Miss Clovis/Miss City of Fresno Competition Held at Clovis North High School

Miss Clovis, Miss Fresno and Miss Fresno County nominees open their 2023 local competition together on November 12th. (Photo by JT Gomez, Clovis Roundup)

The 2023 Competition for Miss Clovis, Miss City of Fresno, and Miss Fresno County was held at the Paul Shaghoian Concert Hall, located at 2770 E International Ave, in Fresno, California on Saturday November 12th.

The competition lasted around three and a half hours, and invited contestants from all over the county to participate in their hopes of being crowned one of the three victors. 

Winners of the event and now official 2023 Titleholders: 

Miss Clovis- Loie Madsen

Miss Clovis’ Outstanding Teen- Heavenly Carrillo

Miss City of Fresno- Bella Rodriguez 

Miss City of Fresno’s Outstanding Teen- Saiya Sohal

Miss Fresno County- Elita Damron

Miss Fresno County’s Outstanding Teen- Jennifer Pan

During the first half of the event, contestants’ names were announced after a choreographed dance that they participated in together.

Then the 2023 Miss Clovis and Fresno princesses came out to stage and did a dance for the crowd that was met with tremendous applause.

The point of competitions such as the Miss Clovis and Miss City of Fresno competitions is to promote body positivity for young women, even prior to adolescence. 

Judges for the event were then announced which included radio station personality Kimmie Marquez and television news anchor for KSEE 24, A.J. Fox. 

Scoring for the event was broken up into four sections. 15% of contestants’ final score was from their “Red Carpet walk” which they engaged in on stage in front of the crowd later on in the competition.

Another 15% came from an on-stage interview and social impact pitch that Miss and Teen contestants gave, respectively. 

35% of contestants final score came from a backstage interview that was conducted pre-event with judges only, and the final 35% of scores came from, of course, the on-stage talent show that all contestants partook in. 

Talents ranged from singing, to piano playing, to even ASL, (American Sign Language) musical interpretations. 

Without comprising what percentage of the talent aspect went into contestants final scores, winning contestants talents went as follows: 

Miss Clovis Loie Madsen sang a rendition of “Heart of Stone”. 

Miss Clovis’ Outstanding Teen Heavenly Carrillo comprised an interpretive dance. 

Miss City of Fresno Bella Rodriguez presented a dance to Jennifer Lopez’ “Let’s Get Loud”. 

Miss City of Fresno’s Outstanding Teen Saiya Sohal wrote and performed a rap to the beat of “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air” all the while also performing a science experiment in front of judges and the 500 plus packed crowd. 

Miss Fresno County Elita Damron played a lively version of the piano in her section. 

Miss Fresno County’s Outstanding Teen Jennifer Pan also played the piano, closing out the talent portion for the teens in outstanding fashion. 

After a brief intermission, Adam Smith, Director of the Miss Clovis, Miss City of Fresno, and Miss Fresno County competition honored a seventeen year veteran of the Miss competitions, Marie Theurich. 

Marie, a former Executive Director for the Miss Fresno County and Miss Fresno County Outstanding Teen programs, was honored in her retirement from the competition with a video from past winners congratulating and thanking her for her tireless work. 

The completion of the competition aspect of the event concluded with the social impact pitches from Teen candidates and the on-stage interview with Miss candidates. 

Awards and distinctions were then given out after this portion.

2023 winners will now work with local organizations to help better and support younger generations.

In addition to this, they will also represent their cities, and their county in the 2023 Miss California competition, coming in June of 2023. 

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JT is a recent college grad with a Bachelor of Arts in Communication. He is mainly interested in sports and entertainment but covers a wide array of subjects. He currently writes for the Fresno State Baseball Dugout Club. JT looks forward to continuing his career at the Clovis Roundup and is excited to be working closely with a community that is very proud of its people.