Miss Teen USA is a beauty pageant that has been run since 1983 by the Miss Universe Organization for girls aged 14–19 years old as of January 1st of the competition year. They must be US citizens, and cannot have been married, pregnant, or have children. Like its sister pageant Miss USA, it is televised on The CW television network starting in 2024, after being streamed online for several years. Since 2026, the winner of Miss Teen USA represents the USA at Miss Teen Universe. The pageants are currently operated by Thom Brodeur.
Prior to 1983, a beauty contest bestowing the title of Miss Teen USA was first held in 1959 as a mail-in photo contest by Teen magazine.
It next became an annual live stage event through the 1960s and in 1983, the pageant began being produced annually as part of the Miss Universe family of pageants. It was broadcast live on CBS until 2002 and then on NBC from 2003 to 2007. In March 2007, it was announced that the broadcast of the Miss Teen USA pageant on NBC had not been renewed, and that Miss Teen USA 2007 would be the final televised event.
From 2008 to 2015, the pageant was held at the Atlantis Paradise Island Resort, located in Nassau, Bahamas. Since 2016, the pageant has been held in the United States once more, and since 2018, it is held concurrently with its sister Miss USA pageant in a single city a few days before the start of Miss USA final competition.
Notable pageant winners include actresses Kelly Hu (1985, Hawaii), Bridgette Wilson (1990, Oregon), Charlotte Lopez (1993, Vermont), Vanessa Minnillo (1998, South Carolina) and Shelley Hennig (2004, Louisiana).
The current Miss Teen USA is Kiran Reddy of Georgia, who was crowned on August 26, 2026 at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts in Miami, Florida.
History
1959 to 1982
1959
Prior to becoming part of the Miss Universe pageant system in 1983 and current ownership by Thom Brodeur, the title of "Miss Teen USA" was bestowed upon the winner of an annual competition in the United States from 1959 onward, with Peggy Collins, 17, of Lake Charles, Louisiana winning the honor that first year in a contest created by Teen magazine. Celebrity judges for the mail-in photo competition included Paul Newman, Robert Wagner, Shirley MacLaine, Janet Leigh, producer Jerry Wald, and fashion designer Edith Head.
1962 to 1968
The pageant continued from 1962 to 1968 which saw made debut as annual live stage event.List of Miss Teen USA titleholders (This list may be incomplete)
The 1962 Miss Teen USA was named at the Teen-Age Fair, a ten-day event, over the Easter holiday, in April, held at the Pacific Ocean Park in Santa Monica, California, which had 32 teenaged girls from across the United States participating and Linda Henning, a 15-year-old from Sioux Falls, South Dakota, was named Miss Teen USA for 1962. She was crowned by television comedian Soupy Sales.
Ohio teenager Judy Adams, 16, was Miss Teen USA for 1963. The four-day event was held at the Teen-Age Fair on the grounds of the 15-acre Pickwick Recreation Center in Burbank, California, with girls age 14 to 18 representing all 50 states competing. Pickwick Recreation Center was Gay's Pickwick Swim Park and is now called Pickwick Gardens.Teenager, Bonnie Seif, poses with surfboard to promote the annual Teen-Age Fair being held at the Pickwick Recreation Center located at 1001 Riverside Drive in Burbank. Photograph dated April 4, 1963.
The winner of Miss Teen USA 1964 was Nancy Spry of Van Nuys, California. Bob Eubanks hosted the televised 1964 pageant, with actor Sebastian Cabot one of the guests.
Singer Bobby Darin crowned 1965's Miss Teen USA in April, at the Hollywood Palladium, who was Susan Henning, an 18-year-old student attending Long Beach, California State College.Photograph caption dated April 17, 1965 reads, "Judy Castrucci, 16, Miss North Hollywood, JoAnne Wade, 18, Miss Encino, Joyce Babcock, 18, Miss Woodland Hills, and Karen Halber, 17, Miss Reseda, make a tour of the Teen Fair at the Hollywood Palladium. The fair ends tomorrow."
Miss Teen USA in 1966 was Cindy Lewis. The 1967 pageant was hosted by Sam Riddle and held at the Hollywood Palladium in March.
The pageant in 1968 was held on Saturday, April 13, 1968, in Hollywood and was won by Pamela Martin, 18, from Birmingham, Michigan.
In 1969, local "Miss Teen" winners in the western United States; for example, "Miss Teen Burbank," "Miss Teen Sherman Oaks," "Miss Teen Van Nuys," et al., competed in a regional competition for the title of "Miss Teen Western United States," with the winner earning a spot at the Miss Teen USA pageant, which was held on April 3, 1969, again at the Hollywood Palladium.
Before the Miss Teen USA pageant became part of the Miss Universe system in 1983, titleholders of "Miss Teen USA" in the 1960s either competed as contestants or made appearances at the annual Miss Teen International pageant in Hollywood.
1970 to 1979
The history of the Miss Teen USA pageant during the 1970s is less clear. The pageant in the late 1970s was moved to November and as a result the winner was crowned Miss Teen USA for the upcoming year rather than the year that had just past and in which the pageant was held.
In 1978, the pageant to select the 1979 titleholder was held in late November in Miami, Florida during the Thanksgiving holiday week.
