Fourteen young women will compete for pageant titles tonight they hope will make them competitors in statewide contests this summer.

Miss Vicksburg, Miss Riverbend, Miss Vicksburg’s Outstanding Teen and Miss Riverbend’s Outstanding Teen will be chosen in contests beginning at 7 at Vicksburg High School auditorium.

“I’m real excited,” director Amanda Harris said Friday afternoon. “I think it’s going to be a great show.”

Late Friday, the Miss Vicksburg pageant was one contestant shy of the required four, but registration will continue until 1 this afternoon, and organizers were confident it would go on.

However, if the fourth doesn’t sign up, the three contestants will compete in the Miss Riverbend contest, and no Miss Vicksburg will compete in the statewide pageant at the Vicksburg Convention Center in late June.

Harris said getting contestants is a talent search.

“A lot of the girls say they don’t have a talent,” she said.

Along with advancing to the state competition, winners in the Miss Riverbend and Vicksburg pageants will receive $250 scholarships and prizes. Outstanding teen winners will each receive a $100 scholarship and prizes and will compete in the Miss Mississippi’s Outstanding Teen contest, June 2-4 at the Vicksburg Auditorium. First runner-ups will receive a trophy.

“We’ve gotten a lot of donations from the community,” Harris said. “We have 30 sponsors. We have over $2,000 in cash donations.”

All girls will compete in talent, on-stage interview and evening wear. Teen contestants will compete in fitness wear, and miss contestants in swim wear.

The pageants will be emceed by Evelyn Parker of River 101 and the 2010 Miss New South’s Outstanding Teen Kami May. The current Miss Vicksburg, De’Lisha Wiggins, and Miss Vicksburg’s Outstanding Teen, Piper Booth, will provide entertainment.

The teen contests are for ages 13 to 17, excluding high school seniors. The miss pageants are for ages 17 to 24. The Vicksburg pageants are for Warren, Claiborne and Sharkey county residents, and the Riverbend pageants are open.

Miss Vicksburg competitors are:

• Bailey Anderton, 19, a student at Mississippi College. Her platform is brain research. She is the daughter of Gary and Cherie Anderton of Vicksburg. She will sing.

• Katie Kulhavy, 18, a student at the University of Southern Mississippi. Her platform is juvenile diabetes research. She is the daughter of Raymond Kulhavy and Helen Adcock of Vicksburg. She will perform a lyrical dance.

• Elyssa Lassiter, 21, a student at Mississippi College. Her platform is Let’s B.O.O.G.I.E. (Banish Our Obesity Growth through Initiating Exercise). She is the daughter of Dr. Ethel M. Lassiter of Vicksburg, and she will play the flute.

The four Miss Riverbend contestants are:

• Jennifer Catherine Cain, 20, a student at the University of Mississippi. Her platform is Moving Through Arthritis. She is the daughter of Avonna Cain of Biloxi, and she will perform ballet en pointe.

• Hannah Elizabeth Hathorn, 18, a student at Mississippi State University. Her platform is child mentoring. She is the daughter of Dale and Jean Hathorn of Nettleton, and she will sing.

• Katie Ruth Robertson, 19, a student at Mississippi State University. Her platform is Catch-A-Dream. She is the daughter of Gene Robertson and Cyndie Robertson of Madison. She will dance.

• Chassidy Sumler, 17, a student at Madison Central High School. Her platform is Preventing Childhood Obesity. She is the daughter of Perry Sumler and Sharon Sumler of Flora, and she will sing.

The four Miss Vicksburg Outstanding Teen contestants are:

• Jessica Lynn McCool, 16, a student at Vicksburg High School. She is the daughter of Ronnie and Lynda McCool of Vicksburg. She will play the trumpet.

• McKenzie Pollack, 17, a student at Warren Central High School. Her platform is Fine Arts in Education. She is the daughter of Philip and Cheryl Pollock of Vicksburg, and she will sing.

• Alexis Stevenson, 15, a student at Vicksburg High School. Her platform is Youth Enlightenment/No Child Left Behind. She is the daughter of Derrell Green and Pamela Williams. She will perform a jazz dance.

• Marneicha Wilson, 15, a student at Warren Central High School. Her platform is Dance for Help. She is the daughter of Marnique Wilson of Vicksburg, and she will dance.

The three Miss Riverbend Outstanding Teen contestants are:

• Ashley Lane Beneke, 16, a student at Jackson Preparatory School. Her platform is childhood obesity. She is the daughter of Richard and Jill Beneke of Jackson, and she will play piano.

• Ashley King, 16, a student at Grenada High School. Her platform is Teen Dating Violence Awareness. She is the daughter of Don and Cami King of Grenada. She will perform a contemporary dance.

• Layla Taylor, 15, a student at Nettleton High School. Her platform is the March of Dimes. She is the daughter of John and Angela Cohea of Nettleton, and she will sing.