ABC ANNOUNCES AIRDATE FOR "THE 2012 MISS AMERICA PAGEANT"

Event to Be Broadcast Live from the Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino Las Vegas

ABC Television Network and Sam Haskell, Chairman of the Board of the Miss America Organization, announced today that "The 2012 Miss America Pageant" will return to Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino in Las Vegas for a week of preliminary competitions, culminating in a live telecast on SATURDAY, JANUARY 14, 2012 (9:00-11:00 p.m., ET) on ABC.

"The 90th anniversary Miss America Pageant on ABC was a tremendous success, taking the ratings crown as the most-watched non-sports program on Saturday night on ABC," said Haskell. "With the success of our re-branding of Miss America, we have attracted a new audience and look forward to working with ABC and Planet Hollywood to make the 2012 broadcast event even more memorable for our viewers."

The three nights of preliminaries will take place on January 10, 11 & 12 at Planet Hollywood's Theatre for the Performing Arts. Tickets for the preliminaries, as well as the Miss America Live Event, will be available soon. For information on all ticket sales visit www.missamerica.org. Teresa Scanlan, of Gering, Nebraska, is Miss America 2011.

About the Miss America Organization

The Miss America Pageant and the scholarship program are among the most enduring endeavors in modern American history. Celebrating 90 years of remarkable achievements when it first began with its humble beginnings as a "bathing beauty'" contest in the 1920s, the Miss America Organization today is one of the nation's leading achievement programs and the world's largest provider of scholarship assistance for young women. Last year, the Miss America Organization and its state and local organizations made available more than $45 million in cash and scholarship assistance, helping young women all across the country to reach their dreams and goals. For more information, go to www.missamerica.org.