As Ericka Dunlap explains it, beauty pageants are her sport. She's been doing them since she was 6 years old and has collected some 1,100 trophies and 60 crowns.
So when she learned she had won the title of Miss Florida 2003 on Saturday night, she shook with emotion, clutched at her heart, opened her mouth in shock and then started crying.
She'd just made history. Dunlap is Florida's first African-American Miss Florida. Her platform at the weeklong pageant was about racial inclusion.
"I always wanted to be first but I thought it would be someone before me, and I am the first and it's amazing," she said.
"It'll give me a chance to be a role model," the University of Central Florida student said Friday. "I participated in pageants and I didn't always feel like I had a place when I was younger and now I'm so happy because I feel like I do."
The semifinalists included many pageant veterans, women who have won anywhere from two to six local titles only to advance to the Miss Florida pageant and not win the crown.
Miss St. Petersburg, Shauna Pender, was first runner-up in the field of 42 contestants and received a $5,000 cash scholarship.
Second runner-up was Valerie Lynch of Orlando ($4,000 cash scholarship), followed by third runner-up Miss Florida Orange Blossom, Morgan Ortagus ($3,000 scholarship) and fourth runner-up Miss Panama City, Kristen O'Rear ($2,000 scholarship).
The winners were announced just after 10 p.m. Saturday before a three-quarters full house at the 2,000-seat Mahaffey Theater.
The finals capped three days of preliminaries in which the women divided into three groups and performed one event per night.
Dunlap sang Regina Belle's If I Could on Wednesday night, wore a swimsuit Thursday night and then put on a canary yellow Sherry Hill strapless gown to win the evening gown portion of the competition Friday night.
Shauna Pender of St. Petersburg, wearing a taupe gown with platinum beading, won the evening gown contest for her group on Wednesday night. She also won the swimsuit contest Friday night. Each award provides the women with a $250 scholarship.
But none of these wins guaranteed the crown for either Dunlap or Pender or any of the other preliminary winners. That's because a large part of the contestants' scores were determined earlier in the week during closed-door interviews with the judges.
Interviews count for 40 percent of the scores. Questions can be asked about their platforms or current events.
Talent, which can be anything from singing or dancing to gymnastic routines or baton twirling, counts for 30 percent of the score. Presence and poise in evening wear and lifestyle and fitness in a swimsuit count for 10 percent each. The judges then use the remaining 10 percent to score the women based on their overall performance in the competition.
Many of these young women go for the Miss Florida crown year after year, perfecting their performances and interview skills.
This was Pender's fifth try at the crown. Ortagus, Lynch and O'Rear were competing for their second year.
One top 10 semifinalist, Cristina Bermudez, is probably the longest suffering. This was her sixth and final attempt. The 24-year-old has been Miss Pasco County, Miss Plant City, Miss Tampa, Miss St. Petersburg and Miss Seminole over the course of six years. Sometimes it takes traveling around the state to the various local and open competitions (some of them are open only to those who live in the area) as many as seven times in a year before the title comes.
Bermudez said this year she was lucky. The Seminole pageant was her first and she won it. But this will be her last year as a contestant in the Miss Florida pageant. She and Pender, 23, will be too old next year.
Bermudez said it is something she has worked to achieve for years, but she has no regrets. She has earned some $15,000 in scholarships at the pageants and recently graduated from the University of South Florida with a degree in communication, debt-free.
Though Dunlap is also a pageant professional, this was just her third try for the Miss Florida title. She was Miss Orlando 2001, Miss Heart of Florida 2002 and Miss City Beautiful 2003 (an Orlando pageant). Dunlap will head to Atlantic City in September to compete in the Miss America pageant.
"I think in Florida it was time to break that racial barrier," said David Talton, 47, a St. Petersburg resident who worked with the Miss Texas pageant for 12 years and attended the Florida pageant this week. "Many other southern states have. I think she'll do well for Florida."
