U.S. Air active-duty officer Madison Marsh was crowned as 2024 Miss America. Marsh, a 22-year-old who represented Colorado, won the prestigious pageant. In an interview after the show, Marsh said, “You can achieve anything. The sky is not the limit, and the only person that’s stopping you is you,” per a video posted on Miss Universe’s Instagram story.
She added that she came from “a small town, not being part of the pageant world,” and was able to step into the pageant world, so the possibility is open to anyone. In another video shared on the Miss Universe Instagram account, Marsh shared that she recently graduated from the Air Force Academy. She added, “I’m very excited to be able to represent women who can break stereotypes in both fields.”
The U.S. Air Force congratulated Marsh on her accomplishment in a heartfelt message on X, formerly known as Twitter. The message read, “Congratulations to our very own #Airman, 2nd Lt. Madison Marsh, aka Miss Colorado — who was just crowned @MissAmerica 2024! Marsh is the first active-duty servicemember to ever win the title. #AimHigh.” Marsh succeeds Grace Stanke of Wisconsin, who was crowned the 2023 Miss America. Stanke crowned Marsh at the pageant.
There were 51 contestants in the 2024 Miss America pageant, each representing the United States and the District of Columbia. The 11 semi-finalists competed in four rounds, which included a fitness runway walk, a “hot topics” discussion, an evening gown presentation and a talent show. The five finalists had to share their goals and dreams as Miss America. Prior to Marsh’s victory, she was a guest on FNC’s “Fox & Friends Weekend,” where she told the hosts she is “a pilot select right now, just graduated from the Air Force Academy, and everyone has been so, so excited to get to have me here.”
Co-host Pete Hegseth read Marsh’s long list of accomplishments before moving on to her education. He said, “In addition to all of this stuff, you’re a National Truman Scholar, two-time National Astronaut scholar, eight-time Dean’s List at the Air Force — three-times Superintendent’s List, a National Rhodes finalist, certified private pilot, and a black belt in taekwondo, and you’re a graduate of the Kennedy School at Harvard.” Marsh gave a preview of her talent, which she competed with during the pageant: a “monologue” of her first solo flight at just 16.
She continued, explaining why it’s an important story to tell, “‘Cause I started flying around 15, that’s whenever I kind of fell in love with the Air Force Academy and the idea of serving. And so I walk through what that flight looks like and some of the things that went wrong and how they relate to me today as a leader and an officer, and kind of how that goes into pageantry as well.” Marsh added, “So, it’s a little bit of a different, non-conventional talent, to say the least.”