If you want to be the one up there sobbing into the roses, you can’t just stand around during the proceedings looking pretty. There are tricks of the trade, and Stacey Kohl, a pageant coach and Miss Arizona USA 1998, teaches them to aspiring queens. “There are little things people aren’t aware of,” Kohl says. “Like the basic model stance — back foot at 10 o’clock, front foot at 12, front knee popped forward. It’s flattering for your legs and gives you a nice, thin waistline.” The evening dress also requires serious consideration. “Historically, slits and trains have done well,” she says. “Beadwork and crystal grab the stage lights and make you sparkle, but some girls overdo it.” Big hair and caked-on makeup, once staples of the circuit, are now tactical errors. She recommends “natural earth tones in the interview, and then onstage the same colors intensified, plus a bright lipstick.”

If you’re serious about the crown, consider taping — some contestants use strategically placed silver tape instead of a bra to enhance cleavage, Kohl admits — or gluing. “There’s a special adhesive spray to keep a bathing suit from riding up,” she says. But what about talent and smarts, which make up 60 percent of the scoring in the Miss America contest? “Pageants are often won in the interview,” says Deidre Downs, Miss America 2005. “You’re facing five judges firing questions at you, ranging from politics to current events. My medical-school interviews were a cakewalk comparatively.” To prepare, Downs read newspapers and magazines, brainstormed tough political questions, and practiced with her friends on mock panels. As for talent, Downs says, “being entertaining and showing your personality are more important than having the best technical skills.” So, yes, beauty matters, but in the end, white teeth will get you only so far. “I treated it like a job interview,” Downs says, which explains why, in high school, she was voted Most Intelligent and Most Likely to Succeed.