Miss Universe Organization
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2021 MISS ILLINOIS USA® and MISS ILLINOIS TEEN USA® StateState ContestantContestant HandbookHandbook VANBROS AND ASSOCIATES INC. • missillinoisusa.com Official preliminaries to the MISS USA® and MISS TEEN USA® Pageants. Independently produced by VANBROS and Associates Inc. under license by IMG Universe, LLC dba-The Miss Universe Organization. MISS UNIVERSE®, MISS USA® and MISS TEEN USA® and all variants thereof, the “Woman with Stars” Logo and the Crown Designs are all registered trademarks and copyrights of The Miss Universe Organization. Table of Contents WHAT TO DO NEXT • First step • Mark your calendar • Accommodations • Deadlines • Third party vendors • What if I win? • What to do if I decide to withdraw GENERAL PAGEANT ETIQUETTE • Things to keep in mind SPONSORSHIP INFORMATION • Financial requirements • Who are advertisers? • Benefits to advertisers • Tips on how to find advertisers • Advertiser payment options WARDROBE INFORMATION • Registration • Rehearsals • Opening Number • Active Wear/Swimsuit Competition • Evening Gown Competition • Interview Competition • Other JUDGING INFORMATION • Who are the Judges? • What are they looking for? • Judging the phases of competition • Scoring Procedures PREPARING FOR THE PAGEANT • Active Wear/Swimsuit Competition • Evening Gown Competition • Interview Competition • Professional Assistance • Reminders MISS USA® www.missusa.com MISCELLANEOUS MATERIALS • Press Release Template (you may duplicate this form) MISS TEEN USA® • Letter for Potential Advertisers (you may duplicate this letter) www.missteenusa.com • Credit Card Payment Slips (you may duplicate this form) • Advertiser Receipt Forms (you may duplicate this form) MISS UNIVERSE® • Vendor List www.missuniverse.com All rights reserved. This manual may not be reproduced, in part or whole by any process, without written permission from VANBROS & Associates and The Miss Universe Organization. Now that I’ve beenWhat selected to participate,to do next... what are my next steps? I. FIRST STEP READ THIS HANDBOOK COMPLETELY! Everything you NEED to know to start preparation is included in this manual. Read it thoroughly. Pay close attention to details, forms, and especially your deadlines. Be sure to return everything before your deadline. 2. MARK YOUR CALENDAR NOW! Please continue to check our state websites for pageant updates and the latest information. ARKANSAS: May 23, 2021 • Fort Smith, AR. ILLINOIS: March 28, 2021 • Normal, IL. KANSAS: April 11, 2021 • Shawneee, KS. MISSOURI: March 6, 2021 (MISS) -March 7, 2021 (TEEN) • Shawnee, KS. NEBRASKA: February 28, 2021 • Omaha, NE. OKLAHOMA: April 18, 2021 • Midwest City, OK. 3. ACCOMMODATIONS If you decide to arrive in the host city the day before the pageant event or choose to stay the night after the final competition, Hotel information for you and your family and friends will be available on the state web site by clicking “Competition” on the homepage; and then clicking “Host City”. Any additional info will be provided in the Contestant Final Packet approximately 2-3 weeks prior to the pageant. 4. DEADLINES Each contestant has her own deadlines. Pay attention to yours only and put them on your calendar immediately. Pay by money order, check, or credit card. Checks are to be made payable to: VANBROS and Associates, Inc. Please mail all paperwork to the office. VANBROS: 15200 Santa Fe Trail Drive, Suite 201, Lenexa, KS 66219. There will be a $30.00 returned check fee. Please, no two party checks. If the checks are made to you, please write one check for that amount out of your checking account. Do not send cash through the mail! You may pay the full amount before your deadline if you wish. If you need more time to meet your deadlines, call us! We will work out an extension and/or payment plan. For your convenience, we have included a credit card form so that, if you choose, you may pay your fees with Visa, Mastercard, and Discover through our office. You may also pay online through PayPal by clicking on the “Online Payment” button on your state website. We can accept major credit cards, debit cards and checking account payments through PayPal. Never have a sponsor mail their check directly to the office; it creates confusion if it’s labeled incorrectly. 5. THIRD PARTY VENDORS Individual companies will be contracted to make the official pageant video and photos. They are NOT employed by the pageant and are not associated with VANBROS. Questions or concerns will need to be directed toward the company contracted. VANBROS will not have any record of orders. Information for packages, photos, and videos will be included in your final packet, or will be available upon registration. If you need contact information following the pageant on a particular vendor, it can be found in your program book. VANBROS will also provide information regarding your preparation for the State Pageant. We provide this information at the request of past contestants. However, we do not endorse, nor are we responsible for, any services, training, or