The pageant questions that you are about to read were taken from the data of our famous “Question of the Day”, asking titleholders what pageant questions they were asked immediately following their interview and talking with pageant judges ranging from the Miss America panel to local Fairs and Festivals pageants to Miss World.

These pageant questions were then put into a massive list to look for what questions were repeated most commonly. For our Question of the Day, we looked for the pageant questions that were most shared and combed through the comments on Facebook and on our site that said things like, “When I was asked that here is how I responded” and “I was asked that at my last pageant.”

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Miss India 2020 Adeline Castelino asking her final question at Miss Universe 2020. Photo: Miss Universe Organization/Tracy Nguyen

What You Will Not Find in This Report

In this report, I chose not to give the answers to the pageant questions as I would answer them because what I have found in the past is that when the pressure of the private interview is on girls start to second guess themselves and then restate my answers as their own. The result is that the contestant is not authentic with herself and her beliefs and therefore does not score as high. (Read: How to Succeed in Pageant Interview)

Now you might say, if you really believe that then why do you provide answers to your Question of the Day section on Pageant Daily? My strategy in allowing the answers to be published is that I’m not personally able to coach the 100,000+ girls who visit our website every week. We do, however, offer mock interviews via Skype with a real person who will ask you current events, paperwork and personal question plus give you feedback on how you answered and along with suggestions of what you could do to improve.

So by giving examples of how various pageant queens and experts answered the potential interview question then you could take the differences in opinion to further strengthen your own or to gain clarity on what you believe on the subject.

My further encouragement to you is that if your coach is instructing you what to say in interview (outside of your opening and closing statements) then he or she is setting you up for failure. The pageant coach with whom you are working should be guiding you in order to help you come to a conclusion as to what your belief is on the subject and then help you to find a way to present that belief inside the context of your personality so that you do not offend any of the personality types sitting before you on the judges panel. Your pageant coach doesn’t know who your judges are anymore than you do and therefore are not able to predict what pageant questions they will ask and how they will respond to your answers. Heck, even if I knew who your judges were I would not be able to tell you that information.

So, my admonition to you is to know yourself and understand that the judges will not remember your exact answers but they will feel the energy that you give off during interview and will score you accordingly. If you are nervous and anxious during your interview then your judges will pick up on the energy that you are giving off and will feel uncomfortable and therefore, score you lower than if you walked into the room confidently and comfortably. 

So be at peace with yourself. Know that you put your all into your training and regardless of what the judges score you that they are not scoring your value as a human being. They are only writing down a number, usually from 1 to 10, that will tell the auditor how badly they want to hire you for the job of being the pageant’s spokesmodel based on your interview. That score means nothing else. You are a 10 in life value. Now, let’s practice these pageant questions to get you closer to a 10 in the interview room.

Recommended reading if you want to experience success in interview:

• What Am I Being Judged on in Pageant Interview
• Who Judges Pageant Interview
• How Important is My Pageant Interview Outfit to My Score
• What Paperwork Do I Need for My Pageant Interview

