The Little Miss and Miss Troy Pageants will be held on Saturday at Pike Liberal Arts School. Two pageants will be held: the 2 p.m. pageant will be for all contestants 12 years old and younger, with the exception of Little Miss, and the Little Miss and Miss Troy Pageants will be held at 6:30 p.m.

“Most people hear ‘beauty pageant’ and automatically think Toddlers and Tiara, the TV Show, but we pride ourselves in that we are not that type of pageant,” said Erikka Knight, one of the pageant directors.

The girls and the team have worked hard to make this pageant happen.

“Putting on a pageant of this magnitude always takes weeks of preparation and certainly takes a village to pull off,” Knight said.

Troy is a National Peanut Preliminary, and according to Knight, the contestants always do well at Peanut. The 2013 Miss Troy won Miss National Peanut Festival that year. She will be the emcee at the pageant on Saturday.

The pageant is sponsored by Kappa Delta Sorority at Troy University, and all proceeds from the event goes to Relay For Life on behalf of the sorority.

During the pageant, the contestants are able to interview and answer onstage questions.

“It is a great attribute to have,” said Knight. “It helps prepare the contestants that will have interviews or public speaking in their future.”

Contestants will be judged on an interview, verbal communication and evening gown modeling. The interview will be conducted privately with a panel of judges before the pageant. For the verbal communication portion, the contestants will draw a word and will have one minute to discuss the top on stage during the pageant.

“As cliché as it sounds, beauty truly isn’t skin deep,” Knight said. “A joyous heart and a sweet spirit overflow to your outward beauty.

“There are no losers in pageants!”