 | |
| Formation | 1922 |
|---|---|
| Type | Beauty pageant |
| Headquarters | Mansfield |
| Location | |
Membership | Miss America |
Official language | English |
Key people | Steven C. Oliveri |
| Website | Official website |
The Miss Ohio Scholarship Program selects the representative for the U.S. state of Ohio to compete for the title of Miss America. The pageant is held annually, during the "Miss Ohio Festival" week, at the historic 1,600 seat Renaissance Theatre (originally named the Ohio Theatre) in Mansfield.
Ohio representatives have won the Miss America pageant six times, joining California, and Oklahoma as the only states with six crowns. New York has the most winners with seven. Ohio is the only state to have a contestant who won the Miss America title twice:
- 1922 Mary Katherine Campbell, Columbus*
- 1923 Mary Katherine Campbell, Columbus*
- 1938 Marilyn Meseke, Marion
- 1963 Jacquelyn Mayer, Sandusky
- 1972 Laurie Lea Schaefer, Bexley
- 1978 Susan Perkins, Middletown
* When city representatives were common at the national pageant, Mary Katherine Campbell competed in Miss America Pageants as "Miss Columbus, Ohio".
The Miss Ohio pageant played a significant role in the saving of the Ohio Theatre and its renovation into the Renaissance Theatre. Mansfield originally hosted the Miss Ohio Pageant at the old Ohio Theatre from 1959 through 1962. After Jacquelyn Mayer, Miss Ohio 1962, was crowned Miss America 1963, the Miss Ohio pageant was relocated to the Ballroom Pavilion at Cedar Point Amusement Park in Sandusky. In 1975, the pageant returned to Mansfield, first to Malabar High School Auditorium from 1975 through 1978, then to the Madison Theatre in 1979. In 1980, it was decided to televise the pageant. Because of inadequate stage depth and backstage space at the Madison Theatre, then pageant producer Denny Keller and pageant set designer Paul Gilger persuaded the Miss Ohio Board of Directors to move the pageant back to Mansfield's Ohio Theatre, reopening the facility and sprucing it up for the pageant's first televised broadcast. The pageant's return to the old Ohio Theatre was the initial event that eventually led to the total renovation of the theatre and its reincarnation into the Renaissance Theatre. The Miss Ohio Scholarship Program has been held at the Renaissance Theatre since 1980, now for over 40 years.
Stephanie Finoti of Columbus was crowned Miss Ohio 2024 on June 15, 2024, at Renaissance Theatre in Mansfield. She will compete for the title of Miss America 2025.