Miss Kentucky Teen 2025 to crown new successor Friday night

BOWLING GREEN, Ky. – On Friday, one of Kentucky’s queens in the Miss America pageant system hands her crown to a new successor.

Seventeen-year-old Blakely Callahan, the 2025 Miss Kentucky Teen, said her journey on the stage started over 15 years ago.

“When I was three years old, I was watching Miss America, and I looked at my mom, and I had drawn myself with a little crown on a piece of paper. I had drawn myself wearing a crown and sash that said Miss America. I walked into the kitchen, and I looked at my mom and I said, ‘I want to be Miss ‘Merica,’” said Blakely Callahan, Miss Kentucky Teen 2025.

She said being in her position weighs more than the crown and sash, it’s the dream behind it. Blakely first saw the Miss America pageant on TV and was inspired to do the same.

“I started as a blue grass princess before they were called rising stars, and that was my entry into the Miss America system. I used to watch Miss America every year on my TV, and I knew that it was something that I really wanted to participate in,” Callahan said.

Her platform, Callahan’s Crowns for The Cure, brings awareness to multiple sclerosis, a condition her mom was diagnosed with. The nonprofit encourages testing to find a cure for the disease.

“It’s all about multiple sclerosis awareness. bringing education and advocacy to people across Kentucky, and America about multiple sclerosis and that’s a disease that my mother has suffered with for around 20 years now, so it’s always been a part of my life,” she said.

Now that her title reign has come to an end, she has been selected to attend Harvard’s pre-college law program over the summer and finish her senior year at south laurel high school.

“Personally, I thought I would be really sad, but I’m kind of just in this bittersweet moment where you know I am excited to see this change the next girls life, and then also I’m just really grateful for this year because every accomplishment that I stated I wanted to do, at the beginning of this year, I have had the opportunity to do those things,” Callahan said.

Friday night, 28 young women are vying for the crown at SKYPAC at 6:30 p.m. For the Miss Kentucky Pageant Saturday, you can still purchase tickets online.