indosky
July 24th, 2007, 03:30 AM
Old news but here it goes.
Minnesota's Nora Ali wins AJM title
Posted by Dan Murtaugh, Staff Reporter July 01, 2007 12:05 AM
Categories: articles
John David Mercer/Press-Register
Minnesota's Nora Ali, middle, is swarmed by fellow contestants after she wins the 2007 America's Junior Miss competition.
http://blog.al.com/juniormiss/2007/06/large_ajmwinner1.jpg
A week ago, Minnesota's Junior Miss Nora Ali was being tossed into the Gulf of Mexico by a fellow contestant. Today, Ali reigns as the 50th Americas Junior Miss.
Ali, who is from Mendota Heights, a suburb south of St. Paul, won a $50,000 scholarship along with the America's Junior Miss medal Saturday night at the Mobile Civic Center. Including awards she won during the preliminary competitions, she will take home $54,000 for college from her two-week stay in Mobile.
Ali, who was dressed in a pink and gold Bengali dress, smiled and giggled as she walked across the stage carrying a bouquet of flowers after being named the winner. She squealed as her family climbed on stage and her fellow contestants swarmed her.
"If it wasnt for my mom and dad, I'd be sitting at home right now watching TV," she said. "I'd be watching this online."
http://blog.al.com/juniormiss/2007/06/small_ajmwinner3.jpg
John David Mercer/Press-Register
Nora Ali, America's Junior MissThat was a reference to the fact that this year's competition was webcast live on WPMI-NBC 15's Web site, a first for the 50-year-old scholarship program that draws high school seniors from each state.
Pennsylvania's Karin Tsai was the first runner-up and won a total of $30,000 in scholarships. Nevada's Chantel Hopper was second runner-up and will go home with $21,000.
Alabama's Mary Catherine McAnnally, Connecticut's Lexi Novak, Louisiana's Heather Badeaux, Vermont's Alexandra Larrow and Virginia's Rachel Gillette were the other five finalists. Each won a $5,000 scholarship Saturday to go along with other awards they won during preliminary competitions.
McAnnally also won the Spirit Award, which is voted on by all 50 contestants. The award carries with it a $1,500 scholarship.
The girls have been in Mobile since June 18. Between daily rehearsals, they took part in a luau with senior citizens, an oyster-eating competition and a softball game at Hank Aaron Stadium, and built sand sculptures and played in the surf at Dauphin Island.
It was there that Wisconsin's Kaila Mattson judo-tossed Ali into the Gulf of Mexico, prompting Ali to chase down Mattson and tackle her, sending both into the water again.
The competition, which almost folded two years ago after several sponsors backed out when it lost its national television deal, is broken down into five categories: scholastics, interview, talent, fitness and self-expression.
A panel of judges reviewed all the girls transcripts before the competition started to grade their scholastic achievements. On Wednesday and Thursday, each girl sat down for an interview with the judges. On Thursday and Friday, each girl performed her talent and a fitness routine and answered an on-the-spot question.
The top five girls in each category were given $1,000 scholarships Friday, and the top eight overall were named finalists tonight.
The finalists repeated their fitness, talent and self-expression performances Saturday before a crowd of about 2,000.
Ali donned a red dress with silver frills during her talent performance and gave a vigorous violin rendition of "Zigeunerweisen," by the Spanish composer Pablo de Sarasate.
Two other contestants performed instrumentals. Tsai played a piano rendition of Beethoven's "Moonlight Sonata" and Badeaux tickled the ivories to Nancy Faber's "Egyptian Rhapsody."
Three of the finalists gave vocal performances. McAnnally sang "For Good" from the play "Wicked," Larrow sang a bilingual rendition of "Time to Say Goodbye," and Novak sang George Gershwin's "Summertime."
Hopper performed a lyrical dance to "The Impossible Dream" from the musical "Man of La Mancha."
During the self-expression portion of the competition, the girls were each given a question and immediately had to respond. The questions ranged in difficulty. Novak, for example, was asked how she would fix the health care system to make sure every American had insurance.
"I would increase taxes so the government has more money to fairly distribute," she said.
Ali was asked what magazine cover she would like to appear on.
"Time magazine," she said. "The headline would be: Young woman surpasses Bill Gates as the greatest philanthropist in the world."
