Miss America Revoked My Scholarship Like Ex-Miss Delaware Amanda Longacre, Says Natalie McGovern

When Miss America gives out a college scholarship to a beauty queen, the winners typically make life decisions that determine their actions for the coming year. Natalie McGovern is the currently reigning Ms. Nebraska United States 2014, and she claims the Miss America beauty pageant also revoked her scholarship in a similar manner to former Miss Delaware Amanda Longacre. In the case of McGovern, the scandal never became headlines in the media so the organization never rectified their actions.

In a related report by The Inquisitr, with three weeks left until the Miss America 2014 beauty pageant begins, there is not much time left for a ruling to be made in the Longacre case. The former Miss Delaware lost her crown based upon a technicality, because she was “too old” by only a few months. Miss America pageant rules state that contestants must not only be no older than 24, but they also cannot turn 25 before the end of the year. But Longacre had given the Miss America Organization (MAO) documentation ahead of time and they let her compete despite the age issue. Due to the scandal, the MAO promised to reinstate her scholarship, Longacre is also seeking $3 million in damages in a lawsuit.

Natalie McGovern also faced the age clause back in 2012 when she won the local title of Miss Alliance, which was overseen by the Miss Nebraska board. Despite the director giving McGovern permission to compete, when she was stripped of her title over being “too old” was told she could not speak out or post any information online about her winning. This scandal dashed her hopes of taking the next step of competing for the title of Miss Nebraska.

Years later, McGovern decided to speak out and now she’s hoping that Miss America will reinstate her college scholarship just like they did for Longacre:

“When I won the title of Miss Alliance 2012 on February 26, 2012, I was awarded a $200 scholarship and an invitation to compete at Miss Nebraska, both which were revoked along with my crown and sash. No matter what happens with the Longacre lawsuit, I want to be compensated for what happened in 2012. I was stripped of my title over this same age clause and never saw my scholarship. Just as former Miss Delaware Amanda Longacre has received her scholarship, I would like mine to also be awarded back. It’s not about the money, it’s about the principle of the matter, and doing what’s right.”

To put McGovern’s claim in perspective, Miss Alabama 2011 Courtney Porter was allowed to go to Miss America 2012 at age 25, which McGovern alleges is a clear violation of the rules. Porter was born January 7, 1987, which would have made her 25 years old a week before Miss America 2012, which was held on January 14, 2012. But while Miss America sets an age limit of 24, Miss USA allows up to age 26.

In the past, we had an exclusive interview with Natalie McGovern and she created a blog that covers her ordeal in more detail. Although the beauty queen wants more awareness for Amanda Longacre’s lawsuit, she does admire how Miss America is the leading organization for providing many opportunities for women to attend college and pay off student debt.

While we would suggest reading the entire article, here is an excerpt including some highlights:

Do you believe there should be a maximum age at all?

I do, I wish it was age 28. If you look at past Miss America history, they did have the age raised at one point but then lowered it so that the Miss division could compete at 17. I believe it was 28.

Age 24 does seem kind of arbitrary. Since the prize includes college scholarships, there are those who may get involved while older.

I think that keeping the age at 24 for Miss America is not relevant anymore. Women are often in college for many years in order to achieve graduate and doctorate degrees. I hoped that with my local incident, and writing my plea to the Miss America Organization (MAO) board to extend the age, that it would indeed do something to amend the age limit rule. However, at the time, they made clear they had no plans whatsoever to change the age.

Where do you think the MAO should draw the line on this type of scenario?

I believe that if the organization has made an error then they need to take ownership of the mistake and responsibility for their actions and right what was wrong. Unless a contestant is willingly breaking rules, falsifying information, or being unethical, they should make amends for these types of situations that have happened and not hold the winner at fault when she did not intentionally break any rules.

Of course, the runner-up who takes the crown may feel differently on the matter. After Longacre was disqualified, Brittany Lewis automatically became Miss Delaware 2014 as the first runner-up. In my last article on the subject, I posed the scenario of the MAO allowing two winners from the same state. What do you think about that solution to the problem?

I, too, have thought about this; that it might be considered. I looked at a case study done on a local pageant where two girls went to court and then both were allowed to represent at Miss Texas. I believe that they both did in that scenario. Perhaps it would be best to let Amanda compete at Miss America 2014 and Brittany reign for a part of the year, or something to that extent. Amanda rightfully won the title so I think she should be allowed to be reinstated. But to send two titleholders to Miss America 2014 could be very controversial and definitely would make Miss America history. Still, the MAO may rule that Amanda is Miss Delaware, and Brittany no longer holds that title at all.