10 heads ready to wear crown

The Miss Seminole contest tonight is one of the Miss America preliminaries and offers a total of $4,800 in scholarship money.

By JULIANNE WU

© St. Petersburg Times, published February 24, 2001

SEMINOLE -- Ten contestants will vie for the crown of Miss Seminole 2001 at 7:30 p.m. today at Osceola High School. The current Miss Seminole, Kimberly Kolinski, will crown her successor.

The Miss Seminole Scholarship Pageant is an official Miss America preliminary contest. Miss Seminole 2001 will represent the local community in the Miss Florida Pageant in June. The state winner will compete in the Miss America pageant in September.

This year, Miss Seminole contestants will compete for $4,800 in scholarship money. The winner will receive $2,400, first runner-up gets $1,000, and second runner-up will receive $700. They will compete in four areas: talent (40 percent of the score), interview (30 percent), evening wear (15 percent), and physical fitness in swimsuit (15 percent).

Also, two non-finalists selected in the talent and interview categories each will receive $300. And the contestants will vote on Miss Congeniality, who receives a $100 U.S. savings bond.

Contestants include Heather Nagy, 17, and Katie Sara Mullis, 17, Seminole High School students; Jennifer Tuhro, 20, Seminole resident and St. Petersburg Junior College student; Stephanie Gregorio, 17, of Largo, a student at Indian Rocks Christian School. Also among the contestants are University of South Florida students Ellen DeSando, 21, of Redington Beach and Terra Bredeson, 22, of Palm Harbor; University of Florida students Melissa Conrad, 22, of Tarpon Springs and Shelby Ann Burns, 23, of St. Petersburg; Teryn Terese Rozales, 23, of St. Petersburg, an Eckerd College graduate; and Ranell Margarette Tinsley, 23, of St. Petersburg and a Stetson University graduate.

Henny Hlas, president and executive director of the Miss Seminole Pageant, said the Miss America organization awards more than $39-million in scholarship money annually at the local, state and national levels.

If you go

Tickets for tonight's Miss Seminole pageant can be purchased at the Osceola High School auditorium, 9751 98th St. N, Seminole, for $7. Part of the money goes to the Miss Seminole scholarship fund.

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