Night Three at Miss Volunteer America!

 
 

Preliminary Winners and Special Awards Announced at Night Three of Miss Volunteer America Pageant

Miss Maine Volunteer Taylor Burrell Earns Talent Honors; Miss Texas Volunteer Amanda Higginbotham Takes Fitness & Wellness and Top St. Jude Fundraising Honors

Final competition and crowning take place Saturday, June 20. All events are streaming live at MissVolunteerAmerica.net

 
 

JACKSON, Tenn. (June 19, 2026) – The Miss Volunteer America Pageant continued its preliminary competition on Friday, June 19, at the Carl Perkins Civic Center in Jackson, Tennessee. Preliminary winners were announced in Talent and Fitness & Wellness, followed by a series of special scholarship awards recognizing service, academics, and fundraising.
 

Preliminary Winners

  • Miss Maine Volunteer, Taylor Burrell, received the Judges’ nod in Talent, earning the Talent Preliminary Award and a $500 scholarship. Our official Talent sponsors, Chris Chambers, National Judges Chairperson, and Scott Hilburn, Chief Administrative Supervisor of Miss Volunteer America, generously donate these scholarship awards to our preliminary Talent winners each night.
     

  • Miss Texas Volunteer, Amanda Higginbotham, received the Judges’ nod in Fitness & Wellness, earning the Fitness & Wellness Preliminary Award and a $500 scholarship generously sponsored by Morgan Morgan Fitness. Our official Fitness & Wellness sponsor provides each preliminary Fitness & Wellness winner with a $500 scholarship, with the award given out each night of preliminary competition.

Special Awards

  • St. Jude Scholarship Award ($1,000): Amanda Higginbotham, Miss Texas Volunteer, raised $26,400 for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, the most of any titleholder this year.

  • St. Jude Fundraising Champion: Meghan Poore, Miss Tennessee Volunteer, raised $23,891 for St. Jude.

  • S.E.R.V.E. Award: Mary Person, Miss Delaware Volunteer, received the $1,000 S.E.R.V.E. Scholarship Award, sponsored by Ron and Berkley Bryant, Miss Volunteer America 2025, in memory of Berkley’s late mother, Mia Bryant. Sophia Takla, Miss Oregon Volunteer, was named S.E.R.V.E. Award runner-up.

  • Future’s Five Star Impact Award ($1,250): Christina Blake, Miss District of Columbia Volunteer, presented by Dr. Nassar Nassar, co-founder of Future’s Five-Star.

  • Salvation Army Doing the Most Good Scholarship ($2,500): Caroline Trennepohl, Miss Indiana Volunteer, presented by Major Jerry Friday, Divisional Secretary of Program for the Salvation Army.

  • Academic Scholarship Award for 2026 ($1,000): Amanda Higginbotham, Miss Texas Volunteer.

After an exciting week of preliminary competition, the journey culminates with the final competition and crowning on Saturday, June 20, 2026

Fans can stream the final night at www.MissVolunteerAmerica.net.

Follow along and join the conversation:
Instagram: @missvolunteeramericapag
Facebook: @missvolunteeramerica

AARON CRISLER