Your ultimate Miss USA state pageant resource
Take a trip back into the history of the Miss North Carolina USA and Teen USA pageants, from the first winner to the most recent. Get to know every single Miss and Teen titleholder with a full listing, hometown map and extensive photo archive, with state pageant photos, Miss USA and Teen USA competition photos and more.
North Carolina is home to four Miss USA titleholders, all within the last two decades, including Morgan Romano who assumed the Miss USA 2022 title. Despite a string of runner-up placements over a similar timeframe, they have yet to win the Miss Teen USA title. Miss North Carolina USA 2023 is Jordyn McKey from Charlotte and Miss North Carolina Teen USA 2023 is Katie Setzer of Hickory. The Miss North Carolina USA and Teen USA pageants were director by Tel-Air in the 1980s and then taken over by Paula Miles and RPM Productions, who have run it for thirty years. Some of North Carolina’s more well known titleholders are the Dalton family – their mother Jeannie was Miss North Carolina USA 1982, Kristen was Miss USA 2009 and Julia was Miss North Carolina Teen USA 2008 & Miss North Carolina USA 2015. Thank you to Grant Gravitt and Paula and Ryan Miles for their valuable contributions to my North Carolina archive over the years.
21 • Charlotte
Top 10
at Miss Universe
22 • Wilmington
Top 10
at Miss Universe
28 • Charlotte
Top 10
at Miss Universe
24 • Charlotte
22 • Charlotte
24 • Fayetteville
Top 8
at Miss USA
24 • Charlotte
1st runner-up, then
Miss USA 2022
25 • Charlotte
Semi-finalist
at Miss USA
25 • Surf City
Top 20
at Miss USA
Winner
Chelsea Cooley (2005), Kristen Dalton (2009), Cheslie Kryst (2019)
1st runner-up
Caelyn Miller-Keyes (2018), Morgan Romano (2022) (assumed Miss USA title)
2nd runner-up
Constance Ann Dorn (1975), Lynn Jenkins (1994), Ashley Puleo (2004)
3rd runner-up
Lyndia Ann Tarlton (1960)
4th runner-up
Marcia Patrice Burton (1974)
Top 5/6
Pat Arnold (1991)
Semi-finalist
Ann Pickett (1954), Shirley Bagwell (1956), Deborah Ann Falls (1972), Dianne Jamerson (1979), Cookie Noak (1984), Rhonda Nobles (1986), Tess Elliott (1992), Jordyn McKey (2023)
Top 8/10/11/12*
Ashley Mills (2013), Madison Bryant (2021)
Top 15/16/20*
Erin O’Kelley (2007), Kenzie Hansley (2024)
* Where the semi-finalists are cut in multiple stages before the top 5 or 6
Congeniality
Alison English (2002)
| IMAGE | YEAR | NAME | HOMETOWN | AGE | PLACEMENT | AWARD | NOTES |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | 2024 | Kenzie Hansley* | Surf City | 25 | Top 20 | Previously Miss NC 's OT 2015 & Miss NC Teen USA 2017 | |
 | 2023 | Jordyn McKey | Charlotte | 25 | Semi-finalist | ||
 | 2022 | MORGAN ROMANO | Charlotte | 23 | 1st runner-up | Assumed Miss USA 2022 title after R'Bonney Gabriel won Miss Universe | |
 | 2021 | Madison Bryant | Fayetteville | 24 | Top 8 | ||
 | 2020 | Jane Axhoj* | Charlotte | 22 | Previously Miss NC Teen USA 2015 (2RU Miss Teen USA) | ||
 | 2019 | Laura Little | Charlotte | 23 | - | Succeeded Cheslie as Miss NC USA 2019 | |
