What Is Miss UNA?

The Miss UNA Scholarship Pageant is an official preliminary for the Miss Alabama/Miss America Program. The Miss UNA Scholarship program has been a UNA tradition for over 45 years.

The pageant provides an opportunity for the university's young women to compete in the following categories for scholarship money and prizes. In the past 5 years, over $30,000 in scholarships and prizes have been awarded to the candidates.

Each young woman is encouraged and mentored to develop skills that will enrich her personal and professional life beyond her university experience. Miss University of North Alabama spends her year in service to the university and Shoals Area community. She promotes the platform of her choice, makes official appearances as a university representative, and represents the university at the Miss Alabama Scholarship Competition.

The following information is the proposed scoring values (subject to change per Miss America/Miss Alabama rules)

1. Private Interview with Judges

Wardrobe: Candidate’s Choice: Interview Attire

● Allows insight into the candidate’s ability to fulfill the responsibilities outlined in the job description and contract

● Provides the opportunity to learn as much as possible about the candidate’s qualities and attributes to fulfill the titleholder position

● Allows insight into the commitment to advance and execute on her social impact initiative and have a year of service - not celebrity

● Allows insight into the commitment to continue her education

● Allows insight into the ability to express and distinguish her beliefs and have a true knowledge of the world around her

● Ability to get sense of accomplishments above and beyond the resume

2. On Stage Interview/Social Impact Statement Competition

Wardrobe: Candidate’s Choice: Interviewing for the Job

● Advancing the same criteria as the private interview by bringing it on stage in an interactive energetic way to showcase each candidates’ intelligence, personality, charisma, and aptitude for the titleholder job

● Allows audiences to truly get to know the candidate

● Allows ability to see how these discussions take place in a public forum showcasing the greater ability to communicate., stage presence, commanding presence, and relatability

● Allows ability to judge first impression reaction

● Allows ability to determine if the candidate cannot simply answer the question asked, but build on a conversation from the private interview

● Allows the ability to see interactivity and discussion

● Allows the ability to see if candidate can serve as a role model and is reflective of her generation

● Note: On Stage Interview is a continuation of the private interview.

3. Red Carpet (Formerly Evening Wear)

Wardrobe: Candidate’s Choice: Red Carpet Glamour

● Allows a look into a how the candidate exhibits her own personal style, attitude, personality, grace, presence, and confidence while making her own statement about her mission for the job.

● Allows a look into composure, confidence, the attention she captures on the stage, her command of the stage, presence, and how she appears in the spotlight

● Allows ability to judge first impression reaction

● Allows a look at posture and carriage

● Allows a chance to hear a candidate’s presentation of her social impact initiative for social media in a different setting

● Cannot exceed 10 seconds

● May be staged with or without an emcee introduction

● Candidates presentation of social impact statement can be live or pre-recorded as determined by the State Organization and production - when the candidates reach a predetermined mark on stage, the sound person begins.

4. Talent

Wardrobe: Candidate’s Choice: Talent

● Allows insight into the candidate’s preparatory and performance skills

● Looks at selection of talent presentation, as well as the performance

● Looks at interpretive ability and technical skill level including execution, technique synchronization, and control

● Allows insight into stage presence and on-state personality

● Allows a look at the totality of the elements; Costume, Props, Music, Voice, Use of the Body, and Choreography

● Looks for how enjoyable and relatable the performance is