One of my favourite sections of the site (even if I’ve never settled on the perfect name for it!), a look at all the Miss Hawaii Teen USA titleholders who’ve gone on to compete at Miss USA or in other state pageants. It’s always inspiring to see where their journeys have taken them — whether they won a crown early on, competed once or twice and then hung up the heels or kept showing up year after year, showing persistence in their quest to walk the Miss USA stage.
Miss Teen USA 1985 Kelly Hu, was the first Miss Teen USA titleholder to win a Miss USA state title. Five more Miss Hawaii Teen USA titleholders have competed at Miss USA, most recently Samantha Neyland (2013) in 2020. In 2009 Aureana Tseu (1999) became the first former teen to compete at Miss USA ten years after Miss Teen USA.
Top 5/6
1
Kelly Hu (1985)
1993
1
Kelly Hu (1985)
1999
1
Trini-Ann Kaopuiki (1991)
2009
1
Aureana Tseu (1999)
1980s
1
Kelly Hu (1985)
1990s
2
Trini-Ann Kaopuiki (1991), Aureana Tseu (1999)
2020s
0
Winners highlighted in italics. Stats may be inaccurate, especially for the 1980s & 1990s as I am reliant on newspaper archives which do not list all contestants.
1980s
2
Kelly Hu (1985), Leslie-Ann Lum (1987),
1990s
4
Trini-Ann Kaopuiki (1991), Cameo DeCosta (1992), Monica Ivey (1996), Aureana Tseu (1999)
2010s
6
Julianne Chu (2010), Courtney Coleman (2011), Kathryn Teruya (2012), Samantha Neyland (2013), Joahnnalee Ucol (2016), Leimakamae Freitas (2019)
2020s
0
Hawaii, California, New York
Winner
6
Kelly Hu (1985), Trini-Ann Kaopuiki (1991), Aureana Tseu (1999), Emma Wo (2008), Julianne Chu (2010), Samantha Neyland (2013)
2nd runner-up
1
Monica Ivey (1996)
4th runner-up
1
Hannah Thomas (2006)
Top 5/6
1
Cameo DeCosta (1992)
