as the state's 18th largest city, behind Bella Vista. It is part of the Memphis metropolitan area, and is ...

Gallery of titleholders

File:Stephanie Miss Arkansas black dress.jpg, Stephanie Barber, Miss Arkansas USA 2021 File:Haley Rose Pontius.jpg, Haley Pontius, Miss Arkansas USA 2020 File:Reagan Contact Sheet C10180 (cropped).jpg,

, Miss Arkansas USA 1982 and

Miss USA 1982 Miss USA 1982 was the 31st Miss USA pageant, televised live on May 13, 1982 from the Gulf Coast Convention Center in Biloxi, Mississippi on CBS. The pageant was won by Terri Utley of Arkansas, who was crowned by outgoing titleholder Kim Seelbred ...

Results summary

Placements

*Miss USA:

(1982) *1st Runner-Up: Margaret Haywood (1955) *2nd Runner-Up: Nancy McCollum (1956) *Top 5: Savannah Skidmore (2019) *Top 10: Chanley Painter (2009), Abby Floyd (2016) *Top 15/16: Jineane Marie Ford (1954), Helen Garrott (1957), Donna Needham (1959), Ann Smithwick (1968), Mary Dial (1970), Jessica Furrer (2005), Adrielle Churchill (2010), Kelsey Dow (2012) Arkansas holds a record of 14 placements at

Awards

* Miss Photogenic: Jennifer Sherrill (2004)

Winners

;Color key

Notes

References

External links

Official Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Miss Arkansas Usa

Arkansas culture Women in Arkansas