Miss Teen USA 2020

Miss Teen USA 2020 was the 38th Miss Teen USA pageant. Originally scheduled to be held in spring 2020, the competition was postponed indefinitely due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It was later rescheduled for November 7, 2020, at the Exhibition Centre and the Soundstage at Graceland in Memphis, Tennessee.^[1] Kaliegh Garris of Connecticut crowned Ki'ilani Arruda of Hawaii as her successor at the end of the event.^[2] The competition was hosted by Allie LaForce and Miss USA 2019 Cheslie Kryst.

Miss Teen USA 2020
Date	November 7, 2020
Presenters	Allie LaForce Cheslie Kryst
Venue	Graceland, Memphis, Tennessee
Broadcaster	Facebook PlayStation Network YouTube
Entrants	51
Placements	16
Winner	Kiʻilani Arruda Hawaii
← 2019 2021 →

The competition marked the first year that a new crown made by luxury jeweler Mouawad was used at Miss Teen USA, effectively retiring the Mikimoto Crown.^[3]

For a third consecutive year, the competition was held concurrently alongside the Miss USA competition. This was the last Miss Teen USA to be organized by Miss Universe Organization before being split into its separate organization beginning in Miss Teen USA 2021.

Background

Location

On August 30, 2020, Graceland announced on their schedule that the competition would be held on November 7 on their premises in Memphis, Tennessee.^[4] The MUO later confirmed that the competition will be hosted at Graceland the following day.^[1]

This was the first time the competition has been hosted in Tennessee since Miss Teen USA 1984 was also held in Memphis.

Hosts

On October 22, it was announced that the competition would be hosted by Allie LaForce and Cheslie Kryst. LaForce formerly was crowned Miss Teen USA 2005, and has worked as a sports reporter for Fox and Turner Sports, while Kryst was crowned Miss USA 2019 and serves as a correspondent for Extra.^[5]

Selection of contestants

51 delegates from the 50 states and the District of Columbia are selected in state pageants which began in September 2019 and ended in February 2020.

Pageant

Preliminary round

Prior to the final competition, the delegates competed the preliminary competition, which the judges and a presentation show where they competed in swim wear and evening gown. It was held on November 6 at Graceland Exhibition Center and the Soundstage in Memphis and hosted by Kryst and Garris.^[6]

Broadcasting

The pageant was livestreamed on the Miss Universe Organization's social media channels and on PlayStation 4 consoles as a live event on the U.S. PlayStation Store, while an encore presentation of the pageant was available via catch-up from November 12–15.^{[citation needed]}

Judges

• Danielle Doty Fitzgerald – Miss Teen USA 2011 from Texas^[7]
• Sara Echeagaray – social media personality and TikToker^[7]
• Nia Franklin – Miss America 2019 from New York^[7]
• K. Lee Graham – Miss Teen USA 2014 from South Carolina^[7]
• Iman Oubou – scientist, entrepreneur, and medical missionary^[7]

Contestants

State or district titleholders were:^[8]

State	Contestant	Age[a]	Hometown	Placement	Notes
Alabama	Katie Watts[9]	15	Mobile
Alaska	Jadyn Fraser[10]	19	Fairbanks
Arizona	Molly Schwanz	19	Scottsdale	Top 16
Arkansas	Anna Claire Hay[11]	17	Siloam Springs	Top 16
California	Zoe Hunt[12]	18	Coronado	Top 16
Colorado	Yashi Uppalapati	18	Colorado Springs
Connecticut	Samantha Sarelli[13]	18	Westport	Top 16	Later Semi-finalist at Miss Connecticut USA 2023
Delaware	Samantha Repass	19	Lewes
District of Columbia	Sydney Jackson	19	Clinton, MD
Florida	Rylie Spicker[14]	19	Fort Myers
Georgia	Shayla Jackson[15]	18	Valdosta	2nd Runner-Up
Hawaii	Kiʻilani Arruda[16]	18	Kapaʻa	Miss Teen USA 2020
Idaho	Sabrina Ripley[17]	19	Boise
Illinois	Victoria Rhemrev[18][19]	18	Long Grove
Indiana	Jinnie Tomes	19	Fishers
Iowa	Hailey Parton	18	West Des Moines
Kansas	Cyara Heredia Ruiz[20]	19	Liberal
Kentucky	Mattie Barker[21]	18	Bowling Green
Louisiana	Sydney Taylor[22]	19	Livingston	4th Runner-Up	Later Miss Louisiana USA 2024[23]
Maine	Grace Morey[24]	17	Deer Isle	Top 16
Maryland	Heavyn McDaniels[25]	18	Silver Spring
Massachusetts	Annika Sharma[26]	19	Newton		Later Miss Massachusetts USA 2023
Michigan	Aneesa Sheikh[27]	18	Bloomfield Hills		Later Miss Grand Pakistan 2022
Minnesota	Gwendolyn Buchanan	19	Duluth
Mississippi	Zoe Bigham[28]	18	Maben
Missouri	Holly McDowell	16	Lee's Summit
Montana	Morgan Pierce[29]	17	Lewistown
Nebraska	Audrey Eckert[30]	18	Lincoln	3rd Runner-Up
Nevada	Montana Cencarik[31]	18	Las Vegas
New Hampshire	Samantha Lemay[32]	17	Deerfield
New Jersey	JaeLynn Polanco	16	Bergenfield	Top 16
New Mexico	Isabella Bizzell[33]	18	Los Lunas
New York	Maya Dominguez[34]	18	Yonkers
North Carolina	Peyton Brown	19	Dunn	Top 16
North Dakota	Amanda Higginbotham[35]	19	Grand Forks
Ohio	Lily McLaughlin[36]	18	Zanesville	Top 16
Oklahoma	Danika Christopherson[37]	19	Lawton	Top 16	Later Miss Oklahoma USA 2024[38]
Oregon	Shayla Montgomery	18	Portland	1st Runner-Up	Later Miss Oregon USA 2024
Pennsylvania	Kiara Lin[39]	18	Cranberry Township
Rhode Island	Sofia Ledoux[40]	17	Cranston
South Carolina	Gracen Grainger	19	Hamer	Top 16	Later Miss South Carolina USA 2024
South Dakota	Izabel Kreger[41]	18	Canton
Tennessee	Ansley Ecker[42]	19	Atoka	Top 16
Texas	Anissa Mendez[43]	18	Laredo
Utah	Brooklyn Baton	19	Brigham City
Vermont	Kiera Pipeling[44]	18	West Rutland
Virginia	Amya Caldwell	16	Ashburn
Washington	Marianne Bautista[45]	18	Renton
West Virginia	Sophia Martino	19	Bridgeport
Wisconsin	Olivia Lulich[46]	18	Lyndon Station
Wyoming	Baylee Drewry[47]	17	Greybull		Later 1st runner-up at Miss Wyoming USA 2022

Notes

1. Ages at the time of the pageant