Beauty abounded on the stage of the Ritz Theatre Saturday night as  contestants from both the junior high and senior high at Fort Dale Academy vied for the titles of Junior Miss FDA and Miss FDA 2017.

This year’s theme: “Once Upon a Time.” It did prove to be a “Cinderella moment” for several of the young ladies.

Dailyn Swann, last year’s winner, crowned Lilly Boswell the new Junior Miss FDA, with Kinley Woodard selected as second runner up and Hannah Sells, first runner up.  Rounding out the Junior Miss FDA top five were Kaylin Gregory and Sydni Bowers. The contestants themselves chose Shalyn Halford as Miss Congeniality for the junior high program and Quinn O’Connor was selected Most Photogenic by the judges. Other Junior Miss FDA participants included Mary Avery Keen, Emily Hartley, Hanna Weeks, Anne Kathryn Smith and Makenna Philpot.

Master of ceremonies David Norrell said the judges had yet another difficult task as the 15 senior high school contestants waited in the wings for their opportunity to beautify the stage.

It was Grayson McCall who was crowned the new Miss FDA by the outgoing title holder, Kindal Lambert, with Hannah Marie Jayroe chosen as second runner up and Madeline Speir, first runner up. Speir was also voted Miss Congeniality by her fellow contestants. Rounding out the Miss FDA top five were Abbie Salter, who was chosen Most Photogenic by the judges, and former Junior Miss FDA, Kelsey Woodard. Others participating in the Miss FDA pageant included Molly Killough, Mallory Conway, Alex Kristen Moore, Alexandria Peyton Little, Madison Langford, Katherine Tillery, Meagan Edgar, Mary Catherine Hollingshead, Madison Ann Gaston and Jennifer Grace Arnold.

The contestants also had a special treat in store for them: one of the pageant judges was the reigning Miss Alabama USA, Baylee Smith of Pike County. Smith stayed after the event to meet and pose for photos with many of the participants and young pageant hopefuls in the audience.