# Miss Grand USA

Miss Grand USA, also referred to as Miss Grand United States of America, is an annual female beauty pageant in the United States, founded in 2016 by a Dominican-American businessperson, Chantel Martínez, aiming to select the country representative for Miss Grand International, which is an annual international beauty pageant promoting World Peace and against all kinds of conflicts.
The Miss Grand USA organization has been franchising the state competitions to individual organizers since 2016, which in some cases are responsible for more than one state. Each U.S. state must choose a candidate who competes at the national Miss Grand USA pageant, however, delegates may be appointed state or regional titles if a state pageant is not offered in their area.
The United States holds a record of 4 placements at Miss Grand International, the highest position was first place, won in 2020 by Abena Appiah of New York, followed by the third and fourth runners-up by Sthephanie Miranda and Michelle León in 2023 and 2016, respectively.

## History

The United States has been participating at Miss Grand International since its inception in 2013. Under the management of Earth Pageant Productions during 2013 – 2015, the first two country representatives were appointed to join the international event without organizing the contest while the last one obtained the title through the Miss Earth United States 2015, two of them, Blair Griffith and Lauren Petersen, were placed among the top 20 finalists in 2013 and 2015, respectively.
After Chantel Martínez, a New York-based Dominican-American fashion model, acquired the franchise in 2016, she eventually ran the first contest of Miss Grand USA to determine a winner for the international stage. The event was held at Leonard Nimoy Thalia of Symphony Space in New York City, featuring 13 national finalists, of whom Michelle León from the host state was announced the winner. León also obtained the fourth runner-up title after participating in the 2016 Miss Grand International contest in Las Vegas, Nevada. Later in 2018, Martínez scheduled to organize the 2018 contest on May 28 in New York, but lost the franchise to Israel Silva and Hernan Rivera of H&I Grand Productions LLC, the Chicago-based event organizer that owned and ran the Miss Grand USA beauty contest from 2019 to 2023. The license was then transferred to an e-commerce company, Protagonist Live LLC, in early 2024, with former Miss Grand Ireland 2023, Rachel Slawson, as the president.
Since its establishment, the pageant, originally programmed to be held on 31 August, was canceled once in 2020 due to the significantly increased of COVID-19 infection cases in the country, the organizer then decided to appoint a Ghanaian American model Abena Appiah to instead compete at the international stage in Thailand, where she won the contest, making her the first American representative to hold such a title and the first black contender to do so.

## Editions
### Location and date

The following list is the edition detail of the Miss Grand USA contest, since its inception in 2016.
| Year | Edition | Date | Final venue | Host State | Entrants |
| 2016 | 1st | 28 May | Leonard Nimoy Thalia, Symphony Space, New York City | New York | 13 |
| 2017 | 2nd | 25 Jul | Leonard Nimoy Thalia, Symphony Space, New York City | New York | 17 |
| 2019 | 3rd | 11 Aug | Lincolnshire Marriott Resort, Lake County | Illinois | 28 |
| 2021 | 4th | 20 Jun | Joe's Live Rosemont, Rosemont | Illinois | 18 |
| 2022 | 5th | 23 Jun | Copernicus Center, Chicago | Illinois | 12 |
| 2023 | 6th | 17 Aug | Crowne Plaza Chicago O'Hare Hotel & Conference Center | Illinois | 25 |
| 2024 | 7th | 12 Aug | Club M2, Miami | Florida | 19 |
| 2025 | 8th | TBA | | | |

