Spreadsheet Championship

John Dumoulin of Virginia recently won an international competition on Microsoft Excel proficiency, which was part of the larger Microsoft Office Specialist World Championship held in Anaheim, CA. People come from all over the world to test their skills at Excel, Word, and PowerPoint. (Though it's restricted to ages 13-22).

Said Dumoulin: "Some of the foreign countries, they've been training for hours and hours and hours on end. When you first meet the international students, everyone's friendly, but when they find out you're competing against them in the same category, they get this fire in their eyes. They want to win."

More info: CTV News

Posted By: Alex - Thu Aug 10, 2017 - Comments (5)
Category: Awards, Prizes, Competitions and Contests

Miss Garlic

"Miss Garlic will be chosen on the basis of personality, congeniality, talent, knowledge of garlic — and breath."

Greenville News - Feb 10, 1986

Southern Illinoisan - Feb 11, 1986

Posted By: Alex - Sun Aug 06, 2017 - Comments (2)
Category: Awards, Prizes, Competitions and Contests, 1980s

Mr. and Miss Boll Weevil

This post is for KDP, who in response to Paul's post yesterday about the Maid of Cotton pageant, noted the apparent lack of a counterpart, Miss Boll Weevil.

There is indeed a Miss Boll Weevil, as well as a Mr. Boll Weevil. These titles have periodically been conferred on students at Alabama's Enterprise State Community College, whose mascot is a boll weevil.

For instance, in 1972 Pat Hatcher and Bobby Bright were the students named Mr. and Miss Boll Weevil. Bright went on to serve as the U.S. Representative for Alabama's 2nd congressional district from 2009 to 2011. Bright was the first Democrat to represent the district since 1962, but he didn't win a second term.

The Montgomery Advertiser - Nov 15, 2000

The Montgomery Advertiser - Jan 23, 1972

Posted By: Alex - Sat Jul 22, 2017 - Comments (4)
Category: Awards, Prizes, Competitions and Contests, Contests, Races and Other Competitions

Hillevi Rombin and her Performing Dogs

Hillevi Rombin (1933-1996) was crowned Miss Universe in 1955. Her talents included gymnastics, track & field, skiing, and sausage snake charming. She demonstrated the latter with her "performing dogs" for National Kraut and Frankfurter Week.

More info: wikipedia, cardcow.com

Rombin crowned Miss Universe

1955: with her performing dogs

Posted By: Alex - Wed Jul 05, 2017 - Comments (3)
Category: Awards, Prizes, Competitions and Contests, 1950s

Edward Seese Memorial Scholarship

When millionaire real estate investor Edward Seese died in March 1995, he left instructions in his will to fund a $4.5 million scholarship at Broward Community College. The recipients of the scholarship, he instructed, were to be high school students who earned a C average. He felt that scholarships typically went to high academic achievers, so the C students had been "left out in the cold."

The scholarship still seems to be available to those who qualify.

Tallahassee Democrat - June 21, 1995

Posted By: Alex - Wed Jun 28, 2017 - Comments (2)
Category: Awards, Prizes, Competitions and Contests, Education, Universities, Colleges, Private Schools and Academia, 1990s

Miss Bomarc Interceptor Missile

The missile is the supersonic Bomarc anti-aircraft missile developed by Boeing and the University of Michigan Aeronautical Research Center. The woman is 18-year-old Fran Frost. The year was 1958.

The Hill Top Times, newspaper of Hill Air Force Base, offered the following coverage:


Fran Frost went on to be Miss Utah State Fair, Miss Dairy Queen, and Miss World Contact Lens, but then retired from modeling.

Read her full story at Conelrad Adjacent.

Posted By: Alex - Sat Jun 10, 2017 - Comments (3)
Category: Awards, Prizes, Competitions and Contests, Beauty, Ugliness and Other Aesthetic Issues, 1950s, Weapons

Summer Redneck Games

Held annually in Dublin, Georgia since 1996. Events include redneck horseshoes (using toilet seats), the mud pit belly flop, armpit serenade, watermelon seed spitting, and bobbing for pig's feet. They also promise you'll see a lot of butt crack, camouflage, and four-wheel drives.

More info: Summer Redneck Games, pinterest

Posted By: Alex - Fri May 19, 2017 - Comments (2)
Category: Awards, Prizes, Competitions and Contests, Games, Hillbillies, Country Bumpkins, Ruralism and Flyover Country

Miss Mona Lisa 1958

February 1958: A jury of "celebrated painters" convened for the Mona Lisa Grand Prix awarded the title of "Mona Lisa 1958" to Luce Bona. What made the award slightly unusual is that Bona hadn't been a contestant. The judges just happened to see her as she was walking by outside and decided she was the one. At least, that was the story reported in the press.

Louisville Courier-Journal - Feb 19, 1958

Here's the winner from the previous year, Maria Lea. Apparently the gimmick of this contest was that the winner posed in a picture frame, which made her somehow like the Mona Lisa.

The Lincoln Star - Jan 13, 1957

Later in 1958 a jury of French mystery writers selected Luce Bona as the girl with the "Most Devilish Eyes." I'm assuming she was actually entered into that contest.

I can't find any references to Luce Bona after 1958. Perhaps she gave up modeling, despite such a promising start.

Posted By: Alex - Mon Dec 05, 2016 - Comments (8)
Category: Art, Awards, Prizes, Competitions and Contests, Beauty, Ugliness and Other Aesthetic Issues, 1950s

Paid half to ex-wife

Robert Lucas and Rita Cohen met while both were undergraduates at the University of Chicago, and they got married in 1959. They had two sons together, but eventually things didn't work out. They separated in 1982 and divorced a few years later, citing "irreconcilable differences."

But Rita evidently had faith in Robert's talent, because she instructed her lawyer to add a clause to the divorce settlement specifying that if Robert won the Nobel Prize by October 31, 1995, she would receive half the prize money.

Robert was awarded the Nobel Prize in economics on October 10, 1995 — 21 days before the clause would have expired.

Asked about having to pay half the prize to his ex-wife, he noted philosophically that, "A deal is a deal." But added, "Maybe if I'd known I'd win, I would have resisted the clause."

More info: LA Times (Oct 21, 1995)

St. Louis Post-Dispatch - Oct 21, 1995

Posted By: Alex - Thu Aug 25, 2016 - Comments (7)
Category: Awards, Prizes, Competitions and Contests, Divorce

Miss Sewer Cleaner

October 1951: Gaylia Davis, 17, was awarded the title "Miss Sewer Cleaner of 1952." She reflected philosophically that, "It may be a soggy title but if it helps my career I don't care."

I can't figure out what became of her after 1951. So it's hard to know if it helped her career or not.

Detroit Free Press - Dec 23, 1951

Detroit Free Press - Dec 23, 1951

Posted By: Alex - Sun Feb 21, 2016 - Comments (8)
Category: Awards, Prizes, Competitions and Contests, 1950s