LAS VEGAS – There may be more glitz for Miss America this year, but there’s less dough.
After losing its network television contract and moving to Las Vegas in search of a new glamorous look , the Miss America Organization has reduced the amount of scholarship money it awards its winners.
Miss America 2006 will receive a crown Saturday night but $20,000 less for school than her predecessor. And the total amount of scholarship prize money for the 52 contestants will drop this year by about 44 percent to $292,500. For the past four years, the pageant handed out about $528,500 at the national level, according to pageant officials.
“In the process of putting together our budget, we realized we needed to invest in rebranding and redistribute the funding,” said Art McMaster, the CEO of the Atlantic City, N.J.-based Miss America Organization.
The scholarship reductions are one of several recent moves McMaster has made in an attempt to keep the 85-year-old pageant afloat. The organization lost $1.7 million in 2004, due largely to a drop in television revenue from ABC, which later jettisoned the pageant from its lineup.