### Competition results

| Year | Result | Result | Result | Result | Result | Ref. |
| Year | Miss Grand United States | 1st runner-up | 2nd runner-up | 3rd runner-up | 4th runner-up | Ref. |
| 2016 | Michelle León (New York) | Heather Jorgensen (Illinois) | Melissa Martinez (Mississippi) | Not Awarded | Not Awarded | |
| 2017 | Taylor Kessler (California) | Brianna Key (Louisiana) | Alexi Gropper (Georgia) | Courtney Williams (Maryland) | Leidy Guzman (Rhode Island) | |
| 2019 | Emily Delgado (Nevada) | Alexandria Kelly (Michigan) | Que Demery (Florida) | Shiobhan Fraser (Georgia) | Stormy Keffeler (Washington) | |
| 2021 | Madison Callaghan (North Carolina) | Taylor Gipson (Tennessee) | Gennesis Padron (Atlantic) | Sydney Salinas (Texas) | Emily Argo (Illinois) | |
| 2022 | Emily DeMure (Colorado) | Mercia Stephens (Ohio) | Brooke Butler (Kansas) | Not Awarded | Not Awarded | |
| 2023 | Sthephanie Miranda (Great Lakes) | Samantha Keaton (Illinois) | Rachel Slawson (New York) | Francie Millan (Texas) | Mazzy Eckel (Washington) | |
| 2024 | Cora Griffen (Georgia) | Tiajah Elliott (New Jersey) | Victoria Oluwakotanmi (Illinois) | Andrea Valentina (Florida) | Giselle Burgos (Arizona) | |

## International competition

| Year | Delegate | Original National Title | Competition Placement | Special Awards | National director(s) |
| 2013 | Blair Griffith | Miss Grand United States 2013 | Top 20 | — | Evan L. Skow |
| 2014 | Sara Platt | Miss Grand United States 2014 | Unplaced | — | Evan L. Skow |
| 2015 | Lauren Petersen | Miss Grand United States 2015 | Top 20 | — | Evan L. Skow |
| 2016 | Michelle León | Miss Grand United States 2016 | 4th Runner-Up | — | Chantel Martínez |
| 2017 | Taylor Kessler | Miss Grand United States 2017 | Unplaced | — | Chantel Martínez |
| 2018 | Paola Cossyleon | Appointed | Unplaced | — | Israel Silva & Hernan Rivera |
| 2019 | Emily Delgado | Miss Grand United States 2019 | Unplaced | — | Israel Silva & Hernan Rivera |
| 2020 | Abena Appiah | Appointed | Miss Grand International 2020 | — | Israel Silva & Hernan Rivera |
| 2021 | Madison Callaghan | Miss Grand United States 2021 | Unplaced | — | Israel Silva & Hernan Rivera |
| 2022 | Emily DeMure | Miss Grand United States 2022 | Unplaced | — | Israel Silva & Hernan Rivera |
| 2023 | Sthephanie Miranda | Miss Grand United States 2023 | 3rd Runner-Up | — | Israel Silva & Hernan Rivera |
| 2024 | Cora Griffen | Miss Grand United States 2024 | Unplaced | — | Rachel Slawson |
| Note 1. ^α Previously Miss Colorado Teen USA 2006 and Miss Colorado USA 2011. 2. ^β Later Miss Texas USA 2020. 3. ^γ Also Miss Supranational Nevada 2019. 4. ^δ Previously Top Model of the World Ghana 2013, Miss Universe Ghana 2014 & Miss Earth Ghana 2019. 5. ^ε Previously Miss Colorado USA 2020. 6. ^ϝ Previously Miss Ohio USA 2020. 7. ^ζ Previously Miss Georgia USA 2021. |||||||

### Winner gallery

* Miss Grand USA 2024 Cora Griffen (Georgia)
* Miss Grand USA 2023 Sthephanie Miranda (Great Lakes)
* Miss Grand USA 2022 Emily DeMure (Colorado)
* Miss Grand USA 2021 Madison Callaghan (North Carolina)
* Miss Grand USA 2020 Abena Appiah (New York)
* Miss Grand USA 2015 Lauren Petersen (Virginia)
* Miss Grand USA 2014 Sara Platt (South Carolina)
* Miss Grand USA 2013 Blair Griffith (Colorado)

