Competition Rules - Areas of Competition - Other Information

These rules are meant for general information purposes only and should never be used as an official reference regarding questions of eligibility in the Miss Teen Texas Program.   For current information about competition rules and requirements, please refer to official paperwork received from the Miss Teen Texas Program or e-mail to marcy@dialaccess.com.

• The Miss Teen Texas Pageant is normally open only to contestants sponsored by and winning titles through “youth competitions” conducted by official Miss Texas Local Franchise Holders who are members of the State Association of Miss Texas Local Scholarship Organizations.
• At the local level and for the state preliminary competition, the four competition categories are: Interview (30% of the total score); Physical Fitness/Swimsuit (15% of the total score); Talent (40% of the total score); and Evening/Formal Wear (15% of the total score).                                                                                    
• Contestants must be:
  -Between the ages of 13 and 17, female, single, never married, and never conceived a child, and of good moral character.  A contestant's 13th birthday must fall on or before July 2, 2001.  A contestant's 18th birthday must fall after July 3, 2001.  Normally not more than a junior classification in high school, although young women who are seniors in high school but who's 17th birthday falls after March 11, 2001 are eligible to compete in the Miss Teen Texas program.
  
  -A resident of the State of Texas at least 6 months prior to the state competition  and a citizen of the United States.                                                                                       
   
  -There are no minimum or maximum height or weight requirements

  -There is no previous experience required to compete in a local Miss Teen Texas Pageant

• Competition wardrobe should be appropriate to the age of the contestant and will need to include a long gown (which need not be expensive), an interview suit or dress, talent clothing appropriate for the contestant’s presentation, and a one-piece or two-piece swimsuit.

COMPETITION SCHEDULE

Interviews will be held on Monday, July 2nd. Preliminary on-stage competition will be held Tuesday morning and afternoon, July 3rd, and the finals will be held on Tuesday evening.

COMPETITION CATEGORIES

Personal Interview

• Contestant interviews will be 7 minutes each. The interview will be a question and answer discussion session with the contestant standing in front of a very well qualified panel of judges. There will be 30 second introductions done by the contestants at the beginning of each interview.
• Judges are instructed to judge all contestants fairly without discussing any of the contestants with each other or any members of the MTLFA Board of Directors until after Miss Teen Texas is named. Judges will be told that Miss Teen Texas must be able to speak well since she will be talking with children in schools, speaking in front of groups of other children and adults, and will serve as Mistress of Ceremonies at some of the local pageants.
• Contestants should be prepared to answer any type of question that is asked. Remember, the judges are trying to find out as much as they can about the contestant during the seven-minute interview.
• Contestants should wear a suit or dress appropriate to their age for the Interview competition. We recommend that contestants try to keep beads, leather trims, feathers, etc. to a minimum on the interview outfit, or better yet, not have them on the interview outfit at all.
• No parents are allowed backstage during the Miss Teen Texas Pageant. Local directors who are not directly involved with the Miss Teen Texas Pageant production will not be allowed backstage during the pageant. Hostesses will be provided to assist contestants with wardrobe changes, little emergencies, etc.

Physical Fitness/Swimsuit Competition

• This portion of the competition is considered to be the most stressful, but it is a tradition. For swimsuit competition, contestants must wear a one-piece or two piece swimsuit of their choice. It is best that the swimsuit not have any beads, rhinestones, buttons, etc. The purpose of the Physical Fitness/Swimsuit Competition is for the contestant to make a statement of her commitment to physical fitness. The judges will look at the contestant’s walk, posture, poise, grace, and her sense of confidence and comfort in her ability to compete in this phase of competition. The judges will also focus on the contestant’s display of energy and charisma.
• No hose or jewelry can be worn during the Swimsuit Competition and a heel should be worn that is comfortable to the contestant. All heels worn for the Physical Fitness/Swimsuit Competition must be a pump or have a heel strap...NO SLIP-IN SHOES. We recommend either the taupe/beige or clear “swimsuit” shoes.

