The 2013 Quality of Life Award winner of a $6,000 scholarship was Miss Alabama Anna Laura Bryan. Anna Laura's personal platform is P.A.W.S. for Autism—People and Animals Working Side-by-Side. Miss Alabama has used her platform to be a champion for helping to provide people with autism the right to be accompanied by a pet. She has lobbied for this and authored the Alabama Legislature House Bill 502. The announcement was made at Planet Hollywood during Thursday's Miss America press conference during the 2013 Miss America Competition.

The first-runner up and winner of a $4,000 scholarship was Miss Maryland Joanna Guy. Joanna, whose personal platform issue is "Jo's Jars," supporting Children's Miracle Network Hospitals. Joanna is an advocate for helping to support the Miss America national partner, CMNH, and supporting the Miss America Scholarship Program. Joanna is also passionate about promoting Heart to Heart, and raising awareness for healthy hearts.

The second runner-up and winner of a $2,000 scholarship was Miss Tennessee Chandler Lawson whose personal platform is "Feed Hope: Fight Child Hunger." Chandler has become dedicated to helping fight childhood hunger and has funded her own 501C (3) nonprofit organization called "5 loaves 4 kids." It is a backpack program that feeds children that are hungry in her hometown. In the last five years, they have packed more than forty-five thousand serving more than three hundred children a week.

The Quality of Life Awards were introduced in 1988 to recognize contestants who excel in their commitment to community service. The awards are available to each of the fifty-three contestants competing for the title of Miss America. In order to be considered for the Quality of Life Award, contestants submitted an application describing their involvement with Children's Miracle Network—the national platform of the Miss America Organization—and their own personal platform issue. This year, the awards were in memory of our beloved Miss America 1945 Jean Bartel who first introduced the scholarship idea in the 1940s. Her legacy continues through this annual award for community service.

An honorable mention goes to the remaining finalists: Miss Delaware Alyssa Murray: Mela-No-More-Skin Cancer, Miss Idaho Whitney Wood: Handbags of Hope-Giving Women Confidence They Can Carry, Miss Mississippi Marie Wicks: EYES.T.A.R giving eyesight to all regions, and Miss Washington Mandy Schendel: Do Something; Enriching Youth, Cultivating Leaders. In addition to the Quality of Life Awards announcement, the fourpoints award reflects what the four points of the crown mean to contestants who submit essays. The four points of the crown are service, style, scholarship, and success. The winner of this $2,000 award was Miss Idaho Whitney Wood.

Source and photo: MAO