Miss Massachusetts, 22-year-old Valerie J. Amaral, was named last night’s (WED) preliminary Talent winner for her vocal performance of “Anyway,” during the second night of competition in 2008 Miss America Live! at the Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino in Las Vegas.

Valerie, who plans to become a lawyer, will receive a $2,000 scholarship.

Also in the spotlight was Miss Michigan, 19-year-old Kirsten Haglund, who was the preliminary Lifestyle and Fitness winner in a black Winnwear swimsuit with gold trim and will receive a $1,000 scholarship. She’s planning a Broadway career and ironically it was Kirsten’s grandmother who represented Michigan in the 1944 Miss America pageant in Atlantic City

The winners of the three preliminary-finals sometimes give an advance glimpse as to who might wind up in the 15 semi-finalists, announced about 20-minutes into Saturday’s two-hour live telecast. The third preliminary-final takes place tonight (THURS) The final broadcast of Miss America: Reality Check will air tomorrow night (FRI) on TLC giving viewers one last chance to determine via secret Internet voting, a 16th semi-finalist—”America’s Choice.”

The Miss America Organization announced this morning (THURS) at the Planet Hollywood that five of this year’s winning contestants will join the USO to entertain troops serving overseas—including Iraq and Afghanistan. This represents a resumption of traveling to the troops after a long gap. It was back in 1999 that Miss America contetants last went overseas to meet the American service-men and-women.

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