Miss Arlington Does It Again

For the second year in a row, Miss Arlington was crowned Miss Virginia. Caressa Cameron won the crown at the Miss Virginia Pageant which was held at the Roanoke Civic Center Saturday night.

A synchronized dance routine comprised of cha-cha movements and pivot turns to the song "21st Century Girls" marked the beginning of the Miss Virginia Pageant as 29 contestants competed for the title.

After each contestant was presented to the audience, Miss Virginia 2008, Tara Wheeler, addressed the audience by highlighting the details of her year as Miss Virginia. Among her achievements, Wheeler raised $30,000 in 30 days for pediatric cancer research.

"Beauty is as beauty does," said Wheeler. of her reign as Miss Virginia 2008.

The evening moved forward as the judges chose the top 11 finalists: Miss Southeastern Virginia Elizabeth Crot, Miss Smith Mountain Lake Chinah Helmandollar, Miss Greater Richmond Shannon Beam, Miss Chesterfield Stephanie Connelly, Miss Danville Pittsylvania County Lindsay Bowman, Miss Commonwealth Erica Seredni, Miss Chesapeake Ashley Smith, Miss Appleblossom Festival Caitlin Uze, Miss Roanoke Valley Lindsay Morris, and Miss Hanover Brittany Young.

Virginia Tech's two candidates, Amanda Jones and Madison Van Duyne missed the cut.

After the finalists were announced, Miss America 2008 Kirsten Haglund, the evening's emcee, was joined on stage by Miss America's 2008 Outstanding Teen Taylor Fitch to announce this year's Outstanding Pre-teen and Outstanding Teen.

There was a brief moment of disorganization as the announcers struggled to find the correct list of winners, but the composed Haglert smoothed it over.

"How many beauty queens does it take to read off a finalist list?" said Haglund.

Wheeler and several featured vocalists performed song and dance numbers such as "Diamonds Are a Girls Best Friend," "Material Girl" and "Beautiful Girls" by Sean Kingston to entertain the audience as the 11 finalists prepared for the fitness and swimsuit competition.

As the contestants strutted in front of the audience and the judges, childhood photos of each contestant were displayed on an oversized plasma TV screen in the middle of the stage.

The talent portion of the competition consisted of song, piano, monologue, river dance and baton twirling. Cameron, who won a $1,000 scholarship as Friday night's preliminary talent winner, performed "Listen" by Beyonce Knowles from the movie "Dream Girls."

"They are entertainers. The strongest they have been in 10 years," said Carolyn Williams, the assistant direct of public relations for the pageant.

Seredni, Uze, Beam, Cameron and Morris were announced as the top 5 finalists and continued on to answer one final question that had been created by the non-finalists.

Each of the five girls had 20 seconds to answer the question. Question topics included the controversy over gay marriage, the Plan B availability for teens under 18 and the Supreme Court Nominee Sonia Sotomayor.

Cameron, the winner of the competition, received the controversial question about gay marriage. She answered with diplomacy by sharing her personal belief that marriage is between a man and a woman but that she believed the principle of separation of church and state was being violated.

The crowning of the new Miss Virginia was preceded by the announcement of other scholarship awards.

Miss Virginia Beach Elle Bunn won the Children's Miracle Network Miracle Maker award. The academic scholarship was given to Miss Chesterfield Stephanie Connelly while Nicole Wimmer, Miss Greater Franklin County, claimed the Outstanding Community Service scholarship. Miss Chesapeake Ashley Smith won the Community Service Scholarship.

The People's Choice scholarship of $500 for most Internet votes went to Miss Danville-Pittsylvania Lindsay Bowman and Miss Hanover Brittany Young won the $500 Viewer's Choice scholarship for having the most text votes.

After a final musical number, "Who Will She Be?" which involved a call-back response from the audience who shouted the name of their favorite contestant, the winner was revealed.

It came down between Miss Greater Richmond and Miss Arlington. First runner up, Miss Greater Richmond Shannon Beam received an $8, 300 scholarship. Caressa Cameron, Miss Arlington, received the title, the crown and $16,500 in scholarship money.

The pageant boasted that it provided nearly $50,000 in scholarship money for the participants marking the pageant's success.

"Absolutely, we are thrilled!" said Williams.