For the next year, Natalie Pyper, 19, of Murray, will be sporting a diamond-encrusted crown as Miss Junior America. She won the title earlier this month during televised national finals in Los Angeles.
The beauty pageant was the first she had ever entered, and the award came as a pleasant surprise."I was really pleased to get the title," she said. "It was really exciting and neat meeting all the other girls in the pageant."
Pyper, a freshman at the University of Utah, donned ski fatigues made by her mother as the costume to best represent Utah for the event. The young women were also judged on the basis of interviews, modeling and acting ability.
She met several modeling and acting agents during the trip and is waiting to see if a professional career awaits.
Her sponsor for the trip was Andrew Henderson Plumbing and Heating in Midvale.