Young women throughout Troup County will once again take the stage to compete for the crown.

Miss Troup will host its 45th annual Miss Troup County Scholarship Competition at 7 p.m. on Saturday, Jan. 18 at the Troup High auditorium.

“We will be taking applications until Wednesday night,” said CEO of the Miss Georgia Scholarship Competition Trina Pruitt. “We are still hoping to add a few more candidates to compete.” 

The program is a preliminary competition to the Miss Georgia and Miss America competitions.

“This is a scholarship competition that provides scholarships to girls who pursue higher education,” Pruitt said. “It is also a platform for their social impact initiative of their choice. It also gives them a chance to work with Children’s Miracle Hospitals.”

Three crowns will be handed out this year — Miss Troup County, Miss LaGrange, Miss Troup County/Miss LaGrange Outstanding Teen.

Miss Troup County and Miss LaGrange are open competitions. Miss Troup County’s Outstanding Teen Competition will also be open, while the Miss LaGrange’s Outstanding Teen Competition will be a regional competition, meaning the participants must reside or attend school in Troup, Harris, Heard, Muscogee, Meriwether, Coweta or Carroll Counties.  

Pruitt said she learned imperative soft skills from being a former Miss Troup County in the 90s, which helped her achieve in life. 

“[It teaches] being able to handle yourself in a pressured environment, such as an interview a job interview,” Pruitt said. “Learning that feeling, and obtaining confidence in what you do and how you present yourself, and then, of course, the scholarships. It gives us girls the avenue to present their talent, which makes the Miss Troup, Miss Georgia and Miss America so unique because of the talent competition.”

Candidates will participate in a 10-minute private interview with a panel of judges, an onstage interview immediately following the opening number and evening wear attire with a social impact statement that summarizes a candidate’s platform mission. The women will also compete in a talent portion that makes up 40 percent of their score.

“It’s about intelligence; It’s about talent,” Pruitt said. “It’s an avenue so you can work on that social impact initiative. Applicants must write an essay on their social impact initiative going into this.”

Additionally, per Miss America, each Miss candidate must raise $100 for Children’s Miracle Network Hospital to compete in a preliminary pageant.

“I have always considered pageants, now known as competitions, as that sport that the girl always wants to be a part of, but it’s not physically involved with a sport,” Pruitt said. “It is another sport in itself because they have to prepare for an interview, they have to be up on current events and prepare for their talent.”

Miss Troup’s executive director Judy Neighbors said it’s all about confidence and poise.

“If it was just about judging evening gowns, we could roll them out on a rack and have the judges pick the prettiest one they like,” Neighbor’s said.

Miss Georgia, Victoria Hill of Canton, Georgia, will emcee the event.

Admission costs are $20 at the door and $10 for students who present their student ID.

Candidates who would still like to compete can visit misstroupcounty.org and fill out an application by Wednesday at 5 p.m.