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The Miss Louisiana USA competition is the pageant that selects the representative for the state of Louisiana in the Miss USA pageant.

Miss Louisiana USA is produced by RPM Productions since 1990, which also produces the Miss USA and Miss Teen USA state pageants for Alabama, North Carolina, and South Carolina. RPM Productions' headquarters is in Aiken, South Carolina.

Sydney Taylor of Livingston was crowned Miss Louisiana USA 2024 on March 30, 2024, at Jefferson Performing Arts Center in Metairie. She will represent Louisiana at Miss USA 2024.

History

Louisiana is one of only seven states to have three or more Miss USA winners (in 1958, 1961, and 1996).

Four Miss Louisiana USA titleholders previously held the Miss Louisiana Teen USA title, including Ali Landry, who became the third woman from Louisiana to be crowned Miss USA.

Jennifer Dupont, Miss Louisiana USA 2000, is one of only seven women who have competed in the Miss Teen USA, Miss USA and Miss America pageants.

Louisiana's future success at Miss USA would be evident in the state's first contestant, Jeanne Vaughn Thompson, Miss Louisiana USA 1952 and 1953. She is the only woman to ever compete twice in the history of Miss USA, and to outright win a Miss USA state title twice.

Thompson was also the only two-time state titleholder in Miss USA history, a record she held for 44 years until Shanna Lyn Searles became the second and only other double state titleholder. Searles won the Miss California USA title outright in 1996 after inheriting the state's 1992 title due to the original winner, Shannon Marketic, being crowned Miss USA 1992.

Thompson's overall pageant success includes winning the Miss Louisiana state title and competing at Miss America in 1951, winning the first two Miss Louisiana USA state titles and competing in the first and second Miss USA pageants, becoming the first-ever 1st runner-up in 1952 and a semi-finalist and Miss Congeniality (Amity) winner in 1953. Her two consecutive participations in Miss USA and subsequent final placements prompted organizers to create a rule allowing a person to compete for the title only once.

Miss Louisiana USA contestants accomplished another feat first, winning both the Miss Congeniality (Amity) and Miss Photogenic awards ever given to a Miss USA state delegate. Thompson was the winner of the Miss Congeniality award given to the first Miss USA state contestant in 1953.

The second Miss Congeniality award given also went to another contestant from Louisiana, Judy Fletcher in 1960. That year, during the era when both Miss USA and Miss Universe pageants were held at the same time, Fletcher tied with a Miss Universe contestant from Myanmar (known at the time as Burma) for the award.

Sharon Brown, who represented Louisiana in 1961, won the first Miss Photogenic award given to a Miss USA state delegate. She also won the Miss USA title, the first Miss Photogenic winner to obtain that feat.

Louisiana is one of only two states (California the other) to have won both the Miss USA title and the Miss Photogenic award in the same year on two separate occasions (Brown in 1961 and Landry in 1996).

Gallery of titleholders

• Arlene Howell, Miss Louisiana USA 1958 & Miss USA 1958
• Sharon Brown, Miss Louisiana USA 1961 & Miss USA 1961
• Ali Landry, Miss Louisiana USA 1996 & Miss USA 1996
• Elizabeth McNulty, Miss Louisiana USA 2007
• Michelle Berthelot, Miss Louisiana USA 2008
• Sara Brooks, Miss Louisiana USA 2010

Results summary

Placements

• Miss USAs: Eurlyne Howell (1958), Sharon Brown (1961), Ali Landry (1996)
• 1st runners-up: Jeanne Thompson (1952)
• 2nd runners-up: Lisa Lynn Moss (1981)
• 3rd runners-up: Kathy Hebert (1968), Pamela Forrest (1983), Sarie Joubert (1985), Elizabeth Primm (1989), Brittany Guidry (2014)
• 4th runners-up: Robyn Sanders (1976)
• Top 6: Shirelle Hebert (1994), Elizabeth Coxe (1995)
• Top 10/11/12: Bonnie Martin (1972), Storm Hensley (1973), Karen Hoff (1974), Christy Saylor (1992), Debbie Delhomme (1998), Anne-Katherine Lene (2002), Kristen Girault (2013), Candice Bennatt (2015)
• Top 15/16/20: Jeanne Thompson (1953), Mary Lobianco (1959), Judy Fletcher (1960), Elizabeth McNulty (2007), Erin Edmiston (2012), Victoria Paul (2019), Mariah Clayton (2020), Tanya Crowe (2021)

Louisiana holds a record of 29 placements at Miss USA.

Awards

• Miss Photogenic: Sharon Brown (1961), Kathy Hebert (1968), Elizabeth Primm (1989), Ali Landry (1996)
• Miss Congeniality: Jeanne Thompson (1953), Judy Fletcher (1960)
• Best State Costume: 2nd Place: Elizabeth Primm (1989)

Winners

Color key

•   Declared as Winner
•   Ended as runner-up or finalist
•   Ended as one of the semifinalists

Age at the time of the Miss USA pageant

References

1. Foster, Kent (October 20, 2019). "Zachary native, Southern University alumna crowned Miss Louisiana USA 2020". WVUE-DT. Retrieved October 21, 2019.
2. King, Faith (April 10, 2019). "Miss Louisiana heads off to compete in Miss USA 2019 pageant". KALB-TV. Retrieved June 9, 2019.
3. Weigle, Lauren (May 3, 2019). "Miss USA 2019 Contestants: Winner & Top Finalists Revealed Live". Heavy.com. Retrieved June 9, 2019.
4. McCarty, Erin (October 22, 2017). "Shreveport's Lauren Vizza Wins Miss Louisiana USA". News Radio 710 KEEL.
5. Etheridge, Elaine (June 25, 2012). "The New Miss Louisiana is From Shreveport". News Radio 710 KEEL.

External links

• Official website

• Miss USA state pageants
• Louisiana culture
• Women in Louisiana
• Recurring events established in 1952
• 1952 establishments in Louisiana
• Annual events in Louisiana