MANSFIELD — All colors faded to gray — Allie Gray, that is — as the 17-year-old from Celina bested a crowd of a dozen Wednesday night to win the Miss Teen Ohio crown for 2024.
The Miss Teen Ohio competition was only the second Gray had ever competed in. Her first was the Miss Lake Festival’s Teen contest, which she won to qualify for the Miss Teen competition.
Gray said her favorite part of representing Miss Lake Festival has been building connections and meeting new people.
“The connections I’ve made through this program are absolutely amazing and I’m so excited to see how many more connections I make as Miss Ohio’s Teen,” Gray said.
In addition to competing in Miss Teen Ohio, Gray serves as the president of Celina High School’s National Honor Society. She also said she’s the junior class president, and plans to run for senior class president.
Plus, Gray plans to take a full course load of College Credit Plus classes. She hopes to pursue a degree in business upon graduating from high school.
The competition
Competitors in the Miss Teen Ohio contest were judged on five categories: private interview, fitness, an onstage conversation, evening gown and talent.
In the onstage conversation portion, competitors were asked about their community service initiatives. Those initiatives are “aimed at helping the nation’s youth to build character and gain the skills necessary for success in the real world,” according to the Miss Ohio scholarship program website.
The private interview counts for 30% of the total score, according to the Miss America website. Fitness counts for 20%, onstage conversation for 20%, evening gown for 20% and talent for 10%.
Gray’s performed a song using American Sign Language for her talent. She said a woman at her church had a deaf son, which piqued her interest in learning sign language when she was in third grade.
She said the woman at her church taught at her elementary school and helped her learn sign language. Then, Gray started a sign language club when she was a middle schooler. She got out of practice for a while, but picked it back up. Gray now lists it as a goal to sign for a large event.
“I’ve always seen the Super Bowl halftime show and how they have interpreters for music, and… I want to perform at a game, do the national anthem,” Gray said.
As for her community service initiative, Gray elected to focus on body positivity. Her initiative, called “Be Real, Not Perfect,” aims to inspire confidence in everyone, Gray said.
Miss Teen Ohio runners-up
Four other competitors received nods as runners-up to Gray. Those runners-up were as follows:
- First runner-up — Miss Maple City’s Teen, Cassie Mattson, 17, of Columbus
- Second runner-up — Miss Oxford’s Teen, Mallory Grimmett, 14, of Coshocton
- Third runner-up — Miss Shawnee’s Teen, Mackenzie Harmer, 17, of St. Henry
- Fourth runner-up — Miss Portsmouth’s Teen, Chloe Maybin, 17, of Wheelersburg
Judges also handed out awards for spirit, talent and interview.
Mattson, the first runner-up, also took home honors for both talent and interview.
Kendall Windsor, who hails from Bellville, received the spirit award.
Each runner-up and award winner won scholarship funding as well. Since Miss America’s Outstanding Teen was founded in 2005, it’s awarded nearly $1.5 million in scholarships, according to the Miss America website.
