Miss USA 2017

Miss USA 2017 was the 66th Miss USA pageant. It was held on May 14, 2017 at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas, Nevada. Terrence J and Julianne Hough served as hosts, while Ashley Graham also returned as backstage host, all for a second consecutive year. Brett Eldredge, Pitbull, and the cast of Michael Jackson: One by Cirque du Soleil performed.

Deshauna Barber of the District of Columbia crowned her successor Kára McCullough, also of the District of Columbia, at the end of the event. This was District of Columbia's fourth Miss USA title, and also this was the first time since 2008 to have a second consecutive African Americans have been crowned. McCullough represented the United States at the Miss Universe 2017 competition, placed in the top 10. This is the first back to back win for a state at Miss USA since Texas won the crown in 1988 and 1989.

Selection of participants
Delegates from 50 states and the District of Columbia were selected in state pageants began in July 2016 and ended in February 2017. The first state pageant was Florida, held on July 16, 2016, and the final pageant was Alaska, held on February 4, 2017; eight of them were former Miss Teen USA state winners, three of them were former Miss America state titleholders and one of them was a former Miss America's Outstanding Teen state titleholder.

One state titleholder was appointed as replacement after the original titleholder was unable to compete. Génesis Dávila was the original winner of Miss Florida USA 2017, she was disqualified shortly after winning the title and was revealed she hired professional makeup artists instead by to do herself. She was replaced by Linette De Los Santos, the first runner-up of Miss Florida USA 2017 pageant. Dávila would later win the title the following year and competed in Miss USA 2018.

Preliminary competition
Prior to the final competition, the delegates compete in the preliminary competition, which involves private interviews with the judges and a presentation show where they compete in swimsuit and evening gown. It was held on May 11, 2017 on the official Miss USA YouTube channel and was hosted by Entertainment reporter and Miss Wisconsin USA 2009 Alex Wehrley and Deshauna Barber.

Judges

 * Halima Aden – Somali-American model and first woman to compete in a Miss USA state pageant wearing a hijab and burkini
 * Maura McGreevy – IMG corporate community
 * Carole Gist – Miss USA 1990
 * Nancy Lublin – CEO of Crisis Text Line
 * Brook Lee – Miss USA 1997 and Miss Universe 1997
 * Nick Light – Vice president of Sony Music and Warner Bros. Records
 * Vanessa Gringer – Director of business development at IMG

Finals
For the first time since 2003, the number of finalists decreased to 10 from 15 in the previous year. The top 10 finalists compete in both swimsuit and evening gown, while the top 5 are in a qualifying question, and the final 3 are subjected in the final question round and a final runway, the winner is decided by a panel of judges.

Judges

 * Halima Aden – Somali-American model and first woman to compete in a Miss USA state pageant wearing a hijab and burkini
 * Carson Kressley – TV personality, style expert, fashion designer and author
 * Brook Lee – Miss USA 1997 and Miss Universe 1997
 * Nancy Lublin – Founder of Dress for Success
 * Jeannie Mai – Style expert, philanthropist, and co-host of The Real
 * Janet Mock – Author, television host and advocate

Contestants
Contestant stats provided via the Miss Universe Organization.

Television

 * 🇺🇸 United States: Fox
 * Africa: DSTV Mzansi Magic (delayed broadcast)
 * Asia-Pacific: Star World
 * 🇻🇪 Venezuela: Venevisión