INDIANAPOLIS — Miss Indiana 2022, Elizabeth Hallal won the preliminary talent award for the Miss America competition Monday and will now continue on the journey to Miss America.
As a prize for her award, Hallal received a $2,500 scholarship that she plans on putting towards her master’s degree.
“It’s an amazing opportunity to further my education,” Hallal told WRTV. “So, thank you to Miss America.”
Hallal is a senior at Ball State University studying musical theatre, which explains her decision to perform “Defying Gravity” from the musical Wicked for her talent performance.
Originally from the small town of Georgetown, Indiana, Hallal says she grew up with a love for the arts and storytelling.
“I didn’t grow up with a lot of money. My family was financially insecure, but I was able to pursue dance training and pursue this career in the arts because of the generosity of others,” Hallal said.
Hallal founded The Triple A Project: Accessibility to the Arts for All as her social impact initiative.
“It’s pretty much just the framework for low-income students and those with varying abilities to have access to artistic opportunities,” Hallal said.
Now that Hallal has passed the talent portion of the Miss America competition, she will now compete in the social impact portion and the red-carpet portion.
Hallal says that being Miss America will provide her the opportunity to expand The Triple A Project and her passion for giving people artistic opportunity.
“When you are Miss America that crown, in a way serves as a microphone for issues that you find really important,” Hallal said. “I think we’re living in a world today that is so divided and one thing that really unites everybody is arts, music. Everybody has a favorite song, or a favorite movie and I want to make sure that everyone has access to creating art and not just enjoying it from an external level.”
Hallal is competing against 50 other candidates representing all 50 states including the District of Columbia.
Thursday will mark the final night of the competition where the Top 11 candidates will be announced and will go on to compete for Miss America.
“Thank you to everyone at home that has been cheering me on,” said Hallal. “I hope to make you all proud this week.”
Visit Miss America Organization to follow Miss Indiana and watch the Miss America competition.
