{"id":214464,"date":"2026-04-29T19:55:09","date_gmt":"2026-04-29T19:55:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/214464\/"},"modified":"2026-04-29T19:55:09","modified_gmt":"2026-04-29T19:55:09","slug":"spelman-sparks-outrage-for-crowning-2-pageant-queens","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/214464\/","title":{"rendered":"Spelman Sparks Outrage For Crowning 2 Pageant Queens"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" height=\"408\" width=\"660\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/17773802901629.png\" alt=\"Miss Spelman College, Spelman College \" class=\"wp-image-1670573\" style=\"width:840px;height:auto\"  \/>Source: Photo via Spelman College Instagram \/ Miss Spelman College Pageant winners.<\/p>\n<p>The annual Miss Spelman College Pageant has sparked backlash from students and social media users alike after an unprecedented decision to crown two winners on April 17, breaking the competition\u2019s 43-year tradition. On Friday, the historically Black women\u2019s liberal arts college in Atlanta, Georgia, named students Jillian Collier and Kinsley Wilson as co\u2013Miss Spelman. The prestigious title<a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.spelman.edu\/events\/2026\/04\/miss-spelman-pageant-2026.html\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"> comes with <\/a>the responsibility of serving as an ambassador for Spelman College, with winners often representing the institution to prospective students, parents, donors, and other external audiences.<\/p>\n<p>The controversy began days earlier, when Wilson was initially announced as the sole winner on April 11. Nearly a week later, the college revealed a scoring error and declared Collier a co-winner on April 17, citing a miscalculation in the results.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFollowing a comprehensive review of the 2026 Miss Spelman Pageant, the College identified a technical discrepancy in the initial scoring results. In a decision that reflects our commitment to equity and the exceptional caliber of our students, Spelman College has named Co-Miss Spelmans for the 2026-2027 academic year. This move ensures that the hard work and excellence of these scholars are acknowledged and fully celebrated,\u201d the HBCU<a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.essence.com\/education\/hbcus\/scandal-at-spelman-the-co-queen-decision\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"> wrote <\/a>in a statement, according to Essence.<\/p>\n<p>RELATED CONTENT: <a href=\"https:\/\/madamenoire.com\/1431815\/10-reasons-hbcus-league-of-their-own\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">10 Reasons HBCUs Are In A League Of Their Own<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\tLove MadameNoire? Get more! Join the MadameNoire Newsletter\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-ione-newsletter-sign-up__privacy\">\n\t\t\t\t\tWe care about your data. See our <a href=\"https:\/\/urban1.com\/privacy\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">privacy policy<\/a>.\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>In a separate statement to 11Alive, Spelman College<a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.11alive.com\/article\/news\/local\/spelman-college-apologizes-after-miss-spelman-scoring-error\/85-c7dffbb1-f7c7-4266-aa09-7f54e9556a2d\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"> said<\/a> it is \u201coverhauling protocols\u201d and apologized for the error, adding that it is working to ensure \u201ca similar error does not occur again.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>During the Miss Spelman College Pageant competition, seven contestants were judged on talent, interview performance, poise, and an overall composite score.<\/p>\n<p>Still, the explanation has not satisfied everyone. Some critics online argued that naming two winners undermines the pageant\u2019s longstanding tradition.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhoever got the most votes should be the SOLE winner. We have to stop this participation award agenda,\u201d one social media user <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/itsuatl\/p\/DXecY-QDSod\/?hl=fr\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">wrote<\/a> in the comments section of AJC News after the outlet shared the story online.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Another user commented, \u201cI would be highly annoyed. Pick ONE winner, even if I lose. I\u2019m not sharing the crown.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Others, however, saw the outcome as an opportunity to highlight unity and sisterhood within the HBCU community.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIdk, looks like double the IMPACT to me. Get to work, ladies!\u201d wrote one user.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Another supporter added, \u201cSpelman also had seven valedictorians this year. It is not highly unreasonable to have two queens. We are talking about a phenomenal student body.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>As debate intensified, Spelman College disabled comments on its social media platforms and signaled a step back from the online discourse.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen the noise of social media begins to impact the peace and well-being of our students, we must return to our roots as a place of refuge and safety,\u201d Spelman College wrote in part via a statement shared to Instagram on April 24.<\/p>\n<p>What do you think of this heated debate surrounding the Miss Spelman College Pageant?\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>RELATED CONTENT: <a href=\"https:\/\/madamenoire.com\/1359302\/spelman-college-100-million-donation\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Spelman College To Receive $100M, Largest Single Donation In HBCU History<\/a><\/p>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/www.instagram.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Source: Photo via Spelman College Instagram \/ Miss Spelman College Pageant winners. The annual Miss Spelman College Pageant&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":214465,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[84652,12595,26119,9,24,370,63,122,124,123,82256],"class_list":["post-214464","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-queens","tag-black-college-students","tag-college","tag-hbcu","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-newsletter","tag-nyc","tag-queens","tag-queens-headlines","tag-queens-news","tag-spelman-college"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/214464","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=214464"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/214464\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/214465"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=214464"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=214464"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=214464"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}