Talent Competition

• The judges know that contestants competing in the Miss Teen Texas Pageant are usually not professionals. The judges will consider if the contestant’s talent fits her personality, will look at her stage presence, consider the difficulty of the talent, and judge the entertainment value. Please keep in mind, if a vocalist or musician hits a wrong note, or a dancer misses a step, or a twirler drops her baton, etc., it doesn’t mean that she has a poor talent.
• Only the contestant will be permitted on-stage during her talent presentation. No other person can be part of her presentation.
• Talent presentations must be performed live. If the contestant is a vocalist, she must perform the talent live. She may be accompanied by a tape recording of her own voice, however, she may not state that it is her voice on the accompaniment tape since we have no proof of this.
• If a contestant wishes to pantomime or lip-sync to a recording, there must be full disclosure that she is doing so. The fact that she is pantomiming or lip-synching must be announced as part of her talent introduction. There must be full disclosure of the artist who is actually singing on the accompaniment tape. There can be no illusion that the contestant is actually singing.
• If a contestant plays a musical instrument, she can be accompanied by a taped accompaniment, however, the tape must not include a duplicate instrument or a synthesizer that makes the sound of the instrument that the contestant is playing. For example, the accompaniment tape for a pianist must not include another piano on the tape; the accompaniment tape for a contestant playing the flute for her talent must not include any other flutes, etc.
• Any tape used to accompany a tap dancer must not contain pre-recorded taps or tap sounds.
• After the accompaniment tape has been started by the Sound Engineer, it cannot be stopped until the routine is finished. Any delays or pauses in the presentation that are part of the presentation must be allowed on the accompaniment tape. For example, if there is a ten second pause in the routine (perhaps for spoken words during a vocal presentation), then there must be ten seconds of silence on the tape at the appropriate place while the tape keeps running through the tape player.
• If the contestant is performing her talent with an accompaniment tape, the tape will be timed and may not be longer than 2 minutes and 30 seconds (2:30). If the contestant’s talent runs longer than 2 minutes and 30 seconds, the judges will have the option of, and probably will, reduce the number of points they would have given the contestant if her talent time had stayed within the pageant rules. The accompaniment tape must be on a regular cassette tape (no phonograph records, compact discs, etc.) and should be recorded on a good quality new tape. The only recording on the tape must be the accompaniment music that will be used during the contestant’s talent presentation. If possible, it is best to have the accompaniment music recorded at the beginning of both sides of the tape and the tape should be queued to the beginning of the music.
• Talent routines that are prohibited at the Miss Teen Texas Pageant include the use of fire (fire ropes, fire batons, etc.); pyrotechnics, twirling acts involving swords, knives, or machetes; bow and arrow acts; and the use of live animals.
• All talents will enter the stage from stage left. So please make sure that all contestants block their talent this way. For those of us who get a little confused about which side of the stage is stage left, it is the left side of the stage if you are on the stage and facing the audience.

Evening/Formal Wear Competition

• Outfits for the Evening/Formal Wear segment of competition should be in keeping with the “Teen” aspect of competition.

The 2001 Miss Teen Texas Pageant Finals competition will begin at 8:00 p.m. on Tuesday, July 3rd in Fort Worth. The Miss Teen Texas Pageant Finals will include naming a Top-10 from all of the contestants, based upon the highest cumulative, weighted scores from the Interview competition and preliminary Talent, Physical Fitness/Swimsuit, and Evening/Formal Wear competition. On Final Night, the Talent, Physical Fitness/Swimsuit, and Evening/Formal Wear competition will be rescored by the panel of judges. The Top-10 Contestants’ previous day Interview scores will be carried over to be added with the Final Night Talent, Physical Fitness/Swimsuit, and Evening/Formal Wear scores.   During the preliminary competition and for the Top-10 semifinalists, contestants will not be required to answer an on-stage question.

A Top-5 will be named at the 2001 Miss Teen Texas Pageant.  These Top-5 contestants will answer a series of onstage questions.  The following percentages will be used for the Top-10 at the 2001 Miss Teen Texas Pageant.

     30%  Interview carryover
     40%  Talent
     10%  Swimsuit
     10%  Evening wear

The above points will be tallied and the Top-5 will be determined by that total.  Then the Top-5 will be interviewed in their Evening Wear for an additional 10%.

For additional information about the Miss Teen Texas Program, please contact the President, State Association of Miss Texas Local Scholarship Organizations by e:mail at marcy@dialaccess.com.