Miss Teen USA 1983


Miss Teen USA 1983, the first Miss Teen USA pageant, was televised live from the Lakeland Civic Auditorium in Lakeland, Florida on 30 August 1983. The event was hosted by Michael Young and included musical guests Air Supply and the Solid Gold Dancers. At the conclusion of the final competition, Ruth Zakarian of New York was crowned Miss Teen USA, by Miss USA 1983 Julie Hayek and Miss Universe 1983 Lorraine Downes.

Background

The Miss Teen USA pageant was created by the owners of the Miss USA and Miss Universe pageants as a "natural extension" of those pageants. Originally, any winner over age 17 was automatically entered as a contestant-at-large at the Miss USA pageant. 1983 winner Ruth Zakarian competed at Miss USA 1984 and did not make the semi-finals.
As host city, Lakeland and its residents contributed at least $500,000 in goods and services, with the intention that the publicity brought by the pageant would offset this investment, however local merchants later admitted the return wasn't as great as expected. Contestants spent three weeks in the city in the lead up to the final night of competition and the telecast featured 45 minutes of promotional material of the contestants in locations around the city and county.
The pageant featured three nights of competition: the state costume competition on 20 August, the preliminary competition on 25 August and the final telecast on 30 August. Governor of Mississippi Bob Graham was slated to attend both the final pageant and the following coronation ball.

Results

Placements

Final resultsContestant
Miss Teen USA 1983
1st Runner-Up
  • Virginia – Tina Marrocco
    • 2nd Runner-Up
  • Kentucky – Krista Keith
    • 3rd Runner-Up
  • Georgia – Kelly Jerles
    • 4th Runner-Up
  • Texas – Sheri Sholz
    • Top 10
  • Arkansas – Angela Boyd
  • California – Shawn Gardner
  • Nevada – Kimberly “Kim” Cannon
  • Pennsylvania – Diane Hoyes
  • Washington – Rhonda Monroe

    • Judges

    The celebrity judges for the pageant were:

    Delegates

    The Miss Teen USA 1983 delegates were:

    Contestant notes