BECOME A CANDIDATE
Become a candidate
Each year young women participate at the local level, culminating in the selection of over 20 local finalists who compete for the title of Miss New Jersey. One of them could be you!
Miss New Jersey leads to a chance to become Miss America. To become Miss America a candidate must first enter and win a local competition and then compete to represent her state—a process requiring hard work, talent, and personal commitment. As a state titleholder, a contestant may only compete once at the national competition. Work hard, win a local, advance to become Miss New Jersey, and who knows, maybe one day that could be you!
Why enter? Because you can…
- Gain valuable experience and develop life skills (e.g. interview skills, public speaking, interpersonal communication, social interaction, etc.)
- Earn quality scholarship funds for college and graduate school, regardless of whether a title is won
- Find new interests and discover new opportunities
- Make lifelong friendships and relationships
- Learn to set goals, follow them through and exceed your expectations
- Develop a sense of responsibility for helping others
- Foster a positive, self-motivated mindset to achieve your goals
- Receive recognition for your efforts in bettering yourself and your community
Where to start
To become a contestant, you must:
- Be 18 by July 31 and no older than 25 by December 31st (for the Miss)
- Be between the ages of 13 to 18 (for the Teen)
- Be a United States citizen
- Meet residency requirements for competing in a certain city or state
- Meet character criteria as set forth by the Miss New Jersey Education Foundation
- Be in reasonably good health to meet the job requirements
- Be able to meet the time commitment and job responsibilities as set forth by the local, state and national competition(s) in which you compete
Get started today!
Step 1) Each Candidate (Miss & Teen) needs to register using the following link:
Click Here to Complete the Miss America Program Registration
Step 2) After you pay the $35 registration fee (Miss & Teen), you will receive a receipt and the State Executive Director will receive an email with your name and contact information.
Step 3) You will receive a welcome letter in the form of an email along with a link to the local competition registration form.
Step 4) Fill out that registration form and pay $75 if competing in the Miss division (Teen division candidates should use discount code: TEENLOCAL). You will receive a receipt and then be eligible to compete in the local competition.
Step 5) You will additionally receive the MAO State & Local Candidate Agreement from a member of our organization. Once completed, this contract can be submitted either in-person at the local orientation OR scanned and uploaded here.
If you have any other questions, please contact us below.
