Miss Washington


The Miss Washington competition is the pageant that selects the representative for the state of Washington in the Miss America pageant.
Abbie Kondel of Brush Prairie, Washington was crowned Miss Washington 2019 on June 29, 2019, at the Hyatt Regency Lake Washington Hotel in Renton, Washington. She will compete for the title of Miss America 2020 in December 2019.

History

Washington first sent delegates to Miss America in 1926 and 1927 with Leona Fengler, Miss Seattle. She was sponsored by the Seattle Times. She was pictured by the paper leaving in a biplane for her cross-country flight to Atlantic City, where she was voted 'Prettiest Girl in an Evening Gown'. In 1987, Fendler was welcomed home and featured once again at the newly revived Miss Seattle Pageant that year.
The Depression and war years caused sporadic participation by Washington contestants to the Miss America pageant, but the Miss Washington pageant was revived in 1948 and held in Ephrata, with a $1000 scholarship being offered to the winner. In 1949 the pageant was a 'financial flop' and the winner had to seek community donations to fund her appearance at Miss America. At the time the organization was so deeply in debt that the titleholder's tiara was nearly repossessed by the manufacturer.
From 1961 to 1997 it was hosted by Vancouver, under a number of executive directors before being moved to the Tri-Cities under the directorship of Chamber President, Dorothy Schoeppach, under whose direction the local programs again grew from 9 to 22. Two years later it moved to Tacoma under the directorship of Joan Dehn and Mike Shinkle.
The pageant has been held in Renton since 2008 under the directorship of Charlie VanTramp and then to date 2013 Peggy Miller, and Patti Belik. The Miss Washington pageant is a 501-C3 scholarship organization, and sponsorship is tax deductible, although tickets to the events are not.

Gallery of past titleholders

Results summary

The following is a visual summary of the past results of Miss Washington titleholders at the national Miss America pageants/competitions. The year in parentheses indicates the year of the national competition during which a placement and/or award was garnered, not the year attached to the contestant's state title.

Placements

Preliminary awards