Minnesota's Nora Ali wins AJM title
Posted by Dan Murtaugh, Staff Reporter July 01, 2007 12:05 AM
Categories: articles
John David Mercer/Press-Register
Minnesota's Nora Ali, middle, is swarmed by fellow contestants after she wins the 2007 America's Junior Miss competition.
http://blog.al.com/juniormiss/2007/06/large_ajmwinner1.jpg
A week ago, Minnesota's Junior Miss Nora Ali was being tossed into the Gulf of Mexico by a fellow contestant. Today, Ali reigns as the 50th Americas Junior Miss.
Ali, who is from Mendota Heights, a suburb south of St. Paul, won a $50,000 scholarship along with the America's Junior Miss medal Saturday night at the Mobile Civic Center. Including awards she won during the preliminary competitions, she will take home $54,000 for college from her two-week stay in Mobile.
Ali, who was dressed in a pink and gold Bengali dress, smiled and giggled as she walked across the stage carrying a bouquet of flowers after being named the winner. She squealed as her family climbed on stage and her fellow contestants swarmed her.
"If it wasnt for my mom and dad, I'd be sitting at home right now watching TV," she said. "I'd be watching this online."
http://blog.al.com/juniormiss/2007/06/small_ajmwinner3.jpg
John David Mercer/Press-Register
Nora Ali, America's Junior MissThat was a reference to the fact that this year's competition was webcast live on WPMI-NBC 15's Web site, a first for the 50-year-old scholarship program that draws high school seniors from each state.
Pennsylvania's Karin Tsai was the first runner-up and won a total of $30,000 in scholarships. Nevada's Chantel Hopper was second runner-up and will go home with $21,000.
Alabama's Mary Catherine McAnnally, Connecticut's Lexi Novak, Louisiana's Heather Badeaux, Vermont's Alexandra Larrow and Virginia's Rachel Gillette were the other five finalists. Each won a $5,000 scholarship Saturday to go along with other awards they won during preliminary competitions.
McAnnally also won the Spirit Award, which is voted on by all 50 contestants. The award carries with it a $1,500 scholarship.
The girls have been in Mobile since June 18. Between daily rehearsals, they took part in a luau with senior citizens, an oyster-eating competition and a softball game at Hank Aaron Stadium, and built sand sculptures and played in the surf at Dauphin Island.
It was there that Wisconsin's Kaila Mattson judo-tossed Ali into the Gulf of Mexico, prompting Ali to chase down Mattson and tackle her, sending both into the water again.
The competition, which almost folded two years ago after several sponsors backed out when it lost its national television deal, is broken down into five categories: scholastics, interview, talent, fitness and self-expression.
A panel of judges reviewed all the girls transcripts before the competition started to grade their scholastic achievements. On Wednesday and Thursday, each girl sat down for an interview with the judges. On Thursday and Friday, each girl performed her talent and a fitness routine and answered an on-the-spot question.
The top five girls in each category were given $1,000 scholarships Friday, and the top eight overall were named finalists tonight.
The finalists repeated their fitness, talent and self-expression performances Saturday before a crowd of about 2,000.
Ali donned a red dress with silver frills during her talent performance and gave a vigorous violin rendition of "Zigeunerweisen," by the Spanish composer Pablo de Sarasate.
Two other contestants performed instrumentals. Tsai played a piano rendition of Beethoven's "Moonlight Sonata" and Badeaux tickled the ivories to Nancy Faber's "Egyptian Rhapsody."
Three of the finalists gave vocal performances. McAnnally sang "For Good" from the play "Wicked," Larrow sang a bilingual rendition of "Time to Say Goodbye," and Novak sang George Gershwin's "Summertime."
Hopper performed a lyrical dance to "The Impossible Dream" from the musical "Man of La Mancha."
During the self-expression portion of the competition, the girls were each given a question and immediately had to respond. The questions ranged in difficulty. Novak, for example, was asked how she would fix the health care system to make sure every American had insurance.
"I would increase taxes so the government has more money to fairly distribute," she said.
Ali was asked what magazine cover she would like to appear on.
"Time magazine," she said. "The headline would be: Young woman surpasses Bill Gates as the greatest philanthropist in the world."