Miss USA 1996 was the 45th Miss USA pageant, held at South Padre Island Convention Centre on South Padre Island, Texas culminating in the final competition and crowning on February 2, 1996. At the conclusion of the final competition, Ali Landry of Louisiana was crowned by outgoing titleholder Shanna Moakler of

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

. Landry is the first former Miss Teen USA state delegate to win the Miss USA title, the third Miss USA from Louisiana and the second Miss Louisiana USA to win both the Photogenic award and Miss USA crown, making Louisiana the only state to complete this feat after California did it in

1992 File:1992 Events Collage V1.png, From left, clockwise: 1992 Los Angeles riots, Riots break out across Los Angeles, California after the Police brutality, police beating of Rodney King; El Al Flight 1862 crashes into a residential apartment buildi ...

. Landry is also the fifth and last Miss Photogenic to be crowned as Miss USA after winning the award. The pageant was held on South Padre Island for the third and final time. It was hosted by Bob Goen for the third time, and Maty Monfort offered colour commentary. Aaron Neville provided entertainment during the competition. This was also the first year that the Miss Universe Organization opened a website dedicated to the pageant, and the first time they instituted an internet vote to choose the winner of the Miss Photogenic award. It was also the first time since 1989 that there were 10 semifinalists, instead of the usual 12. Also, this was the first year since 1991 in which the delegates wore one-piece bathing suits for the preliminary and final swimsuit competitions.

Results

Placements

Special awards

*Miss Congeniality - Ku'ualoha Taylor (

Miss Hawaii USA The Miss Hawaii USA competition, previously known as Miss Hawaii Universe, is a beauty pageant that selects the representative for the state of Hawaii in the Miss USA pageant. Kiana Yamat of Honolulu was crowned Miss Hawaii USA 2022 on Februar ...

) *Miss Photogenic - Ali Landry ( Miss Louisiana USA) *Finesse Style Award - Becca Lee (

Miss Tennessee USA The Miss Tennessee USA competition is the pageant that selects the representative for the state of Tennessee in the Miss USA pageant. The pageant is directed by Greenwood Productions under the ownership of Miss Tennessee USA 1989, Kimberly Pay ...

) *Best in Swimsuit: - Danielle Boatwright ( Miss Kansas USA)

Historical significance

* Louisiana wins competition for the third time. * Kansas earns the ''1st runner-up'' position for the first time and reaches its highest placement since

1993 File:1993 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Oslo I Accord is signed in an attempt to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict; The Russian White House is shelled during the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis; Czechoslovakia is peace ...

. * Tennessee earns the ''2nd runner-up'' position for the third time. The last time it placed this was in

1984 Events January * January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888. * January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeast A ...

. *

Oklahoma Oklahoma (; Choctaw language, Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the nor ...

finishes as ''Top 6'' for the second time. The last time it placed this was in

1991 File:1991 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Boris Yeltsin, elected as Russia's first president, waves the new flag of Russia after the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, orchestrated by Soviet hardliners; Mount Pinatubo erupts in the Phil ...

. * Michigan finishes as ''Top 6'' for the first time and reaches its highest placement since

Kenya Moore Kenya Summer Moore (born January 24, 1971) is an American actress, model, producer, author, television personality, and entrepreneur. She is best known for winning the Miss USA pageant in 1993 and being a main cast member on Bravo's reality seri ...

won in

. * North Dakota finishes as ''Top 6'' for the first time and reaches its highest placement since

1983 The year 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call. Events January * January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to Internet protocol suite, TCP/IP is officially completed (this is consid ...

. * States that placed in semifinals the previous year were Illinois, Louisiana,

and Texas. * Texas placed for the fifth consecutive year. * Illinois and Louisiana placed for the third consecutive year. *

made its second consecutive placement. * Kansas and Tennessee last placed in

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which Sinking of the MS Estonia, sank in ...

. * Michigan last placed in

. * North Dakota last placed in

. * Utah last placed in

1982 Events January * January 1 – In Malaysia and Singapore, clocks are adjusted to the same time zone, UTC+8 (GMT+8.00). * January 13 – Air Florida Flight 90 crashes shortly after takeoff into the 14th Street bridges, 14th Street Bridge in ...

. * Indiana last placed in

1981 Events January * January 1 ** Greece enters the European Economic Community, predecessor of the European Union. ** Palau becomes a self-governing territory. * January 10 – Salvadoran Civil War: The FMLN launches its first major offensiv ...

