Miss Connecticut USA & Teen USA 2017 will be crowned tomorrow, with the final competition starting at 2pm.  Connecticut will farewell Miss CT USA Tiffany Teixiera and Miss CT Teen USA Katy Brown - Tiffany made the top ten at Miss USA and is only the fourth from her state to make the cut at Miss USA since 1969!

Three runners-up from last year are returning, two of whom are former Teens:  Miss CT Teen USA 2011 Samantha Sojka was first runner-up last year and fourth runner-up in 2015 and  Miss CT Teen USA 2007 Olga Litvinenko was foruth runner-up after competing four years in New York.  The third is 2016 semi-finalist Dalila May who has returned thanks to the age limit increase.  Miss Connecticut USA 2013 third runner-up Fiona White, who was in the top five that year alongside Tiffany and future Miss USA Erin Brady,  is competing for the first time in four years.  

Brianna Munoz, who started her USA pageant career placing fourth runner-up at Miss Massachusetts Teen USA 2007 and second runner-up in 2008, is competing in Connecticut for the second time.  She, Samantha Lusniak, Hillary Scoville and Elizabeth Wolanin are returning semi-finalists. 

As with last year there are only nine contestants in the Teen pageant.  Only one has returned from last year, third runner-up Alexandria Palmer - although 2016 second runner-up Meera Gupta competed in Indiana this year and placed first runner-up.  2014 semi-finalist and Congeniality winner Celina Chapman is back for the first time since then.  Three-time New York contestant Lana Coffey is competing in Connecticut for the first time, as is Brynn Slicer whose only other year competing was at Miss DE Teen USA 2013 when she was only 14.

Shoutout to the new Miss Connecticut USA 2016 Tiffany Teixeira and Miss Connecticut Teen USA 2016 Katy Brown.  Tiffany was Miss CT Teen USA 2009 and first competed in Miss in 2013 when she finished first runner-up to eventual Miss USA winner Erin Brady.  In 2014 and 2015 she finished second runner-up.  Tiffany is a sweetheart and a big favourite of mine, like so many winners this year I really admire her perseverance.  She works as an ICU nurse at Yale-New Haven Hospital.  Katy was competing in the pageant for the first time and is the first titleholder from her hometown of Hebron.  Tiffany is from Bridgeport, the first Miss titleholder from there since 1984, according to my records (although I do have some gaps in the 80s & 90s).

In the Miss division, all three former Teens made the top five.  The final two were Tiffany and Samantha Sojka​, Miss CT Teen USA 2011 and fourth runner-up last year.  This was the second time this state pageant season that two former Teens were holding hands at the end - the other time was in Alabama last week.  Olga Litvinenko, Miss CT Teen USA 2007, made the top five in her fifth shot at the Miss title (she now has only one year left).  After competing in New York for four years she returned to her home state and placed fourth runner-up.  I love that she chose an orange gown, the same colour she won her Teen title in.

Second runner-up went to Dalila May, a semi-finalist in 2013 and 2014 and third runner-up, for the second year in a row, was Brittany Capozziello.  Brittany has one year left and Dalila has now aged out, as has three-time runner-up Amaryllis Rodriguez who finished in the top ten this year and won Miss Photogenic.

In Teen, first runner-up went to Shelby Gallagher, the sister of two-time CT Teen runner-up Taylor Gallagher.  Shelby is only 15 so has plenty of time to return!  Second and third runner-up went to newcomers Meera Gupta (Photogenic winner) and Alexandria Palmer, and Sarah Barrett repeated her fourth runner-up placement from last year and also won Congeniality.

Only one state pageant this weekend - it's Connecticut's turn!  The final competition and crowning will be held on Sunday from 2pm, in Hartford.  Miss contestant numbers have remained fairly steady, but there has been a significant drop in the Teen division - only nine contestants, half of last year's number and down from a high of 48 in 2007-08.  All three Pageant Associates state pageants this year have had at least one division with fewer than ten contestants (WV Miss, VT Teen & Miss, CT Teen).  Contestant photos can be viewed here: Miss | Teen.

Almost two thirds of the Miss contestants have competed previously.  There are three Miss CT Teen USA titleholders returning, a first for the 2016 state pageant season - perhaps surprising given this has truly become the year of the former Teens.  Miss CT Teen USA 2007 Olga Litvinenko is competing in her home state for the first time after four years competing in New York.  She made the semi-finals the past two years.  Miss CT Teen USA 2009 Tiffany Teixeira has been a runner-up in Connecticut the past three years, first runner-up to Miss USA Erin Brady, and second runner-up in 2014 and 2015.  Also a runner-up last year, Miss CT Teen USA 2011 Samantha Sojka will be competing in Miss for the second time.

All four runners-up from 2015 are competing again.  In addition to Tiffany and Samantha, the other two are first runner-up Amaryllis Rodriguez (also a runner-up in 2010 and 2013) and third runner-up Brittany Capozziello. 2013 fourth runner-up Fiona White is competing for the first time since that pageant.  This also means that all the runners-up from 2013 have either won the title (Desiree Perez, in 2014) or are competing this year.

As well as Olga there are two more who have competed in New York: Bianca Gallub and Megan Hernandez and from Massachusetts, Brianna Munoz (a Teen runner-up in 2007 and 2008).  ​

There are three crossovers from Miss Connecticut (MAO).  Alex Puglisi has been competing in Miss CT since 2008 and was first runner-up in 2014.  In 2009 she was part of the top five alongside Miss CT USA 2012 Marie-Lynn Piscitelli.  Brianna Munoz was also a runner-up at Miss Connecticut 2014 and Cara Cama was a 2015 runner-up.

Only two of the nine Teen contestants are returning contestants.  Sarah Barrett was fourth runner-up last year, while Kyleigh Knoob was a non-finalist.

Click "read more" or scroll below for the full list of contestants with notes of past placements.