(Reuters) – When the contestants for the 2016 Miss America pageant took the stage in Atlantic City on Sunday night, they were greeted by two blasts from the past — and a new social media feature.
Singer and actress Vanessa Williams, the first African American to be crowned Miss America, was the contest’s lead judge 31 years after she was forced to resign her title over nude photos of her published in Penthouse magazine.
Williams went on to become the pageant’s most famous winner and her cultural cachet has arguably exceeded the contest that brought her to the national spotlight. Earlier this week she tweeted a photo of her crown, which she kept.
The pageant’s iconic song — the one that opens “There she is, Miss America” — also returned to the show for the first time since 2012, when its use was suspended due to an ongoing dispute with the estate of its author, Bernie Wayne.
For the first time this year, the public was allowed to use social media such as Twitter and Facebook to vote for the “America’s Choice” winner.
The social media innovation came as the 95-year-old pageant struggles to maintain its relevancy. Miss America returned to ABC in 2011 after years on cable television.
Last year, comedian John Oliver used a segment of his show Last Week Tonight to lambaste the Miss America Organization over its claim that it had provided $45 million in scholarships. As it turned out, the organization was counting scholarship offers made to contestants, not those that the contestants actually accepted, a discrepancy that wildly inflated the totals. This year, officials are out with a new figure. They say the pageant awards $5.5 million in scholarships.
Pageant judges score contestants from the 50 US states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the US Virgin Islands based on a talent competition, a personal interview, answers to an on-stage question, and appearance in gowns and swimsuits.
The pageant, which made its television debut more than six decades ago, is scheduled to be broadcast live on Sunday starting at 9 pm EDT on ABC.