. * Minnesota and Missouri break an ongoing streak of placements since

. *

breaks an ongoing streak of placements since

Scores

Preliminary scores

The following is the contestants average scores in the preliminary competition. : Winner : First runner-up : Second runner-up : Top 6 Finalist : Top 10 Semifinalist

Semifinal scores

: Winner : First runner-up : Second runner-up : Top 6 Finalist

Delegates

The Miss USA 1996 delegates were: * Alabama – Benita Brooks * Alaska – Janelle Lynn Canady * Arizona – Christina Novak * Arkansas – Tiffany Parks * California – Shauna Lyn Searles * Colorado – Suesan Rajebi * Connecticut – Wanda Gonzales * Delaware – Star Behl * District of Columbia – La Chanda Jenkins * Florida – Idalmis Vidal * Georgia – Jenny Craig * Hawaii – Ku'ualoha Taylor * Idaho – Tracy Yarbrough * Illinois – Bernadette Przybycien * Indiana – Holly Roehl * Iowa – Jill Simon * Kansas – Danielle Boatwright * Kentucky – Lorie West * Louisiana – Ali Landry * Maine – Julann Vadnais * Maryland – Michele Michael * Massachusetts – Jacquelyn Doucette * Michigan – Natasha Bell * Minnesota – Karin Smith * Mississippi – Caroline Ramagos * Missouri – Aimee Rinehart * Montana – Tanya Pogatchnik * Nebraska – Kerry Lynn Kemper * Nevada – Alisa Castillo * New Hampshire – Julie Minta Gleneck * New Jersey – Christina Augustyn * New Mexico – Layla Linn *

– Keelin Curnuck * North Carolina – Jessica Lee McMinn * North Dakota – Juliette Spier * Ohio – Melissa Boyd *

– Heather Crickard * Oregon – Jill Chartier * Pennsylvania –

Susan Barnett Susan Barnett (born October 24, 1972) is an American television news anchor. She spent five years at KYW-TV as co-anchor of the 5, 6, and 11 P.M. newscasts and is a former beauty queen from Levittown, Pennsylvania who competed at Miss Teen USA 19 ...

* Rhode Island – Karen Bradley * South Carolina – Lysa Jackson * South Dakota – Caresa Winters * Tennessee – Becca Lee * Texas – Kara Williams * Utah – Tracy Kennick * Vermont – Nancy Anne Roberts * Virginia – Danielle Connors * Washington – Staci Baldwin * West Virginia – Regina Fisher * Wisconsin – Mary Jo Stoker * Wyoming – Kellee Kattleman

Crossovers

Ten delegates had previously competed in either the Miss Teen USA or

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 ...

pageants. Delegates who had previously held a Miss Teen USA state title were: *Tracy Kennick (Utah) - Miss Utah Teen USA 1989 * Ali Landry (Louisiana) - Miss Louisiana Teen USA 1990 (Semi-finalist at Miss Teen USA 1990) *Holly Roehl (Indiana) - Miss Georgia Teen USA 1990 (Second runner-up at Miss Teen USA 1990) *

(Pennsylvania) - Miss Pennsylvania Teen USA 1990 (Finalist at Miss Teen USA 1990) *Kara Williams (Texas) - Miss Texas Teen USA 1991 (Semi-finalist at

Miss Teen USA 1991 Miss Teen USA 1991, the 9th Miss Teen USA pageant, was televised live from the Mississippi Gulf Coast Coliseum in Biloxi, Mississippi on 19 August 1991. At the conclusion of the final competition, Janel Bishop of New Hampshire was crowned by out ...

) *Juliette Spier (North Dakota) - Miss North Dakota Teen USA 1992 * Danielle Boatwright (Kansas) - Miss Kansas Teen USA 1992 (Second runner-up at Miss Teen USA 1992) *Jill Chartier (Oregon) -

Miss Oregon Teen USA The Miss Oregon Teen USA competition is the pageant that selects the representative for the state of Oregon in the Miss Teen USA pageant. Until Tennessee's victory in 2009, Oregon was the only state to win more than one Miss Teen USA title ...

1993 (Semi-finalist at Miss Teen USA 1993) *Tiffany Parks (Arkansas) -

Miss Arkansas Teen USA The Miss Arkansas Teen USA competition is the 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 part of the Van ...

1993 Delegate who had previously held a Miss America state title: *Tracy Yarbrough (Idaho) - Miss Idaho 1994 Delegate who previously held a Miss USA state title: *Shauna Searles (California) took over the title of Miss California USA 1992 after Shannon Marketic was crowned

Miss USA 1992 Miss USA 1992 was the 41st Miss USA pageant, televised live from the Century II Convention Center in Wichita, Kansas on February 7, 1992. At the conclusion of the final competition, Shannon Marketic of California was crowned by outgoing titlehol ...

Judges

* C.C.H. Pounder * Patrick Warburton *Debbie Fields * Frankie Liles *Donna Sheen * Ricky Martin *Jeff Feringa * Matt Whiteside * Irene Bedard *

Eddie Rabbitt Edward Thomas Rabbitt (November 27, 1941 – May 7, 1998) was an American country music singer and songwriter. His career began as a songwriter in the late 1960s, springboarding to a recording career after composing hits such as "Kentucky Rain" ...

References

External links

Miss USA official website
{{Miss USA

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1996 in Texas 1996 beauty pageants Cameron County, Texas February 1996 events in the United States