Rihanna Skye Reid was chosen Ware County Junior Miss 2026 last month in a pageant at Ware County Middle School Auditorium.
Reid, the daughter of Swain and Shriska Reid, topped a field of nine other finalists to win the crown March 14. The eighth-grader at Ware County Middle School is a member of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes leadership team, National Junior Honor Society, Student Council, and Future Farmers of America.
Alaya McMillan, 2025 Ware County Junior Miss, took her final walk before those in attendance, then crowned Reid as her successor.
The other finalists following the preliminary portion of the competition were eighth-graders Ali-Grace Burkett, Nyna Carter, Madison Mixon, Emma Padgett, Adaley Wesley and Reid, along with sixth-graders Karly Forman, Halle Hodge, Ava Kim, and Carli Waters.
Kim was selected first runner-up to Reid followed by Madison Mixon, second runnerup, Padgett third and Hodge fourth. Padgett also was chosen Miss Congeniality by the other contestants, while Kim was selected Most Photogenic by the event’s photographer. The audience voted sixth-grader Kayla Clark as Crowd Favorite.
Emcee for the pageant was Ed Flowers, who posed a question for each of the 10 finalists to answer verbally prior to the final judging.
The pageant was sponsored by the Ware County Middle School Yearbook and directed by advisor Stormy Parten and co-directed by Julia Graves, Asti Ogletree, and Anna Roberts. They thanked all the contestants and their parents for their participation, those who helped behind the scenes to make the evening a success, and all those in attendance for coming out to support the students.
During a special portion of the evening, Parten was presented with flowers by auditor Kimberly Brown and Graves. The pageant marked Parten’s 25th year as the director of the event, 27th year as the yearbook adviser for the school, and 30th year of service as a special education teacher at WCMS. The educator plans to retire at the end of this school year.
