NAM Miss Illinois Royalty works the toy drive for Christmas!

National American Miss Illinois Princess Imani Muse and her sister, Illinois Jr.
Pre-Teen Cover Girl Isis Graham spent their Friday night with the ladies of Zeta Phi Beta Sorority Inc at their Annual Toy Drive. The Toy Drive took place at Fuddruckers in Calumet City, Illinois. There were over 275 toys collected to be donated to sick children in Laribida and Children's Memorial Hospital in the Chicago area. Isis & Imani helped donate, collect and pack "Toys for X-mas!" They ended the night by handing out candy canes to children that were in attendance while wishing them a "Merry X-mas!"

Merry Christmas NAM Style

And the award for my favorite Christmas card received this year goes to....... The Renard Family in Washington! Nicole just gave up her title as your National Pre-Teen All-American Queen and Victoria just started working as a choreographer for NAM. As you can tell from the picture on the card, the entire family is a lot of fun!

The first picture is of Nicole and myself at the Tri-Cities Family Expo where we had a National American Miss booth last year - we were competing in the flying kangaroo game. For the record, I'm pretty sure I won!

Merry late Christmas to everyone and a happy new year.

National American Miss (Meg's Blog)

I clipped this from a contestants NAM Blog - check it out at:

National American Miss (Meg's Blog): "Pageant Season Starts in just a few months

Its official =) The national pageant in California is over and in just a few months state pageants will begin! well let me start with introducing myself. my name is Meg S i have been in the Nam family for over 4 years! i have finished in the top 15 in the pre teen Ohio pageant for the past 3 years, i have won many other awards! i love hanging out with all my Nam sisters and my favorite host joy soprano! i am with my friend Skylar (left)in the picture below. i have done a few commercials for Bobb Webb."

NAM National Queens Raising Money for a Good Cause!

- PRESS RELEASE-

Amber Aduja’s (National American Miss Queen 2010) First Lokahi Giving Project Fishnet Drive was very successful. 10 year old Amber, a St. Ann’s Model School 5th grader, coordinated a Lokahi Fishnet Drive and garnered $1312.00 in donations from our Kaneohe community within 4 hours. Her pageant sisters and their moms, her brother and his teammates, and other volunteers, even a couple of passerbyers, chipped in their time for a worthy cause. One woman, who is homeless, tirelessly held the Lokahi Fishnet for over three hours and was willing to hold it for another two hours while the rest of us were breaking down. This was a very touching scenario of goodwill and charity. This is what Lokahi is all about. Our community coming out for our community in need is what “Lokahi” a.k.a. “Unity” is all about.

Amber Aduja has scheduled a second Lokahi Fishnet Donation Drive for December 23rd and she is in need of more volunteers. Come join us. We will have T-shirts, fishnets and refreshments for you. Contact Melodie at 258-8889 or just meet in front of First Hawaiian Bank at the Windward City Shopping Center at 11:30 a.m.

The Lokahi Giving Project in conjunction with Kaneohe resident, Amber Aduja, National American Miss Jr. Pre-Teen Queen; former state senator Melodie Aduja; Jadyn Wilderman, Hawaii’s Miss Grand Queen; Rose Marques, Hawaii’s Pre-Teen Miss Queen; New Media Productions; Kaneohe Football and Basketball team players; 12 Step House and its members; and other volunteers will be conducting their 2nd Fishnet Gift and Donation Drive at the Kamehameha and Likelike – Kaneohe Bay Drive intersection fronting Windward City Shopping Center on Wednesday, December 23, 2009, from 12:00 noon to 5:00 p.m. Volunteers are to meet at 11:30 a.m. at the First Hawaiian Bank parking lot.

The Lokahi Giving Project strives to spread the “Lokahi Spirit” (Unity Spirit) with families in need, senior citizens, at-risk teens, children with special needs, and groups who really need some holiday cheer and basic necessities during the Christmas season. Lokahi works in conjunction with non-profits, group homes, shelters and hospitals to refer their most deserving and needy clients to receive Lokahi’s assistance.

The Lokahi Giving Project accepts many types of donated items including new or gently used linens, toiletries, cleaning products, non-perishable foods stuffs, toys, games, clothing and other household items. Gift cards for groceries or department stores are highly desired. Volunteers are in high demand during this time as well. For more information on the Windward City Donation Drive, please contact Melodie Aduja at 258-8889. For more information on the Lokahi Giving Project, please contact Mariellen Jones at 685-7721 or Angela Parker at 685-7333.

Miss California Jr. Teen Setting a Solid Example

Now that all of our girls are back home from Nationals over Thanksgiving holiday, they are all getting fired up for the new year and making some great appearances! Over the next few days I have some great pics to share from your NAM Southern California Jr. Teen Queen, Crystal Navarrette.
The first picture if of her visiting the Mayor which she says was the first thing on her agenda after winning the title. She described the next two pictures in her e-mail to me: "I have volunteered and will continue working with the Ronald McDonald House Org., I spent my Halloween setting up a party for the children at the hospital and spending the evening with them."

As Directors we are so proud to see our girls out there making a difference like this. These appearances make a huge impact on the young kids they visit. If you know Crystal you know that she is fantastic role model and exactly the kind of girl we need out there setting an example for others to follow.

