Miss USA 2002


Miss USA 2002, the 51st Miss USA pageant, was held at Genesis Convention Center in Gary, Indiana on March 1, 2002. The event was won by Shauntay Hinton of the District of Columbia, who was crowned by outgoing queen Kandace Krueger of Texas. This is the second year in a row and third time since 1995 a Miss Teen USA state delegate did not win or inherit the Miss USA title.
This was the last Miss USA show to be aired on CBS. Beginning with the next Miss USA pageant, NBC assumed co-ownership of the pageant along with Donald Trump, and as a result began televising the pageant.
Hinton was the first African-American woman to win the pageant since Chelsi Smith held the title in 1995, and was the first titleholder from District of Columbia since 1964. This is the first time in pageant history that four delegates in the Top 5 were African-American.

Results

Placements

Final ResultsContestant
Miss USA 2002
  • District of Columbia – Shauntay Hinton
1st Runner-Up
  • Kansas – Lindsay Douglas
    • 2nd Runner-Up
  • Indiana – Kelly Lloyd
    • 3rd Runner-Up
  • Minnesota – Lanore van Buren
    • 4th Runner-Up
  • Connecticut – Alita Hawaah Dawson
    • Top 12
  • Alabama – Tara Tucker
  • California – Tarah Peters
  • Louisiana – Anne Lene
  • New York – Karla Cavalli
  • Rhode Island – Janet Sutton
  • South Carolina – Ashley Williams
  • Texas – Kasi Kelly

    • Special awards

    Final competition scores

    StateSwimsuitEvening GownAverage
    Minnesota9.489.459.47
    District of Columbia9.249.539.39
    Kansas9.069.679.37
    Indiana9.429.299.36
    Connecticut9.399.299.34
    South Carolina9.419.249.33
    Louisiana9.279.239.25
    Texas9.129.389.25
    Alabama9.179.159.16
    Rhode Island9.129.139.13
    California9.019.179.09
    New York8.968.948.95

    Delegates

    The Miss USA 2002 delegates were:
    Controversy erupted over the choice of swimsuits for the swimsuit final competition. Six of the 51 delegates chose an all-red one-piece, while the rest wore a two-piece option. The New York Post reported one contestant, Tarah Marie Peters of California, had points deducted by one judge because of her choice of a one-piece suit, thus eliminating her from the top five contestants. She was the only one of the top twelve who wore the one-piece option.

    Crossovers

    Ten delegates had previously competed in either the Miss Teen USA or Miss America pageants, including the two Triple Crown winners who had competed in both. One delegate later won a Miss America state title.
    Delegates who had previously held a Miss Teen USA state title were:
    Delegates who had previously held a Miss America state title or would later win one were:
    Delegates who participate in other beauty pageant later are: