How much does it cost to enter beauty pageants? Here, I’m referring to the entry fee only, and not to the costs associated with pageant dresses, pageant outfits, modeling lessons, hair and makeup sessions, manicures, pedicures, flippers, and hair pieces and falls. People often ask me this question, and it’s surprisingly difficult to answer. Every pageant is different, and every pageant director and pageant system is unique. There are no rules as to how much entry fees could or should be for a particular beauty pageant.
Now that all that’s been explained, you might find that there’s sort of an “average” entry fee for local pageants that are held in your area. Around here, that’s usually around $100-$150. That price might include fees for optional, but if it doesn’t, you’ll have to pay extra to be entered into optional categories like best hair, best dress, prettiest face, best smile, most photogenic, best personality, etc. State-level beauty pageants usually have a higher entry fee.
Generally speaking, large national beauty pageants that have made big names for themselves are the most expensive to enter. Some of these can cost $1,000 to enter, although some have lower entry fees. Oftentimes, you’ll find that the entry fee is in direct proportion to the prizes offered by the particular beauty pageants. Beauty pageants with high entry fees usually award bigger crowns, more crowns, larger cash prizes, and better prizes, in general.