MOUNT VERNON — Ohio Junior Miss, to be known next year by its new name Distinguished Young Women of Ohio, is a scholarship program for young women. Being different from a typical beauty pageant, it has different criteria for judging the participants. These focus on character, scholarship, talent and physical fitness. While the exact criteria used in any of the judging is not divulged by OJM, there are some general rules and procedures that are followed. Each area of judging counts as a certain percentage toward the total score.
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The judging is twofold. There is one set of judges who look only at scholarship. They review the scholastic transcripts of the young women in the program and rate them accordingly. This part of the judging counts for 20 percent of the total score for the participants.
“The scholastics are judged by a different panel than the program judges,” explained Lee Thomas, a board member of the Ohio Junior Miss. “They are professionals in reviewing scholastic transcripts.”
A panel of program judges is responsible for the rest of the judging. In addition to the scholastic portion, the other areas are talent, which accounts for 25 percent of the composite score; judges interview, 25 percent; and fitness and self-expression, 15 percent each.
The interview portion is 10 minutes with the interviewer spending nine minutes asking questions. The last minute is reserved for the participant to add anything else she might want to say.
