Courtney Koester, Bayleigh Stockman Competing in Miss Illinois USA Pageant

Best of success to Bayleigh Stockman and our own Courtney Koester, who will be competing starting today at the 2017 Miss Illinois USA Pageant. The competition will take place today through Monday at Braden Auditorium on the campus of Illinois State University in Bloomington-Normal. WE HAVE LEARNED YOU CAN VIEW A LIVE STREAM OF THE PAGEANT AT PAGEANTVISION.COM. 

Courtney is representing Effingham, while Bayleigh is representing Effingham County.

(BAYLEIGH STOCKMAN)

The winners of the State Pageant will each receive a prize package including cash, wardrobe, and travel. They will also receive a scholarship offered through a partnership with Lindenwood University. The state Teen and Miss winner will receive a Lindenwood scholarship worth $48,000. Not only the winners benefit from the experience, or from the scholarship program. Runners-up in the State Pageant will receive Lindenwood scholarships valued at $36,000. Semifinalists in the State Pageant will receive a Lindenwood scholarship valued at $36,000. Also, EVERY young woman who participates in the State Pageant, Teen and Miss divisions, will be offered a Lindenwood scholarship valued at $16,000.

(COURTNEY KOESTER)

The winner of MISS ILLINOIS USA will advance to the nationally televised MISS USA Pageant, and the winner of the MISS ILLINOIS TEEN USA title will advance to the MISS TEEN USA Pageant. Should MISS ILLINOIS USA go on to win MISS USA, she would then advance to the ultimate contest... the internationally televised MISS UNIVERSE Pageant.

Each Contestant will compete in three equal phases of preliminary competition: athletic wear/swimsuit, evening gown, and interview. The scores from the preliminary phases of competition are added up, and the contestants with the highest composite scores become semifinalists. The number of semifinalists will be between 10 and 15, and will be determined by the total number of contestants in the competition.

Scoring is based on the following:

--Athletic Wear/Swimsuit: each contestant is evaluated on her physical fitness, stage-presence, and overall impression.

--Evening Gown: each contestant is evaluated on grace, poise, style, stage presence, the confidence with which she carries herself, and overall-impression.

--Interview: preliminary interviews are personal one-on-one style. Contestants will have four minute interviews with each of the five judges. Contestants are scored on their communication skills, and personality. They are NOT scored on their opinions or personal beliefs. Once the semifinalists are announced during the final show, they will again compete in swimsuit and evening gown. These two phases of competition will narrow the field to a group of five finalists.

The Top 5 will then each have an on-stage interview. The interview will be conducted by the emcee. She will ask them a question submitted by a fellow contestant and one submitted by a judge. The interview will end with one randomly selected question unrelated to their bio, and submitted prior to the show by either the panel of judges or the contestants. After the Top 5 interviews, the judges will make the final rankings based on their overall impression of each contestant. The judges will select a winner, 1st runner-up, 2nd runner-up, 3rd runner-up, and 4th runner-up in each age group.

The competition is open to the public. Tickets range from $45-$75 and can be purchased at the Braden box office or on Ticketmaster.