 | 2019 | CHESLIE KRYST† | Charlotte | 28 | Miss USA | Top 10 at Miss Universe 2019 | |
 | 2018 | Caelyn Miller-Keyes* | Asheville | 22 | 1st runner-up | Previously Miss VA Teen USA 2013 | |
 | 2017 | Katie Coble* | Charlotte | 27 | Previously Miss NC Teen USA 2007 (2RU Miss Teen USA) | ||
 | 2016 | Devin Gant | Charlotte | 24 | |||
 | 2016 | Allie Dunn | Stallings | 20 | Resigned due to health reasons | ||
 | 2015 | Julia Dalton* | Wilmington | 24 | Previously Miss NC Teen USA 2008 (2RU Miss Teen USA); sister of Miss USA 2009 Kristen Dalton & daughter of Miss NC USA 1982 | ||
 | 2014 | Olivia Olvera | Hope Mills | 26 | |||
 | 2013 | Ashley Mills | Raleigh | 24 | Top 10 | ||
 | 2012 | Sydney Perry* | Wilmington | 21 | Previously Miss VT Teen USA 2008 | ||
 | 2011 | Brittany York | Wilmington | 22 | |||
 | 2010 | Nadia Moffett | High Point | 24 | |||
 | 2009 | KRISTEN DALTON | Wilmington | 21 | Miss USA | Top 10 at Miss Universe 2015; sister of Miss NC USA 2015 Julia Dalton & daughter of Miss NC USA 1982 Jeannie Boger | |
 | 2008 | Andrea Duke | Hendersonville | 25 | |||
 | 2007 | Erin O'Kelley* | Asheville | 21 | Top 15 | Previously Miss NC Teen USA 2001 | |
 | 2006 | Samantha Holvey | Buies Creek | 20 | |||
 | 2005 | CHELSEA COOLEY* | Charlotte | 21 | Miss USA | Top 10 at Miss Universe 2005; previously Miss NC Teen USA 2000 | |
 | 2004 | Ashley Puleo | Pinehurst | 25 | 2nd runner-up | Sister of Miss VA USA 2015 Laura Puleo | |
 | 2003 | Kristen Luneberg* | Durham | 22 | Previously Miss RI Teen USA 1998 | ||
 | 2002 | Alison English | Archdale | 22 | Congeniality | ||
 | 2001 | Monica Palumbo | Charlotte | 19 | |||
 | 2000 | Portia Johnson | Greensboro | 24 | |||
 | 1999 | Joy Hall | Sanford | 24 | |||
 | 1998 | Vera Morris | Nashville | 23 | |||
 | 1997 | Crystal McLaurin-Coney | Durham | 25 | |||
 | 1996 | Jessica McMinn | Tuxedo | 23 | |||
 | 1995 | Michelle Mauney | Stanley | 24 | |||
 | 1994 | Lynn Jenkins | Gastonia | 26 | 2nd runner-up | Mother of Miss ME USA 2023 Julianna Morehouse | |
 | 1993 | Christa Tyson | Monroe | ||||
 | 1992 | Tess Elliott† | High Point | 20 | Semi-finalist | ||
 | 1991 | Pat Arnold | Chapel Hill | 21 | Finalist | ||
 | 1990 | Altman Allen | Shelby | ||||
 | 1989 | Jacqueline Padgette | Hobgood | ||||
 | 1988 | Tammy Tolar | Fayetteville | ||||
 | 1987 | Donna Wilson | Davidson | ||||
 | 1986 | Rhonda Nobles | Fayetteville | 20 | Semi-finalist | ||
 | 1985 | Kate Kenney | Raleigh | ||||
 | 1984 | Cookie Noak | Hickory | 23 | Semi-finalist | ||
 | 1983 | Allison Payge Pinson | Mooresville | ||||
 | 1982 | Jeannie Boger | Sanford | Mother of Miss NC USA & Miss USA 2009 Kristen Dalton & Miss NC USA 2015 Julia Dalton | |||
 | 1981 | Lisa Colleen Swift | Southport | ||||
 | 1980 | Lori Boggs | Kannapolis | Later Miss NC 1987 | |||
 | 1979 | Dianne Jamerson | Asheville | 24 | Semi-finalist | ||
 | 1978 | Kathryn Norman | Charlotte | ||||
 | 1977 | Vikki Verbyla | Lenoir | ||||
 | 1976 | Dianne Bowen | Windsor | ||||
