By Ben Cox
Photos/Ben Cox
The Miss America organization has been around since 1921. It is one of the largest scholarship programs for women in the United States as well as being the most recognized beauty pageant.
Its sister organization, Miss America’s Teen, has only been around since 2006. Despite being a successful state in the Miss America pageant over the last 100 years, Illinois has not had a winner yet for Miss America’s Teen. A Jacksonville native hopes to change that this fall.
Lillie Brown won Miss Illinois’ Teen on June 27 in Marion, Illinois. Brown says she started competing in pageants at seven years old, eventually winning Junior Miss Morgan County in 2021.
She says that after winning she fell in love with pageants, “I got involved with the Miss America organization. I won my first local [pageant] in 2023, went to state for my first time that following year and then kept going. I came back this year and I was able to win, which was a huge dream come true. It’s something that I’ve been working on for so long now. Even before I was involved in the organization, my mom and I would always go and watch local pageants, and then, we went to state one year to watch one of my friends. Being able to have this title is such a dream come true, knowing that I worked so hard for it.”
Brown initially came in as a runner-up to Pittsfield’s Molly Gerard in the Miss Quincy Teen pageant. Brown says that Miss Quincy pageant director Lindsey Hess approached her for an at-large title as Miss Bay City Teen. Bay City is located in southern Illinois in Pope County. Brown says she will next be heading with Nitsaniyah Fitch to the prelims in September for the 2026 Miss America and Miss America’s Teen.
In the meantime, Brown is working on her community service initiative. “Mine is called ‘Crowned in Confidence,’” Brown explains, “The campaign empowers strong digital citizens, and through it, I educate others on the importance of online safety education and cyber bullying prevention. I’ve done a lot with it, but I’m excited to do even more now as Miss Illinois Teen and share it on the Miss America stage.” Brown says the idea for the initiative came from a dark period in her life when she was approached by an online predator through Instagram at 12 years old. After going through the ordeal, Brown says she stopped having any kind of social media until she won her recent title.
She hopes to visit area schools to talk about the pitfalls of being online as a young person, “Through those two years of being offline, I really realized how dangerous social media can be when it’s not used in a positive or kind way,” Brown says, “So I focused a lot on partnering with other nationwide organizations. I have a partnership with the Family Online Safety Institute. Through them, I’ve been able to distribute an online safety agreement to every sixth grader in the state of Illinois. I’m really working to make sure that children online, not only in Illinois but all across the world, don’t have to feel unsafe online just like I once did.” Brown also recently completed a special promotion at The Drink Shop in Jacksonville that benefited the American Heart Association.
Brown says she’s also excited to show off her talent during the pageant. She’s been dancing since she was two years old and currently practices at Legacy Dancing & Tumbling Complex in Jacksonville. She is planning on performing a lyrical dance to the Lauren Daigle song, “Thank God I Do.” She says she’s also enjoying attending local parades and events all over the state, getting to know new people everywhere she goes.
As far as what the future holds, Brown says she’s not ruling out a run for Miss Illinois in the future. “I have a few years after I give up this title before I can compete for Miss Illinois, but I’d love to do that in the future,” Brown explains, “I’ll probably continue competing in the Miss America opportunity. It’s something that I truly love, and I’ve created so many friendships through doing it.”
For now, Brown says she’s fully concentrating on the national preliminary competition for the 2026 Miss America’s Teen pageant in Orlando in September.
