This year’s winner of the Miss Mississippi’s Outstanding Teen Pageant will have a few extra weeks to prepare for the national competition.

Officials in charge of the teen pageant have decided to move the event from June to April, the executive director of the MMOT Winky Freeman said.

“This will give us almost six weeks longer to help prepare the winner for the Miss America Outstanding Teen Pageant,” Freeman said.

The dates of this year’s pageant are set for April 29-30.

Freeman said the MMOT board had been considering moving the pageant up for the last couple of years and finally decided to make the change.

“The Louisiana and Alabama Outstanding Teen Pageants have been doing this for quite a while,” Freeman said.

Since its beginning, the MMOT Pageant has been held in June, which put it near the same time the Miss Mississippi Pageant competition is held and this was one of the reasons Freeman gave as to why the board decided to change the dates.

“When the teen pageant and the Miss Mississippi Pageant are held back to back, it makes it hard for the volunteers and the local directors to get off work,” Freeman said, and it also allows for them to have a longer break in between both pageants.

In addition to holding the pageant earlier in the year, Freeman said they will also be condensing the preliminary competitions will be held on the same day.

“It’s expensive, especially for local directors because they are paying for everything,” Freeeman said.

Also, with the pageant only lasting a weekend, expenses will be less for the contestants’ parents and for families who will have daughters participating in the Petite Magnolia Princess program.

The teen contestants will arrive on Friday, April 28 and will begin their interview sessions with judges.

The first preliminary competition will be held at 2 p.m. Saturday, April 29 with the second to follow at 7:30 p.m.

The final day of competition and crowning is scheduled to begin at 2 p.m. Sunday, April 30.

All competitions will be held at the Vicksburg Auditorium, 901 Monroe St.

Tickets are $75 for all three competitions, $25 for each of the preliminaries and $40 for the final competitions and crowning and are available by calling 601-638-6746 or visiting the Miss Mississippi Pageant website.