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My daughter recently participated in the USA National Miss New Jersey Pageant in September of 2012. She place second runner-up. She beat the winner in both runway and interview and two of the four judges gave her the higher score in evening wear. She had a 4 point lead over the winner, but lose by a 1/2 a point, because the one judge deducted 5 points, because she didn't like the print of her dress. Since she was so close and lose over a fashion choice and not because of her performance, we decided to inquire about her competing in another state and we were told that she could receive an appointed title. This is a title were you pay for your national fees and your issued a crown and sash with your title and you are added to the list of contestant for nationals. Well after conversing with the pageant's state director Gina Saratino, for over two months my daughter's fees were paid in full 495.00, plus $50.00 for processing. She was giving the title of Miss Central New Jersey Princess. I have written documentation that support my story. My daughter's coach was than notified by the national director Jackie Watson that this was a mistake and only 1st runner ups could be appointed queens. Mind you Ms. Watson was the one who approved her title in the first place. My eight year old daughter and I had already made an announcement to our close family and friends that she had been appointed this title. We also had been invited by the state director to participate in several charity events with other state queens and we committed to local events as well. Ms. Jackie Watson the national director has wrongful taken away my daughter's title. It is not our fault that she made an error. She is the director, so she should know better. It is an embarrassment to my daughter and our family to have to tell local charities that we are unable to commit to an event, because her title was taken away. She is eight years old and has worked for many organizations like Autism Speaks and she was heart broken by this news. My daughter’s coach pleaded with Ms. Watson to reconsider what she would be doing. A promise was made not only in words, but in writing. You can’t just go back on you word, especially when you are affecting the life of an eight year old child. Ms. Jackie Watson used the excuse that there pageant is fairly new, but ignorance is not an excuse. Bottom line a promise was made in writing and should be kept. Also I was told that my money had been reimbursed, but it took about 4 to 5 business days for it to actually show up. It was a complete waste of time and money to have gone through this. My daughter could have been competing and being involved in other pageants instead being falsely lead on by the directors of USA National Miss. She was told well holding this title she could not commit to any other system. This is a very unorganized pageant system. Ms. Jackie Watson the national director received emails from the coach asking her to no longer contact us and she has called my phone at least several times leaving messages harassing me. I don’t care if you are upset stop calling my home and leaving messages. We have asked you not too, but once again you don’t care how your actions affect others and you have no respect for people's households. USA National Miss is a bad pageant system and Jackie Watson is a terrible, rude and unorganized director. I suggest you look else where for you daughters. These people give all the good pageants a bad name.
P.S. My daughter is now a state title holder for another prestigious system that has been established almost twenty years. She is preparing for nationals in July. She has raised over a thousand dollars for Autism Speaks this fall and has participated in many local charity events and has an acting career. So USA National Miss lost big time, but it's not about that it's about the principal. Just, because my daughter has found success doesn't mean you get a free pass. You still need to be held accountable for your actions, period. We have contacted an attorney and are considering are options.
When I was originally contacted regarding this complaint, I assumed I was being contacted by the mother of the contestant. However, I later found out that even though during our correspondence I repeatedly referred to the contestant as “your daughter”, it was the contestant’s “coach” that had been communicating with me about this issue and pretending to be the mother. That is why I contacted you (the mom) and left two voicemails asking for you to return the call so I could discuss the matter with the appropriate person. As I work at a law firm, I can assure you that leaving a voicemail asking for a return phone call is not “harassment.” I have tried to contact you, so that I could speak to the proper person regarding this issue, which is the right thing to do. It is not appropriate for me to discuss this issue with anyone other than a parent – not a third party outsider such as a coach pretending to be the parent. That would be unprofessional to discuss a personal matter regarding a minor child with someone who is not the legal parent.
I will start by saying that your daughter did not win, nor did she place first runner up as you have acknowledged. All good pageants, organizations and businesses have rules, procedures and guidelines in place to maintain integrity and order. Our rule is that only the winner and first runner up at a state pageant are eligible to attend nationals. We have this rule to maintain the integrity of our state pageants. When I was first approached about your daughter’s appointed title, I was under the impression that she was the first runner up – which I have admitted was my mistake and misunderstanding. Upon learning that she was NOT the first runner up and therefore ineligible to compete at nationals, I apologized for the misunderstanding, explained our rules, and promptly refunded the money the same day. I also offered for your daughter to compete at the state pageant next year at NO COST. At no point was your daughter ever awarded a crown or sash with the appointed title, therefore, nothing was taken away from her. The money was refunded the same day through Paypal (please refer your complaint to Paypal if they took 4-5 days to reimburse your funds into your account as that has nothing to do with our office.)
As I explained to the “coach” and would have explained to you had I been given the opportunity to speak to you directly, it is very unfortunate that a misunderstanding on my part caused any disappointment to your daughter. USA National Miss did everything properly and honorably after learning of the mishap. We apologized for the misunderstanding, refunded the money, offered to pay your daughter’s state fees, and attempted to contact you, the legal parent of the contestant – instead of talking to a third party outsider. However, the facts remain that we are an organization founded upon the highest level of integrity and because we are founded on integrity we will not bend our rules, and I will not apologize for being an organization that stands on integrity. It would be unethical for us to give special treatment to your daughter by breaking our rules for her, while maintaining the rules for the rest of the contestants. That is not the way USA National Miss operates. We are one of the fastest growing national pageants in the country because we do everything with a high level of standards, excellence, fairness and integrity and are unwilling to compromise those values, as you were asking us to do.
I am hoping you can appreciate our stance to continue being a pageant based on this high level of fairness. Had your daughter won the state title, you would not be happy if other girls who competed against her were allowed to attend nationals even though our rules clearly state that only the winner and first runner up can do so.
In closing, USA National Miss does not have anything in our possession that belongs to you: all money was returned promptly, we have made a good faith effort to resolve the situation with the appropriate legal guardian, and have offered compensation for the misunderstanding by way of offering free entry to the state pageant, which was refused. May you govern your actions accordingly.
Good for you and shame on those people. I'm a former contestant and have never even heard of this pageant. This pageant won't last long and your daughter being successful is the best revenge.