Miss Chattanooga Christine Williamson
Miss Chattanooga Christine Williamson was crowned Miss Tennessee on Saturday night.
She had finished in the top five for the fourth consecutive year at the Miss Tennessee Pageant but this time she is departing Jackson with the state crown, scholarships and embarking on a year of service promoting Character Education, the Children’s Miracle Network and her personal platform of Alzheimer’s Awareness as she was named Miss Tennessee 2018 late Saturday night.
The capacity audience at the Carl Perkins Civic Center applauded heartily when the UT-Chattanooga graduate student at the Gary Rollins College of Business received the crown from outgoing titleholder Caty Davis. Miss Williamson was the first runner-up a year ago to Miss Davis ending a journey that started in 2014. She was the second runner-up in 2015 and the third runner-up in 2016. The victory was the seventh for the Scenic City Pageants franchise and the first win by a Miss Chattanooga since 2012 when Chandler Lawson won the state title.
She received $15,000 in scholarships this week - $13,000 as Miss Tennessee and $1000 each for Friday’s talent preliminary win for her performance of "Never Enough" from the film "The Greatest Showman" and being the co-winner of the Miss Tennessee State Community Service Scholarship. On Wednesday’s first round of preliminaries she won the swimsuit competition which ironically was her first ever preliminary victory.
Miss Williamson will represent the state at the Miss America Pageant in September but she won’t be competing in swimsuit due to the recent controversial decision by the new national leadership team to drop the category in the wake of the "Me Too" movement led by former Miss America and Board of Trustees chair Gretchen Carlson.
The 22-year-old Memphis native who received her undergraduate degree in Broadcast Journalism at the University of Mississippi last year has been an active advocate for the Alzheimer’s Association since she has lost four family members to the disease. She is Tennessee’s state appointed Congressional Advocate and a national Ambassador of the Alzheimer’s Association.
Miss Williamson has also been an active volunteer at Children’s at Erlanger visiting patients and their families as well as promoting the Believe campaign which is the fundraiser for the new hospital.
Miss Scenic City Meredith Maroney was a top 10 finalist receiving a $3000 scholarship.