NAM 2009 National Pageant Results

National American Miss 2009 National Pageant Title Winners

Here are the results of the annual national pageant, held Thanksgiving Week of 2009 at the beautiful Hyatt Regency Orange County, in Anaheim, California!

• Princess
• Junior Pre-Teen
• Pre-Teen
• Junior Teen
• Teen
• Miss

Congratulations to all of the families that qualified to attend the NAMiss National Pageant and to our new National Title Holders!

Miss California at the City Council Meeting in Corona, CA

This is a fun video about your Miss California Pre-Teen Queen Taylor Longbrake; her father put it together to play when Taylor will do the pledge of allegiance and sing the National Anthem for the City of Corona at the City Council Meeting this week. Hopefully we will be able to get some pictures after the meeting. Check out the video, go Taylor!!

NAM Miss California Princess volunteers at her local Relay for Life

These are great pictrues of Jaylianna Twardecki, your NAM Northern California Princess Queen. Her mom gave me the run down on this great event she volunteered at:

"A few weekends ago, Jaylianna had the opportunity to volunteer at our community Relay for Life. She helped decorate, fill with sand, and line up memory bags along the trail. $10 per bag donations went to the American Cancer Society. It was a really hot day, Jaylianna worked really hard! I was really proud of her :) She learned about helping other people. I learned that even at 5 years old, she can make a difference! I am thankful we found the NAMISS pageant, it has made me realize that even children can get out and help in the community :)"

Very kind words Mom, the credit goes back to you and your amazing daughter! Keep up the good work and great job representing NAM!

Miss California 4th-Runner up competes at Nationals

These are some fun pictures from the Doss family out in California of Nationals 2009. The first pic is Jennifer Doss (Miss Clayton; she was 4th runner-up at the NAMiss Northern California Teen Pageant) with fellow California competitors on stage after the 70's theme party. The second picture is with me, your faithful State Director, Brian Cournoyer! Jennifer made it into the NAM Band as the Drummer and performed to Taylor Swifts "Picture to Burn." If you haven't seen the video check it out at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HWwgKFS3Xv8&feature=player_embedded

Note that another CA girl, Southern CA Teen Queen Danielle Walker was the singer in the band! Way to represent CA!

The third picture is Jennifer with two new friends at Nationals as they got ready for Formal Wear. I love the dresses; everyone looked fantastic. Jennifer's Mom Debbie shared an update on what's going on with Jennifer right now:

"Jennifer had a blast being selected as the drummer in the all girl band!! What fun times, hope you guys enjoyed it too? Jennifer is concentrating on her application process to get into UA’s Eller Business School, they only can apply 1x at the beginning of their sophomore year (Feb) and they only select 20-25% of the applicants. Acceptance is judged solely on gpa, interview*, recommendations. Namiss has helped her prepare for this moment in the spotlight and we’re grateful for this!!"

Good luck with the application Jennifer, please let us know how it all turns out! I know you can pull it off, your NAM family is behind you all the way!

NAM Car Giveaway at Nationals 2009!!

If you were there, you know how much fun this day was!! At this years National American Miss National Pageant we had the opportunity to give away a brand new, 2010, Ford Mustang convertible! It was so much fun! Every state finalist from the 2009 NAM season was eligible to win, they just had to be there at the show to be a part of the drawing.

Here is the video from the second half of the drawing. We were outside the Hyatt Orange County, just down the road from Disneyland. It was a beautiful Thanksgiving Day; we gave away the Mustang and then everyone went inside for a fantastic black-tie Thanksgiving banquet. What a day!

Car giveaway Part 1:


Car giveaway Part 2:

NAM Miss California pics from Nationals '09

Here are a bunch of great photo's from Kylie Kucinski, your Northern California NAM Teen Queen. She did a great job at Nationals last week; wait until I get a picture of her in her football pads for the Actress competition, it's was pretty cool. :-)

This first pic is of Kylie with our WA Teen Queen Victoria Knight as they get ready for Casual Wear. There are a few pictures of Kylie with Miss Alabama, the two them became fast friends during the week long competition. A great group shot of our California crew in the pink interview suit and yes, that is indeed Snoop Dogg! (or at least a great wax statue of him!)

Not to be left out, that's Ken Cooper getting ready to escort Kylie for formal wear. You all remember Vannie and Sarah Cooper, both former Miss California's for NAM - thanks for being there Coop, you actually look alright once you get cleaned up! :-) The last picture is a fun group shot from the girls day at Disneyland. All-in-all, the week was a huge success!

NAM Miss California Pre-Teen Taylor Longbrake at Nationals

Wow, National 2009 was awesome!! Within the next few days we should have all of the event results posted on namiss.com and available for everyone to see. We are so proud of all the families that were there and in particular the girls from our states! (CA, IN & WA! - great job ladies)

We received some great pictures from the Longbrake family in California. Taylor is our fantastic Southern California NAM Pre-Teen Queen. Taylor pulled off 1st-runner up in the overall pageant-wow! Congratulations one more time Taylor, that is huge!! Check out this picture when it was down to the last two girls and we were waiting to find out who was the winner and who was the first runner-up. Remember that the reigning National Pre-Teen Queen, Tierra Gonzalez-Hammonds was also from Southern California so we almost had back-to-back winners!

The other two pics are the Longbrake family during the Thanksgiving banquet and Taylor at Disneyland; always have to get a good pic from Disney! Enjoy - more nationals pictures and video's in the days to follow.