#### States by number of wins

List of states by number of Miss Grand USA wins :
| Number of wins | State | Years |
| 2 | Colorado | 2013, 2022 |
| 2 | New York | 2016, 2020 |
| 1 | North Carolina | 2021 |
| 1 | Nevada | 2019 |
| 1 | Illinois | 2018 |
| 1 | California | 2017 |
| 1 | Virginia | 2015 |
| 1 | South Carolina | 2014 |

## National finalists

The following list is the national finalists of the Miss Grand USA pageant, as well as the competition results.
| YearRepresented | 2016 | 2017 | 2019 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 |
| State, etc. ||||||||
| Alabama | | | Y | | | | |
| Alaska | | | Y | | | | |
| Arizona | | | 10 | Y | | Y | |
| Arizona | | | Y | Y | | Y | |
| Arkansas | | | | | | | |
| California | Y | | 16 | Y | 6 | 10 | 8 |
| Colorado | Y | | 16 | Y | | Y | 12 |
| Colorado | Y | | Y | Y | | Y | 12 |
| Connecticut | Y | Y | Y | | | | Y |
| Delaware | | | Y | | | | |
| District of Columbia | | | Y | Y | | 15 | |
| Florida | Y | 10 | | 10 | Y | 10 | |
| Georgia | | | | 10 | | 10 | |
| Hawaii | | | 10 | | | 10 | |
| Idaho | | | | | | | |
| Illinois | | 10 | Y | | | | |
| Indiana | | | | | | Y | |
| Iowa | | | | Y | | | |
| Kansas | | | Y | Y | | | |
| Kentucky | | | | Y | | | |
| Louisiana | | | Y | | Y | Y | Y |
| Maine | | | | | Y | | |
| Maryland | Y | | | 10 | | 15 | |
| Massachusetts | Y | 10 | Y | | | | Y |
| Michigan | | | | Y | | Y | |
| Minnesota | | | Y | Y | Y | | 12 |
| Mississippi | | 10 | 16 | Y | Y | | |
| Missouri | | | | Y | | Y | Y |
| Montana | | | | Y | | | |
| Nebraska | | | Y | | | | |
| Nevada | Y | Y | | Y | | Y | 12 |
| New Hampshire | | | | | | | |
| New Jersey | 5 | | 10 | | | 15 | |
| New Mexico | | | Y | | | Y | 12 |
| New York | | Y | 10 | 10 | 6 | | 8 |
| North Carolina | | | Y | | | Y | |
| North Dakota | | | | | | | |
| Ohio | | Y | Y | 10 | | Y | |
| Oklahoma | | | 16 | | | | |
| Oregon | | | 16 | Y | | | |
| Pennsylvania | 5 | | 16 | Y | Y | 10 | |
| Rhode Island | | | | Y | | | Y |
| South Carolina | | Y | Y | | | | Y |
| South Dakota | | | | | | | |
| Tennessee | | Y | Y | | | | |
| Texas | Y | 10 | 10 | | 6 | | 8 |
| Utah | | | | | | | |
| Vermont | | Y | | | | | |
| Virginia | | | Y | Y | | | Y |
| Washington | | | | Y | | | Y |
| West Virginia | | | | | | | |
| Wisconsin | | | | | | | |
| Wyoming | | | | | | | |
| Candidates with no affiliated state ||||||||
| Atlantic | | | | | | | |
| Great Lakes | | | | | | | |
| Mid-Atlantic | | | | Y | | Y | |
| New England | | | | | | Y | |
| North East | | | | Y | | 15 | |
| South Atlantic | | | | | | Y | |
| South East | | | | | | Y | |
| Tri-State | | | | | | 10 | |
| West Coast | | | | | | Y | |
| Total | 13 | 17 | 28 | 18 | 12 | 24 | 19 |
| Color keys  : Declared as the winner  : Ended as a 1st runner-up  : Ended as a 2nd runner-up  : Ended as a 3rd runner-up  : Ended as a 4th runner-up  A : Ended as a finalist, semifinalist or unplaced  × : Withdrew during the competition  × : No representative ||||||||