The Miss USA is an American beauty pageant that has been held annually since 1952 to select the American entrant in the Miss Universe pageant. The Miss Universe Organization operates both pageants, as well as Miss Teen USA.
The pageant was owned by Donald Trump from 1996 to 2015, and was previously broadcast on NBC. In September 2015, WME/IMG purchased the pageant from Trump. Currently, Fox holds the broadcast rights for the pageant.
Every year, each state holds a preliminary competition to choose their delegate for the Miss USA pageant. In some states (such as Texas and Florida), local pageants are also held to determine delegates for the state competition. The state winners hold the title "Miss State USA" for the year of their reign.
The most successful state is Texas, which has had the most semi-finalists and winners, including five consecutive Miss USA titleholders during the 1980s.[22] Other successful states include California, New York, Alabama, Tennessee, and Georgia. The least successful states are Delaware, placing only once in 2015; Montana, which has not placed since the 1950s; South Dakota, which has only placed three times (the last time in 2016), and Wyoming, which gained only its second placement in 2010. The only state which has produced more than one Miss Universe is South Carolina.
The Miss Universe Organization licenses out the state pageants to pageant directors, who in some cases are responsible for more than one state. The directorial groups are the following: RPM Productions (Alabama, Louisiana, North Carolina, South Carolina), Vanbros (Arkansas, Illinois, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, and Oklahoma). Future Productions (Colorado, Iowa, Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wisconsin, Wyoming). Pageant Associates (Connecticut, Indiana, Pennsylvania, Vermont, West Virginia). Pageants NW Productions (Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Washington). Crystal Group (Texas). Greenwood Productions (Georgia, Mississippi, Tennessee). D&D Productions (Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, Rhode Island). Proctor Productions (Michigan, Ohio). Casting Crown Productions (Arizona, Utah). Top 10 Productions (California). Smoak Productions (Nevada). Connie Clark Harrison (Kentucky). KPJ Productions (Virginia). Clemente Productions (Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire). Garness Productions (Alaska). New Media Productions (Hawaii). Debbie Miller and Cindy Provost (New York). Laura's Productions (New Mexico). Five Crown Pageant Productions (District of Columbia).