Miss New York, Nia Franklin, was crowned Miss America 2019 Sunday night at the birthplace of the iconic competition in Atlantic City’s Jim Whelan Boardwalk Hall. The Miss America competition was broadcast live on ABC.
As Miss America 2019, Nia will travel across the country for her year of service. She will embark on her national speaking tour about her social impact initiative “Advocating for the Arts” and as the National Goodwill Ambassador for Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals. Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals, a non-profit organization dedicated to saving and improving the lives of children by raising funds for children’s hospitals, is the national platform partner of the Miss America Organization.
Through her social impact initiative, Nia will bring her passion for music and performance to advocate for the inclusion of arts as an important part of education. For the talent portion of the competition, Nia chose a classical vocal performance.
Nia is a graduate of The University of North Carolina School of Arts where she majored in music composition. Along with the coveted title of Miss America 2019, Nia won a $50,000 scholarship to continue her education.
First runner-up in the competition was Miss Connecticut, Bridget Oei, who earned a $25,000 scholarship.
The winners of the $5,000 STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) scholarships were Miss Massachusetts, Gabriela Taveras; Miss Montana, Laura Haller; and Miss Nevada, Alexis Hilts. Miss Hawaii, Penelope Ng Pack and Miss South Dakota, Carrie Wintle each received $5,000 as recipients of the Women in Business scholarship.
The 98th Miss America Competition was hosted by Carrie Ann Inaba of ABC’s Dancing with the Stars and TV personality Ross Matthews. The 51 candidates representing all 50 states and the District of Columbia competed in preliminary competitions earlier in the week.
