The competition was hosted by Keltie Knight and Adrienne Bailon-Houghton, with Jordan Kimball and Miss USA 2022 Morgan Romano as correspondents. This was the first pageant to be held under the directorship of fashion designer Laylah Rose,[3] and was streamed on
The CW website and mobile application.[4] It was also the last edition with an upper age limit of twenty-eight years.[5]
Background
Location
On July 14, 2022, it was reported that the competition would be held in
Reno, Nevada, with the city securing a three-year deal to host the pageant from 2022 to 2024.[6] This will be the third time that the pageant is held in Reno, and a second consecutive year holding the pageant in the city, following
Miss USA 2019 and 2022.[7][8] Then-Miss USA organization president
Crystle Stewart said the location was chosen to honor
Cheslie Kryst, who had been crowned Miss USA 2019 in the same venue and had died by suicide in January 2022.[9]
On October 7, due to allegations of rigging in the
previous competition, the license for the pageant and its sister pageant
Miss Teen USA were suspended and returned to the
Miss Universe Organization.[10] In August 2023, it was announced that Crystle Stewart had stepped down as president of the Miss USA Organization.[11] She was replaced by fashion designer Laylah Rose.[3]
Selection of contestants
Starting with this pageant, the Miss Universe Organization announced that it would accept married women and mothers to compete in the pageant.[12] The ruling was first used in the first five editions of the pageant before being revised in
1957.[13]
In September 2023, Miss USA 2022 winner
R'Bonney Gabriel announced that the organization would be forgoing the age limit beginning in 2024, especially for its related national pageants. Adult women 29 years old and above will also be qualified for participation. Previously, contestants had to be between the ages of 18 and 28 by the start of those pageants.[5]
Delegates from the fifty states and the
District of Columbia are selected in state pageants which began in September 2022 and scheduled to conclude in August 2023, as the state pageant schedule can become very dense between the last state pageant held from 2022. The first state pageant was
Idaho, held on September 11, 2022, and the last state pageant was
New York, held on August 6, 2023.
Maine becomes the first married Miss USA state titleholder in sixty-six years after getting married in April 2023.[14] Nine state titleholders were former
Miss Teen USA state winners, two were former
Miss World America state winners, another was a former
Miss America's Outstanding Teen state titleholder, three are former
Miss America state titleholders, and one is former
Miss Supranational Zambia winner.
The Miss USA Organization introduced several specific changes to the format for this edition. The number of semi-finalists was increased to twenty from sixteen of the previous year. The results of the preliminary competition — which consisted of the swimsuit competition, the evening gown competition, and the closed-door interview determined the first nineteen semi-finalists who advanced at the first cut. The internet voting was also used, with fans being able to vote for another delegate to advance into the semifinals. The twenty semi-finalists competed in both the swimsuit and evening gown competitions and were to be narrowed down to five afterwards.[2][18] The five finalists competed in the question and answer round, and the final speech portion, after which Miss USA 2023 and her runners-up were announced.