DYW contestants, parents get report after state review

Contestants and parents Sunday night received a report on a review of the Colfax Distinguished Young Women competition which has been in dispute since the day after the March 26 event. Connie Ellis, co-chair of the event, said Monday the Colfax competition, which involved 14 girls, was reviewed by officers of the Washington state event, and those officers contacted the national DYW before making their recommendation.

Ellis said the local committee recognized that the interview segment, which takes place in advance of the evening competition, was not done according to regulations.

Local officers here decided to follow the state recommendation in their decision. Margo Balzarini of Colfax and Danielle Kallaher of Pullman, members of the state committee, attended Sunday night’s session.

Balzarini also attended the March 26 competition in Colfax under a rule which requires a member of the state committee to monitor local qualifying competitions.

This year’s entrants and parents were advised of the meeting and 10 contestants were among those who attended Sunday night’s session at the high school. Parents and some participants from last year’s event, now CHS seniors, also attended.

Ellis said the key result was removal of all scoring for the judges’ interview segment of the scoring competition.

“We received complaints and realized we did not do this right. We’ve tried to be open about this and correct it,” Ellis explained.

The judges’ interview, one of five parts of the competition, accounts for 25 percent of the overall score. It and scholarship, which is judged separately, total 45 percent of the outcome before the actual on-stage competition begins.

She said the state and local officers determined the interview process was done in a sloppy manner. For example, rules require each contestant to be escorted out of the building after their interview session with the judges. The intent of the rule is to prevent entrants who interview early with informing other later entrants, intentionally or unintentionally, about what they could face in their judges’ interview.

The Colfax organizers this year did not follow that procedure.

Ellis said after they threw out all scoring from the interview part of the competition, the overall order of finish remained the same. The winner, Misty Skelton, also won two other categories, talent and fitness, and the count of remaining points still left her number-one in the order of finish.

However, Morgan Willson, first alternate, was offered an entry in the state program. Ellis said the offer was made to compensate for possible momentum which might have been influenced in judges’ decisions that night after Skelton won the interview part of the competition in the afternoon.

Not all competitors at the state level qualify out of local competitions. The state event conducts auditions for “at large” entrants who have a chance to qualify when they come from towns which do not conduct a local competition.

Willson declined the offer to also enter the state event. As first alternate, she will be the Colfax entrant in Miss Palouse Empire Fair contest.

Ellis said under national rules local competitions cannot retract prizes once they are announced. However, the local committee will add $100 to the scholarship prize received by Kelsey Nails who actually tied Skelton in judges’ interview scoring. Nails was placed second after the judges’ deliberation at the end of the competition.

Also, Haley Hahn, who placed second in scoring behind Skelton and Nails, will receive a $100 second place scholarship award.

Nails was selected second alternate in the March 26 event.