In August 1979, the Associated Press wire service ran a multi-part newspaper series over three consecutive days on beauty pageants, which included Miss Teen USA. The series stated that a company called "Miss Teen USA Corp" was formed in 1979, which oversaw the national pageant and in-house and franchised state-level Miss Teen USA pageants. (part one of a three-part Associated Press series) (part two of a three-part Associated Press series) The Miss Teen USA pageant was registered in 1979 to operate under its trade name in the states of New Jersey and Virginia, according to the Burlington County, New Jersey Consumer Affairs Office, which had received inquiries from the public about the legitimacy of it and two other pageants, Miss U.S. Teen-age and Miss National Teen-age, the latter which was not registered but had held a pageant recently.
Included among the many state-level Miss Teen USA pageants in 1979 were Alaska, Hawaii, New Jersey, North Carolina, Tennessee, and West Virginia. (part three of a three-part Associated Press series) The winner in 1979 of the national Miss Teen USA title received a $15,000 scholarship, while state titleholders received a $500 scholarship.
1980 to 1982
Miss Teen USA for 1980 was Susan McDannold, 19, of St. Albans, West Virginia, who was crowned on December 1, 1979.
Miss Teen USA for 1981 was Tammy Jo Hopkins, 17, of Omaha, Nebraska, who was crowned on November 22, 1980, and who entered as 1980 Miss Nebraska Teen. (another view of clipping) (Yearbook full page article with three pageant photos of Hopkins wearing her "Miss Nebraska Teen" sash and crown. Quote: As Miss Nebraska Teen, Tammy Hopkins finds herself faced with a 'full-time' job. ... As Nebraska's representative, she participated in the national pageant held in New Mexico. Participated is quite an understatement considering that on November 22, she was our own Miss Teen U.S.A.") The Miss Teen USA pageant in late November 1980, in which Hopkins won the 1981 title, was held in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Tammy Jo Hopkins did not have a full year's reign as 1981 Miss Teen USA. She relinquished her crown and title to 1980 Miss Teen USA winner Susan McDannold after accepting a print modeling and TV commercial acting representation contract with a top model agency in New York City (as Tammy Hopkins). McDannold then completed the remainder of the title year as Miss Teen USA for 1981. Susan McDannold is the only Miss Teen USA to ever hold the title twice.
Hugrun Ragnarsson, 18, was crowned 1982 Miss Teen USA in late November 1981. After this pageant, the Miss Universe Organization decided to award the title for the year in which the pageant was held, so the next pageant, held during the summer of 1983 on August 30, was crowned the 1983 Miss Teen USA winner.
Miss Universe, Inc. filed a lawsuit on July 18, 1979, in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia, Atlanta Division, against the company running the late-1970s version of the pageant, Miss Teen U.S.A., Inc., for trademark infringement over a claimed similarity with its own "Miss U.S.A." pageant title and some of its related registered trademarks. The lawsuit, Miss Universe, Inc. v. Miss Teen U.S.A., Inc., resulted initially in an injunction being issued on March 25, 1980, ordering Miss Teen U.S.A., Inc. to cease holding future pageants with the name "Miss Teen U.S.A." so as not to confuse people with the "Miss U.S.A." pageant. The injunction was appealed but eventually upheld. The court ruling did not invalidate any past Miss Teen USA titleholders. Miss Universe, Inc. itself did not receive a U.S. trademark registration for "Miss Teen USA" until the next decade, in 1991 (see next section). The final winner of the Miss Teen USA title before the Miss Universe Organization began its own version of the pageant was the 1982 Miss Teen USA title won by Hugrun Ragnarsson.
1983 to present
A revised Miss Teen USA pageant, once again designed for television, was added to the Miss Universe system of pageants in 1983 by Miss Universe, Inc. which at the time was run by Harold Glasser, and was first broadcast live under that corporate ownership on the CBS television network on August 30, 1983.
Miss Universe, Inc., a California Corporation, filed a U.S. Trademark application for the service marks "Miss Teen USA" and "Miss Teen — U.S.A." on November 14, 1983, and, after eight years of proceedings and challenges by other pageants, was finally approved and registered on October 8, 1991. (registration certificate, Oct 8, 1991) (registration certificate, Oct 8, 1991)
2020s In 2015, the then owners of record, Miss Universe L.P., assigned all trademark rights to the names "Miss Teen USA," "Miss USA," "Miss Universe," and others, to IMG Universe, LLC. (Miss Universe, LLP to IMG Universe, LLC) The company IMG Universe, LLC, a subsidiary of IMG, manages the latter's pageant-related intellectual property and licensing agreements. IMG's parent company is Endeavor. The parent company of the Miss Universe Organization is also Endeavor.
In the summer of 2020, the Miss Universe organization and IMG Universe, LLC licensed future annual operation of the Miss Teen USA and Miss USA pageants to Crystle Stewart, who was Miss USA 2008. The first competitions of the licensed pageants under her directorship are the 2021 productions.
In October 2022, IMG assigned all trademark rights to the names "Miss Teen USA," "Miss USA," "Miss Universe," and others, to JKN Metaverse Inc., a subsidiary of JKN Global Group.
In August 2023, it was announced that Crystle Stewart had stepped down as president of the Miss USA Organization. She was replaced by fashion designer Laylah Rose.
On May 8, 2024, UmaSofia Srivastava, then Miss Teen USA 2023, resigned from her title, stating that her values no longer aligned with the direction of the organization. Her resignation came two days after the resignation of Miss USA 2023 Noelia Voight, and amid allegations of ill-treatment, abuse, and bullying within the Miss USA organization. The revelations came to light when Srivastava's mother, Barbara, addressed the issue on Good Morning America, suggesting her daughter's dream job had turned into a nightmare. Srivastava's first runner-up, Stephanie Skinner of New York, declined the position, and as a result, and the title remained vacant up until the 2024 competition.