Miss America 2020: How to Watch, What Time and What Channel

The Miss America 2020 competition is here, with contestants from all over the country hoping to end the night with a new crown. The representatives from all regions of the country will gather Thursday to compete to be the next Miss America, a title leading to a year of advocating for a cause of their choice and representing the Miss America organization. Viewers can tune into the competition at 8 p.m. ET on NBC. Fans with DVRs can also record the event, just make sure it has the right times set up so you don’t miss a second of the competition. Viewers can also tune in to the competition on the NBC.com app.

This year the show, which does not want to be known as a “pageant” anymore, will be judged by singer Kelly Rowland, Queer Eye star Karamo Brown and Superstore actress Lauren Ash. The event is being held at the Mohegan Sun Earth Expo & Convention Center in Uncasville, Connecticut.

“We are looking forward to a fresh take on this historic competition that will showcase the incredible women vying for the job of Miss America 2020,” Regina Hopper, president & CEO of the Miss America Organization, said when announcing the decision to move the show out of Atlantic City, New Jersey in July.

Fifty-one women, representing all 50 states and the District of Columbia, have spent the past week competing in different events for more than $300,000 in scholarship money, including talent exhibitions and interviews, USA Today first wrote.

The winer will be awarded a $50,000 scholarship and will succeed 2019 winner Nia Franklin, a classically trained opera singer from New York who was the first winner not to have to participate in a swimsuit competition.

The 2020 show will also not feature swimsuit or evening gown competitions, with organizers stressing that participants are not judged on their physical appearance. The events are replaced by onstage interviews and opportunities for the contestants to speak about their personal achievements, life goals, talent and a planned “social impact initiative” they would enact should they win the crown.

“This is a brand new show,” Miss America President and CEO Regina Hopper told CNN. “The new format is interactive, challenging and exciting and is meant to allow the judges, and the audience, to see who these incredibly smart and talented young women are. Miss America 2.0 is about a young woman competing for a job. Each phase of the competition is meant to highlight an important role of that job which is focused on advancing her chosen social impact initiative each and every day. When the winner is selected you will know her, why she won, and what she will do with her job this next year.”

Miss America 2020 airs Thursday, Dec. 19 at 8 p.m. ET on NBC.