Atlantic City to Welcome Miss America Contestants

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (AP) — Atlantic City will welcome back the Miss America pageant with a ceremony Tuesday afternoon on the shore city's famed boardwalk for all 53 contestants.

The pageant is returning to the New Jersey city where it was founded after a six-year run in Las Vegas.

The contestants — one from each state, plus the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands — will gather across from Boardwalk Hall for a welcoming ceremony.

The competition will end with the crowning of the next Miss America on Sept. 15 in a nationwide television broadcast.

Last year, the Miss America Organization and its state and local organizations made available more than $45 million in scholarship assistance.