Payton May Crowned 2020 Miss America's Outstanding Teen

ORLANDO, Fla., July 29, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Payton May of Vancouver, Washington, was named 2020 Miss America's Outstanding Teen Saturday night at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando. The new Miss America's Outstanding Teen was crowned by outgoing MAOTeen London Hibbs.

Payton accepted the crown and a $30,500 scholarship toward her college education provided by The Harris Rosen Foundation and the Orlando Scholarship Organization, Inc. The 17-year-old resides in Vancouver, Washington, where she attends Skyview high school.  Her platform is to encourage people to register to vote.  An accomplished singer, she performed "Somewhere Over the Rainbow." 

"From its beginnings, MAOTeen has focused on supporting and inspiring young women through scholastic achievement, healthy living and community involvement," said MAOTeen Chair of the Board of Directors Donna Bozarth. "All of the commitment and perseverance that the state titleholders have shown during competition reflects the hard work and community outreach efforts they have accomplished in their hometowns.  We congratulate them all and look forward to many exciting things in store for Payton throughout the upcoming year."

Miss America's Outstanding Teen will also act as the official National Teen Goodwill Ambassador for Children's Miracle Network Hospitals, a non-profit organization dedicated to saving and improving the lives of children by raising funds for children's hospitals.

The first runner-up was Miss Arizona's Outstanding Teen, Katelyn Cai, who earned a $10,000 scholarship.

Second runner-up honors and a $7,500 scholarship were awarded to Miss Kentucky's Outstanding Teen, Landry Feldmeier.

Third runner-up and the winner of a $5,000 scholarship was Miss Tennessee's Outstanding Teen, Taylor Parsons.

The winner of a $2,000 scholarship and fourth runner-up was Miss Missouri's Outstanding Teen, Shae Smith.

Miss Idaho's Outstanding Teen, Kaila Yacuk, was the winner of America's Choice, an online competition where viewers were given the opportunity to vote for their favorite Miss America's Outstanding Teen contestant and guarantee the contestant a spot as a semi-finalist and a $1,000 scholarship. She became the 15th semi-finalist to compete in the finals.

About Miss America's Outstanding Teen

Miss America's Outstanding Teen, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, is one of the nation's leading achievement programs. The MAOTeen organization encourages positive achievement by helping to nurture and build the scholastic achievement, creative accomplishment, healthy living and community involvement of our nation's young women. MAOTeen provides educational scholarships for deserving young people and has developed mentoring programs and community-based initiatives across the country. Miss America's Outstanding Teen has a long-standing relationship with Children's Miracle Network Hospitals; through this partnership, MAOTeen contestants raise over $450,000 annually to help improve the lives of CMNH children and families. Additional information about Miss America's Outstanding Teen can be found at www.maoteen.org.

Media Contact: Ellen Langas, NouSoma Communications 610-658-5889; [email protected]

SOURCE Miss America's Outstanding Teen