 | 1975 | Constance Ann Dorn^ | Kinston | 21 | 2nd runner-up | Previously Miss NC 1972 (1RU Miss America) | |
 | 1974 | Marcia Patrice Burton | Hickory | 21 | 4th runner-up | ||
 | 1973 | Vivian Anita Craig | Stanley | ||||
 | 1972 | Deborah Ann Falls | Vale | 21 | Semi-finalist | ||
 | 1971 | Mary Rudroff | Wiston-Salem | ||||
 | 1970 | Susan Bodsford | Ramseur | ||||
 | 1969 | Faye Bass | Durham | 19 | |||
 | 1968 | Kelli Ann Moore | Raleigh | 19 | |||
 | 1967 | Patti Jean Effrom | Jacksonville | ||||
| 1966 | Brenda Faye Moye | Fountain | 21 | ||||
| 1965 | Sandra Farmer | Greensboro | |||||
| 1964 | Did Not Compete | ||||||
| 1963 | Trudy Ann Cauthen | Newton | |||||
| 1962 | Brenda Joyce Smith | Charlotte | |||||
| 1961 | Marie Clyburn | Charlotte | |||||
| 1960 | Lyndia Ann Tarlton | Wingate | 19 | 3rd runner-up | |||
| 1959 | Peggy Anne Brown | Sunbury | |||||
| 1958 | Carol Jean Edwards | Elizabeth City | |||||
| 1957 | Peggy Ann Dennis | Lilesville | |||||
| 1956 | Shirley Bagwell | Raleigh | 18 | Semi-finalist | |||
| 1955 | Mary Grace Ratliffe | Wadesboro | |||||
| 1954 | Ann Pickett | Charlotte | Semi-finalist | ||||
| 1953 | Libby Walker | Wilton | |||||
| 1952 | Doris M. Stanley | Greensboro |
| YEAR | NAME | HOMETOWN | AGE | PLACEMENT | AWARD | NOTES |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | Kenzie Hansley* | Surf City | 25 | Top 20 | Previously Miss NC 's OT 2015 & Miss NC Teen USA 2017 | |
| 2023 | Jordyn McKey | Charlotte | 25 | Semi-finalist | ||
| 2022 | MORGAN ROMANO | Charlotte | 23 | 1st runner-up | Assumed Miss USA 2022 title after R'Bonney Gabriel won Miss Universe | |
| 2021 | Madison Bryant | Fayetteville | 24 | Top 8 | ||
| 2020 | Jane Axhoj* | Charlotte | 22 | Previously Miss NC Teen USA 2015 (2RU Miss Teen USA) | ||
| 2019 | Laura Little | Charlotte | 23 | - | Succeeded Cheslie as Miss NC USA 2019 | |
| 2019 | CHESLIE KRYST† | Charlotte | 28 | Miss USA | Top 10 at Miss Universe 2019 | |
| 2018 | Caelyn Miller-Keyes* | Asheville | 22 | 1st runner-up | Previously Miss VA Teen USA 2013 | |
| 2017 | Katie Coble* | Charlotte | 27 | Previously Miss NC Teen USA 2007 (2RU Miss Teen USA) | ||
| 2016 | Devin Gant | Charlotte | 24 | |||
| 2016 | Allie Dunn | Stallings | 20 | Resigned due to health reasons | ||
| 2015 | Julia Dalton* | Wilmington | 24 | Previously Miss NC Teen USA 2008 (2RU Miss Teen USA); sister of Miss USA 2009 Kristen Dalton & daughter of Miss NC USA 1982 | ||
| 2014 | Olivia Olvera | Hope Mills | 26 | |||
| 2013 | Ashley Mills | Raleigh | 24 | Top 10 | ||
| 2012 | Sydney Perry* | Wilmington | 21 | Previously Miss VT Teen USA 2008 | ||
| 2011 | Brittany York | Wilmington | 22 | |||
| 2010 | Nadia Moffett | High Point | 24 | |||
| 2009 | KRISTEN DALTON | Wilmington | 21 | Miss USA | Top 10 at Miss Universe 2015; sister of Miss NC USA 2015 Julia Dalton & daughter of Miss NC USA 1982 Jeannie Boger | |
| 2008 | Andrea Duke | Hendersonville | 25 | |||
| 2007 | Erin O'Kelley* | Asheville | 21 | Top 15 | Previously Miss NC Teen USA 2001 | |
