College of Fine Arts and Design

Jan. 4, 2011

University of Central Oklahoma senior dance major Emoly West, Miss Oklahoma 2010, is asking for your vote in the 2011 Miss America Pageant.

The pageant will culminate in a revamped live telecast to air Jan. 15 on ABC and one contestant will become a finalist based on advance voting.

Each contestant has a video posted at www.missamerica.org. In Emoly's video, she talks about how at age 7 she knew that she wanted to be Miss America. She speaks of inheriting a competitive spirit from her father, who was a professional football player.

In her video, Emoly is wearing a football jersey and pointe shoes.

"It's the perseverance and dedication of being a dancer and a swimmer that's made me ready to be your 90th Miss America," West says in her video. She picks up an OU football helmet. "In Oklahoma, you have to have one of these to be king. But I can tell you that this is how you become queen," she says holding a Miss America-style crown.

You can watch Emoly's video and vote for her at MissAmerica.org/VideoContest.

In addition to voting via the videos, there are three other ways to vote for the "America's choice" finalist:

• Using your mobile phone, text MAST (letters "ST" should be replaced by the state abbreviation you want to vote for) to 24470 (message and data rates may apply)

• "Like" your favorite contestant's video at Facebook.com/

• "Like" your favorite contestant's video at YouTube.com/MissAmericaOrg.

The voting winner will be fast-tracked into a finalist position. You may vote once per contestant per voting method. Voting closes at 11:59 p.m. PST on Jan. 13. Only votes cast through one of the official voting methods will count. Other voting terms and conditions are available at the site.


VIDEO LINK:
http://www.missamerica.org/videocontest/