Friday, June 13, 2008

Fans To Crown Miss Mississippi Pageant Contestants


Miss Mississippi 2007 Viewers' Choice Text Messaging Contest Winner Ms. Hattiesburg, Mary Brandon Norman. (PRNewsFoto/Cellular South) VICKSBURG, MS UNITED STATES

13 Jun 2008 20:44 Africa/Lagos


Fans To Crown Miss Mississippi Pageant Contestants
Cellular South Text Messaging Contest Will Determine 2008 Viewers' Choice Scholarship Recipient

VICKSBURG, Miss., June 13 /PRNewswire/ -- Cellular South, one of the nation's largest privately owned wireless carriers, is giving customers the opportunity to crown the 2008 Miss Mississippi Pageant Viewers' Choice award recipient. As part of the 51st annual Miss Mississippi Pageant, Cellular South -- a four-year pageant sponsor -- will award a $5,000 scholarship to the fans' favorite contestant during the pageant's live broadcast on Saturday, June 28.




(Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20080613/AQF052)

Cellular South customers can use their wireless phones to vote anytime from Sunday, June 22 at 9 a.m. through Saturday, June 28 at 9 p.m. All pageant attendees, including non-Cellular South customers and wireless users who do not subscribe to text messaging, also can use complimentary Cellular South phones in the lobby of the Vicksburg Convention Center from June 24-26 and June 28, to cast their text votes during normal hours until voting closes at 9 p.m. on the final night of competition.

Each of the 45 women in this year's Miss Mississippi Pageant has been assigned a number from 1 through 45 that matches their contestant number for the pageant competition. To vote, text the contestant's number to "MISS" (6477). Fans and customers can vote as many times as they desire and for more than one contestant.

"Cellular South is pleased to continue our relationship with the Miss Mississippi Pageant and support the educational future of some of the state's most talented young women," said Jim Richmond, director of corporate communications for Cellular South. "We're excited about the prospect of using the pageant as another way to demonstrate our support for education."
The $5,000 scholarship award from Cellular South is part of $116,700 in cash scholarships that the Miss Mississippi Corporation plans to distribute to the 45 contestants in this year's competition, according to Pageant Director David Blackledge. Since its inception, the Miss Mississippi Corporation has provided over $2.5 million to help contestants further their education.


"We are proud to be partnering with companies like Cellular South who help us continue to be the leading scholarship provider for women in the country," Blackledge said. "We encourage fans and attendees to participate in giving pageant contestants the opportunity to receive a scholarship that each and every one of them deserves."

In addition to the $5,000 scholarship, the Viewers' Choice winner and will receive a wireless phone and one year of free wireless service from Cellular South. The winner of the Miss Mississippi Pageant title also will receive the free phone and service. The 2007 winner of the Cellular South Viewers' Choice Award was Miss Hattiesburg contestant Mary Brandon Norman.
Richmond said the company is a strong supporter of education and has donated more than $2 million since 1997 to fund academic scholarships, endowments and building funds at Mississippi's eight public universities. The company also funds the Cellular South Gameplan, a statewide educational initiative designed to help more than 90,000 high school student-athletes understand NCAA academic requirements and scholarship funding opportunities while providing tools to master the skills necessary to be successful.

The Miss Mississippi Viewers' Choice Text Messaging Contest is a separate program managed by Cellular South and has no bearing or influence on the official judging of the Miss Mississippi pageant and no relationship to the winner or finalists in the competition sponsored by the Miss Mississippi Corporation.

For a complete listing of the Viewers' Choice contestants and their corresponding numbers, visit http://www.cellularsouth.com/missmsvote,

http://www.missmississippipageant.com/ or any of Cellular South's 75 retail locations.

About Cellular South
Cellular South is a privately-owned diversified mobile communications company passionately committed to helping customers get the most out of their wireless devices and services. The company accomplishes this goal by providing the most reliable and advanced nationwide wireless voice and data network, offering a full range of industry-leading unlimited flat rate plans, and through the world's first integrated, interactive online and in-store experience that gives customers easy, simple and convenient solutions to all of their wireless lifestyle needs. For more information, visit http://www.cellularsouth.com/

About Miss Mississippi Corporation
The Miss Mississippi Corporation is a non-profit 501 (C) 4 corporation whose principal function is to conduct and stage beauty, talent and scholarship pageants. All proceeds from the organization's products fund efforts to provide scholarships to contestants who participate in the program. The Miss Mississippi Corporation is the nation's leading provider of scholarships to women and consistently is one of the leaders nationwide in the amount of funds raised for scholarships.

Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20080613/AQF052

AP Archive: http://photoarchive.ap.org/

AP PhotoExpress Network: PRN3PRN

Photo Desk, photodesk@prnewswire.com
Source: Cellular South
CONTACT: Jim Richmond of Cellular South,

+1-601-624-7504, jrichmond@cellularsouth.com
Web site: http://www.cellularsouth.com/

http://www.missmississippipageant.com/



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