| 2006 | Samantha Holvey | Buies Creek | 20 | |||
| 2005 | CHELSEA COOLEY* | Charlotte | 21 | Miss USA | Top 10 at Miss Universe 2005; previously Miss NC Teen USA 2000 | |
| 2004 | Ashley Puleo | Pinehurst | 25 | 2nd runner-up | Sister of Miss VA USA 2015 Laura Puleo | |
| 2003 | Kristen Luneberg* | Durham | 22 | Previously Miss RI Teen USA 1998 | ||
| 2002 | Alison English | Archdale | 22 | Congeniality | ||
| 2001 | Monica Palumbo | Charlotte | 19 | |||
| 2000 | Portia Johnson | Greensboro | 24 | |||
| 1999 | Joy Hall | Sanford | 24 | |||
| 1998 | Vera Morris | Nashville | 23 | |||
| 1997 | Crystal McLaurin-Coney | Durham | 25 | |||
| 1996 | Jessica McMinn | Tuxedo | 23 | |||
| 1995 | Michelle Mauney | Stanley | 24 | |||
| 1994 | Lynn Jenkins | Gastonia | 26 | 2nd runner-up | Mother of Miss ME USA 2023 Julianna Morehouse | |
| 1993 | Christa Tyson | Monroe | ||||
| 1992 | Tess Elliott† | High Point | 20 | Semi-finalist | ||
| 1991 | Pat Arnold | Chapel Hill | 21 | Finalist | ||
| 1990 | Altman Allen | Shelby | ||||
| 1989 | Jacqueline Padgette | Hobgood | ||||
| 1988 | Tammy Tolar | Fayetteville | ||||
| 1987 | Donna Wilson | Davidson | ||||
| 1986 | Rhonda Nobles | Fayetteville | 20 | Semi-finalist | ||
| 1985 | Kate Kenney | Raleigh | ||||
| 1984 | Cookie Noak | Hickory | 23 | Semi-finalist | ||
| 1983 | Allison Payge Pinson | Mooresville | ||||
| 1982 | Jeannie Boger | Sanford | Mother of Miss NC USA & Miss USA 2009 Kristen Dalton & Miss NC USA 2015 Julia Dalton | |||
| 1981 | Lisa Colleen Swift | Southport | ||||
| 1980 | Lori Boggs | Kannapolis | Later Miss NC 1987 | |||
| 1979 | Dianne Jamerson | Asheville | 24 | Semi-finalist | ||
| 1978 | Kathryn Norman | Charlotte | ||||
| 1977 | Vikki Verbyla | Lenoir | ||||
| 1976 | Dianne Bowen | Windsor | ||||
| 1975 | Constance Ann Dorn^ | Kinston | 21 | 2nd runner-up | Previously Miss NC 1972 (1RU Miss America) | |
| 1974 | Marcia Patrice Burton | Hickory | 21 | 4th runner-up | ||
| 1973 | Vivian Anita Craig | Stanley | ||||
| 1972 | Deborah Ann Falls | Vale | 21 | Semi-finalist | ||
| 1971 | Mary Rudroff | Wiston-Salem | ||||
| 1970 | Susan Bodsford | Ramseur | ||||
| 1969 | Faye Bass | Durham | 19 | |||
| 1968 | Kelli Ann Moore | Raleigh | 19 | |||
| 1967 | Patti Jean Effrom | Jacksonville | ||||
| 1966 | Brenda Faye Moye | Fountain | 21 | |||
| 1965 | Sandra Farmer | Greensboro | ||||
| 1964 | Did Not Compete | |||||
| 1963 | Trudy Ann Cauthen | Newton | ||||
| 1962 | Brenda Joyce Smith | Charlotte | ||||
| 1961 | Marie Clyburn | Charlotte | ||||
| 1960 | Lyndia Ann Tarlton | Wingate | 19 | 3rd runner-up | ||
| 1959 | Peggy Anne Brown | Sunbury | ||||
| 1958 | Carol Jean Edwards | Elizabeth City | ||||
| 1957 | Peggy Ann Dennis | Lilesville | ||||
| 1956 | Shirley Bagwell | Raleigh | 18 | Semi-finalist | ||
| 1955 | Mary Grace Ratliffe | Wadesboro | ||||
| 1954 | Ann Pickett | Charlotte | Semi-finalist | |||
| 1953 | Libby Walker | Wilton | ||||
| 1952 | Doris M. Stanley | Greensboro | ||||