Top 25 Pageant Questions Asked in Interview

1. What makes you different from the other girls competing today?
   • Variations of this question:
     • Why do you think that you are the best candidate for this title?
     • What makes you stand out from the other contestants?
     • What makes you unique?
2. Why should you win this pageant?
   • Variations of this question:
     • Why would you make a good ?
     • Why should we choose you from the other contestants?
     • Why should we select you as the next Miss (Teen, Ms, Mrs) ______ ?
     • Why do you deserve to win this title?
     • What do you like most about yourself?
3. Why do you want to win this pageant?
   • Variations of this question:
     • What will you do if we crown you the next Miss (Teen, Ms, Mrs) _____?
     • Why did you decide to compete in this pageant?
     • Why did you start competing in pageantry?
     • What do you want to get out of this pageant?
4. Where do you see yourself in the next 5 years?
   • Variations of this question:
     • Where do you see yourself in 10 years?
     • What goal do you want to have achieved when you are?
5. Tell me more about
   • Further explanation: The majority of the pageant questions you will be asked in interview will be from your pageant paperwork (unless you live in the UK or other countries that do not have paperwork). Out of these pageant questions the vast majority of pageant questions will be centered around the “interesting facts” section of your paperwork.
   • Variations of this question:
     • Tell me about yourself (this is almost always asked first in the UK)
6. Who is your role model?
   • Variations of this question:
     • If you could meet (have lunch with) any person in history who would it be?
     • Who is the person you look up to the most?
     • What celebrity do you idolize?
     • If you could be anyone else besides yourself who would you be?
     • Do celebrities have a responsibility to be positive role models?
     • Would you say that you are a good role model?
7. What will you do if you win this title?
   • Variations of this question:
     • What will be the first thing you do should we crown you Miss (Teen, Ms, Mrs) _____ ?
     • What will be the first thing you eat after the pageant?
     • What’s the first thing you will do after the pageant is over?
8. What is your dream job? 
   • Variations of this question:
     • What do you want to do for a living?
     • Are you working your dream job?
     • Where do you want to go to college? (Teens)
     • What do you want to study in college? (Teens)
9. What has been your biggest failure? 
   • Variations of this question:
     • Tell us about a challenge that you experienced and how you overcame it.
     • Tell us about your biggest disappointment and how you bounced back from it.
10. What is the most important issue your generation is facing?
    • Variations of this question:
      • What do you think is the biggest problem facing young people today?
      • If you could give your younger self one piece of advice what would that be?
      • What do you think is the biggest problem facing teens today?
11. Why do you think that people have a negative image of pageantry?
    • Variations of this question:
      • With the current negative media attention about pageantry, what advice would you give someone on the fence about competing?
      • Do you think that pageantry objectifies women?
      • Have you experienced criticism for competing in pageantry? If so, how did you handle it?
      • What would you say to someone that says pageantry degrades women?
12. Have you ever been bullied? If so, how did you handle it?
    • Variations of this question:
      • How do you handle peer pressure?
      • Tell us about a time when you had to overcome peer pressure to do the right thing
13. How did you prepare for this pageant?
    • Variations of this question:
      • What kind of obstacles did you have to overcome to compete in this pageant?
      • Did you hire a pageant coach to help you prepare?
      • Who helped you prepare for this pageant?
      • What was the hardest sacrifice you had to make when preparing for this title?
14. Why did you select your pageant platform? 
    • Variations of this question:
      • Why is your platform important to you?
      • Why do you think your platform is important?
15. Do you think technology is hurting personal relationships? 
    • Variations of this question:
      • Is technology hurting our communication skills?
      • Is social media bringing people together or causing separation?
      • Is texting hurting our communication skills?
16. If you woke up tomorrow and gained any one ability or quality, what would you want it to be?
    • Variations of this question:
      • If you could have any superhuman power what would it be?
      • If you could have the powers of any superhero what would it be?
17. If you could only have one wish, what would you wish for?
    • Variations of this question:
      • If I were a genie in a bottle and could grant you any one wish what would that be? (Note: You better wish to win the crown!)
18. What is your biggest fear?
    • Variations of this question:
      • Tell us about your biggest weakness.
      • What is your biggest flaw?
19. What is your guilty pleasure? 
    • Variations of this question:
      • What is your favorite food?
      • What is your favorite dessert?
20. What is your favorite movie?
    • Variations of this question:
      • What is your favorite television show that you have to watch weekly?
      • What is your favorite book?
21. Do you have a hidden talent?
    • Variations of this question:
      • What is one thing that we would not know about you just by looking at you?
22. With everything that you have going on how will you handle the responsibilities of the crown if you are selected?
    • Variations of this question:
      • How will you handle the responsibilities of the crown on top of your job, family and marriage? (Mrs / Ms contestants)
      • How do you plan on juggling the responsibilities of the crown with the demands of your current life?
23. If you could visit any place in the world where would you go?
    • Variations of this question:
      • Describe to us your dream vacation.
      • What has been your favorite place you have visited?
      • Tell us about your favorite family vacation.
24. Some random question that you don’t know.
    • Explanation: You will experience judges who will ask you random pageant questions based on their vast knowledge in politics, history or their occupation that you do not know. Practice what you will say when a judge asks you something that is outside of your knowledge base. Hint: It’s ok to tell the judge that you don’t know. Your goal is to win a beauty pageant, not be a walking encyclopedia.
25. Current Event Pageant Questions
    • Explanation: Current events are so time sensitive that you knowing what is popular would not add value to this article. I will list some of the subject matter most talked about in interview but the best way to practice your current events is to read, "Pageant Daily".
      • States legalizing marijuana 
      • Same-sex marriage
      • Affordable Health Care Act (United States)
      • National Debt (United States)
      • Donald Trump
      • Headline News. If three or four news channels are covering a story within a week of your pageant then you will be asked for your opinion on the story.

I wish you the absolute best success in your interview. Also, if you found value in these pageant questions would you consider telling your sister queens about our site by clicking on of the share buttons below? Thank you in advance!

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