Ann-Blair Thornton, a Bowling Green native and WKU student, was crowned Miss Kentucky 2011 on Saturday night.

The 21-year-old is a senior studying English and economics and says WKU helped play a major role in her pageant career.

“I’ve been competing in pageants for three years now, and the support from the WKU community has just grown stronger each year,” she said. “President Ransdell has always cheered me on and was one of the first people to call and congratulate me.”

The daughter of Steve and Terri Thornton, she is the first candidate from Bowling Green to win the Miss Kentucky pageant since Nell Garnett Owen was crowned in 1963.

After competing with 32 other candidates, Thornton’s platform on Alzheimer’s awareness and research, talent on the piano playing Rachmaninoff’s Prelude in G Minor and her interviews with judges helped her race to the top.

More than $39,000 in scholarships was handed out among the Miss Kentucky candidates.

Thornton will receive an $11,000 scholarship, $5,000 worth of clothing certificates, jewelry, dry cleaning, dental care, the use of a car for a year, a personal fitness trainer, tax services and other prizes.

Steve Thornton, Ann-Blair’s father, says many people forget about the scholarship aspect of the pageant. “It connects them with really smart young girls,” he said. “The networking is next to none.”

Ann-Blair is changing the way some tend to stereotype the pageant. “I want to make Kentucky proud of Miss America,” she said.

During her reign, Thornton will promote the Kentucky Proud Program for the State Agriculture Department and the Miss Kentucky Scholarship Organization requires her to serve as the state’s “official hostess.”

She will represent Kentucky in the Miss America pageant on Jan. 14 in Las Vegas at the Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino.

Contact: Miss Kentucky Scholarship Organization, (859) 273-4931.