MOBILE, Ala. -- Kimberly Ann Smith, a 17-year-old blonde from Raleigh, N.C., and a favorite throughout most of the competition, Thursday night was selected the 1981 America's Junior Miss.
'I don't know what to say, I'm sorry,' said Miss Smith, when asked how she felt. 'I don't believe it. I'm just frantic. I'm really frantic. I wasn't thinking. I'm just overwhelmed and I'm just so excited.'
Asked how she planned to handle her new role as America's Junior Miss, the 5-foot-6 , blue-eyed beauty said she was ready 'to really take it by the horns.
'I want to tell what this program really is and encourage young people everywhere to enjoy each other and enjoy being young. This is something you lose once you get older.'
The others among the five finalists were Indiana Junior Miss Leigh Skelton, 18, of West Lafayette, Ind., who was named first alternate; Virginia Junior Miss Betsy Fee, 18, of Arlington, Va.; California Junior Miss Christi Becker, 17, of Oakland, Calif., and Illinois Junior Miss Laura Beth Kofoid, 17, of Joliet, Ill.
Miss Smith, whose ambition is to become a professional dancer, won the poise and appearance and creative and performing arts awards in those final competitions.
She had already won the poise and appearance and creative and performing arts categories during preliminaries, as well as the physical fitness preliminary award.
Her talent number was a comic jazz dance-ballet-gymnastics routine to the song 'Be a Clown.'
'I danced at a lot of local pageants when I was younger, but I never dreamed I would be here,' said Miss Smith.
She said she plans to go to New York next year to pursue her chosen career and will use the scholarship money she won at various dance schools.
'I hope I can do my clown dance all across the country,' she said.
'She is an incredibly hard worker,' said her mother, Mrs. Bonnie Smith. 'She really goes at everthing. She goes at it full speed ahead.'
Each of the five finalists was given a controversial question to answer before the winner was announced. Miss Smith was asked what she thought of gun control.
'There's no real way to stop the use of guns,' she said. 'I think the problem needs to be stopped. I think by having gun control, it can be stopped.'
The 'Spirit of Junior Miss' award went to Minnesota Junior Miss Allison Kay Rosati, 18, of Pine City, Minn. The scholastic achievement award winner was Miss Becker. The physical fitness award winner was Miss Kofoid.
Fifty-two high school seniors vied in the finals of the nationwide scholarship program. The 1981 Junior Miss wasn't crowned as in past years. She was given a $25,000 scholarship and a scroll presented by the 1980 America's Junior Miss, Julie Bryan of Georgia.
'We wanted to get across what the Junior Miss Program really is,' said Ray Lauten Jr., executive vice president of the program. 'It's not another beauty contest.'
Lauten said the competition will no longer be referred to as a pageant.
This was the 24th annual America's Junior Miss Program. Total awards to participants from the 50 states, District of Columbia and Puerto Rico amounted to $105,800, making this year's event the biggest and richest ever.
Each preliminary winner was awarded a $1,000 scholarship.
The participants represented 25,000 young women who entered the Junior Miss Program at the local level.
Judges for the competition were psychologist Dr. Joyce Brothers, University of Georgia football coach Vince Dooley, Rear Adm. Louis Williams, songwriter Stephen Dorff and educator Suzanne Mink.
Judging on all levels was based on scholastic achievement, physical well-being, creativity, perception, poise and ability in human relations.
There was no bathing suit competition and half of the judging was based on an interview for each contestant with the panel of judges.