purchases. Please note that a contestant does not need previous pageant experience, nor is professional training required to do well in the pageant. Keylee Sue Sanders (KS), Marissa Whitley (MO), and Stevi Perry (AR) all three won the national MISS TEEN USA Pageant without any previous pageant experience prior to the state pageant they won. 6. WHAT IF I WIN? Be prepared...it could happen to YOU! If you win, your life will change forever. The most exciting year of memories and experiences will begin. You will need to stay overnight following the pageant in a hotel room provided by Vanbros and Associates. You will have your titleholder orientation, sign your appearance contracts, and take your official photos the next day. You may return home Monday afternoon.. 7. WHAT DO I DO IF I DECIDE TO WITHDRAW? DEADLINES ARE SET TO ENSURE THAT YOUR FEES ARE PAID; AND, ALL YOUR PERSONAL AND SPONSOR INFORMATION IS INCLUDED IN OUR PROGRAM BOOKS AT THE TIME OF PRODUCTION. If you need an extension, we will gladly work with you. However, if deadlines are missed for any reason, without advance notification, we can no longer guarantee that your sponsor info, bio info, photos, hotel room, etc., will be reserved and/or included. NO EXCEPTIONS. Should you decide to withdraw from the competition, please notify us IMMEDIATELY! At that point, any amount of money you or your sponsor has paid will be forfeited completely and will not be refunded for any reason. Any payment you’ve made cannot be transferred to any other contestant. Financial Requirements: Each contestant is responsibleSponsorship for paying a $495 entry fee, and for selling Informationone required ad page in the program book for $800. Just think, if you find 8 advertisers to simply buy a $100 spot on your page, you will have sold the whole page. Your advertisers can be friends, family, local businesses, your place of employment etc. In addition, once you have sold your required ad page, you can sell additional ad pages. You will owe the pageant office $400 for every additional ad page you purchase but you can sell the ad page to your sponsor at whatever price you choose. Selling extra ad pages is a way to reimburse yourself for your required fees and to raise extra spending money to use on your wardrobe and/or pageant preparations. You can also find sponsors who do not care about a specific amount of ad space, and you can choose to feature all of them on your required page! Who are Advertisers? They can be businesses, family, and friends. Some of the best advertisers are pizza parlors, pharmacies, car dealers, banks, dress shops, hairdressers, shoe stores, doctors, dentists, advertising agencies, public relations firms, shopping centers, hotels, resorts, amusement parks, modeling agencies, dance studios, fitness centers, fraternities, sororities, schools, restaurants, gas stations, radio stations, jewelry stores, real estate agents, specialty shops, insurance agencies, grocery stores, Chambers of Commerce, The Lions Club, The Jaycees, The Rotary Club, and any civic organization. That’s just the beginning…be creative! “Advertiser” Title Option: Once an applicant becomes a contestant, she will select a title under which she will compete in the State Pageant. These titles are assigned on a first-come, first-served basis. You can choose a title based on your hometown (Springfield, Ottawa, Champagne, Chicago, Naperville), your county (Cook County, DuPage County, Sangamon County), or a ‘catch phrase’ (Land of Lincoln, Chicagoland, Fighting Illini, Wildcat Nation, etc.). The other options are the city or county in which you work or attend school. Another option is to choose a title of the name of your biggest financial advertiser, an advertiser title; such as (Valley View Bank, Ed’s Car Repair, Omaha Chilli’s Restaurant, St. Joseph Hospital, Andover McDonald’s, Baron BMW, etc.) The option of having an advertiser title may help you in obtaining all or most of your fees for the pageant!! You can literally sell a business on representing them at the state pageant by having their business name as your title. Each time you are introduced or called in the pageant they will have their name advertised since contestants compete alphabetically by title. Finally, as you come back onstage in competition “review” groups you will be wearing your competition sash, and your sash will have your title on it as well. Not only will this be seen by the live audience in the house but by all of the viewers on the live worldwide webcast!! Choosing this option will require you to submit the title agreement form, signed by the business you are going to represent. If you don’t immediately have an advertiser title, no worries! You can choose a traditional city, county or catch phrase title to begin with and if you obtain an advertiser that you would like to change your title to; just let us know and we can do that for you!! Please remember, this title is for pageant competition purposes only and is not a title you won; therefore, it is not to be used for any appearances without prior written permission of the pageant office.