No, there has never been a Miss America from South Dakota. North Dakota, however, has just snatched its first ever title when Cara Mund won the 97th annual 2018 Miss America Competition at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, NJ on September 10, 2017.
Cara Mund is an Ivy League Honors Graduate from Brown University headed to law school. At age 14, Cara founded North Dakota’s Annual Make-A-Wish Fashion Show.
For 10 years, Cara has brightened 23 Wish Kids’ lives, became a “Certified Wish Granter,” and raised over $78,500 for Make-A-Wish. In 2011, President Barack Obama recognized Cara’s charitable efforts.
Cara is a national dance champion and trained four summers with the Radio City Rockettes. Cara’s recent work in the United States Senate and her passion for helping others ignited her own wish — to become the first Miss America from North Dakota.
The Miss America Organization maintains a list of winners. To date, 18 states haven't won the Miss America competition ever. They include Northern plains states like the South Dakota, Montana and Wyoming, as well as nearly every New England state. In fact there's only been one Miss America winner from New England in the contest's 93 year history, and that was Connecticut's Marian Bergeron in 1933.
On the flip side, you could probably guess some of the winningest states by their population. New York and California have produced six Miss Americas each. Pennsylvania and Illinois have each produced five.
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