Miss Illinois Teen USA

Jason Vannatta Jennifer Vannatta-Fisher, State Pageant Director

The ** Miss Illinois Teen USA **competition is the pageant that selects the representative for the state of Illinois in the Miss Teen USA pageant. It is directed by Vanbros and Associates and is previously directed by D&D Productions from 2001 to 2014 before becoming part of Vanbros organization in 2014, headquartered in Lenexa, Kansas.

Illinois is in the top fifteen states in terms of number and value of placements over the twenty-three years of the Miss Teen USA competition. Illinois ties with Florida and North Carolina for the most Miss Photogenic awards won at Miss Teen USA (3) and has won more awards than any other state. Like the Miss USA Pageant, Illinois went on to win the Miss Teen USA title in the second edition of the pageant.

Nine Illinois teens have competed at Miss USA, five as Miss Illinois USA title. The first was Cherise Haugen, Illinois' only Miss Teen USA, who competed as Miss Teen USA at the 1984 pageant (the first few Miss Teen USAs were given this opportunity). Later three more would compete at the Miss USA pageant, two representing Vanbros states: Terri Bollinger represented Missouri in 1999 and Anne-Marie Dixon Oklahoma in 1998 and Lacey Wilson Massachusetts in 2010. Vanbros is a pageant production company that owns the Miss Teen USA franchises for, and produces and directs, several state pageants in the Midwest. The Miss Illinois Teen USA Pageant has been the single largest official state preliminary competition with over 150 contestants every year since at least 2002 and has always ranked among the top ten largest state preliminary pageants.

Sophia Xia of Chicago was crowned Miss Illinois Teen USA 2025 on May 25, 2025, at Braden Auditorium in Normal. She represented Illinois at Miss Teen USA 2025.