Miss USA to Miss USA and Miss Universe beginning with Miss Universe 2015. The modern pageant consists of a preliminary competition held a week before the pageant when all contestants are judged in swimsuit, gown, and interview competitions. Every year, each state holds a preliminary competition to choose their delegate for the Miss USA pageant. In some states (such as Texas and Florida), local pageants are also held to determine delegates for the state competition. The state winners hold the title "Miss State USA" for the year of their reign. The most successful state is Texas, which has had the most semi-finalists
Mary Jean Collins Mary Jean Collins Mary Jean Collins (born 1939 in Wisconsin) is an American activist. She joined the National Organization for Women in 1967, and she was elected as the Chicago Chapter of NOW's president after moving to that city in 1968. That chapter sponsored the Women's Strike for Equality, which occurred in 1970. In the late 1960s and the beginning of the 1970s, Collins was a Midwest Regional Director and Board member of NOW, in 1980 she was again elected as the Chicago Chapter of NOW's president, and in 1982 she was elected as national Action Vice-President of NOW; she