Avery Braithwaite with the runner-ups on pageant night.
Avery Braithwaite, Hoggard’s Student Body President, waits patiently for me in an empty classroom. She stands tall, and when the interview begins, answers with a charming authenticity that can’t be practiced. Even when Avery’s not wearing the crown, she exudes the kind of grace and poise that you’d expect from the 75th NC Azalea Festival Princess. As her year as Princess comes to an end, Avery Braithwaite wants you to know that taking a chance on something you're skeptical about is the best thing you can do for your future.
Although you wouldn’t guess it now, Avery initially had her doubts about competing in the Azalea Festival Princess Pageant. She was used to doing behind-the-scenes work with the Azalea Festival Youth Committee but had never done a pageant before. The idea of having everyone’s focus on her was a daunting one. Even so, the notion of competing to be the Azalea Princess elicited a sort of giddiness in her. After all, what little girl doesn’t dream of becoming a princess? But underneath that childhood glee is a practical mind. Avery has big plans for the future; the public speaking skills and potential scholarship money that she’d gain from the experience are reason enough to participate.
The months leading up to the pageant flew by. The morning of pageant day kicked off with a nerve-racking private interview. The results of this interview would later be used to grade each contestant. The top performers answered an on-stage question later that night in front of the audience. To prepare for this interview, a mock interview is held a couple of weeks beforehand. As Avery sat in front of me during our conversation, she wove together a story of nervous excitement, a self-proclaimed “horrible” mock interview, and a pacing girl in a pink dress. With the elevated nervousness came a loss of personality. When the time for her mock interview finally came, she was wound so tight that her answers came out completely robotic. The interviewers left her with some tips, and she used the experience to improve her performance moving forward, so much so that at the end of pageant night she had made it into the Top 5.
With some prompting, she described to me the moment that her name was called on the pageant stage at Kenan Auditorium: the excitement and outpouring of support from the audience. As the winner of the pageant, Avery was crowned NC Azalea Festival Princess and received the Beverly-Anne Jurgensen Scholarship, an award named after the Azalea Festival’s first female president.
“It was just a very surreal time. It’s a big commitment and you're responsible not only for your actions and how you represent yourself but you're also representing Wilmington,” Avery described. “You’re representing the festival, that’s what we’re known for here in Wilmington so that was a big role to take on.”
The 2023 Azalea Festival began about a month after her crowning. Avery made a few small appearances leading up to the Festival Week: the Youth Art and Writing Exhibition and the Juried Art Show where she socialized with guests young and old and declared her favorite piece the “Princess’s Pick.” Accompanied by her Court, which is composed of the top four pageant runner-ups, the Princess attends countless events during Festival Week. Avery tells me that the pressure of trying to meet the high expectations set by past princesses had her nerves at an all-time high. However, the more the community embraced and welcomed her, the more comfortable she became in her position. Her favorite Festival Week event was the
Braithwaite judging the puppy pageant. school visit to Wilmington Christian Academy where all the students lined up to welcome her. “We pull up to the school... and I see all the kids lined up on the side and they're all cheering,” Avery said. Avery happily chatted with the students as she was escorted throughout the school. Events like this allowed her to practice being in front of a crowd, thus building up her confidence.
But the Princess’s work doesn’t end after Azalea Festival Week. The Azalea Princess is the Azalea Festival’s only year-round representative. For the rest of the year, Avery made scheduled appearances at local events in Wilmington as well as visited a variety of other festivals across the state. She had a few favorite events such as the Fair Bluff Watermelon Festival where she participated in the parade and claims to have snagged second place in the Watermelon eating contest (though this has not yet been corroborated).
Throughout the year, Avery was able to build her own network of friends and role models in the NC pageant community, something that a younger version of her would never have thought possible. When people think of pageants, they often think of an old-school beauty pageant where girls wear swimsuits and talk about world peace. Although Avery grew up believing in all the typical stereotypes about pageants and those who participate in them, after winning her crown and forming bonds with young women from across the state her viewpoint has changed. She has become quite passionate about dispelling the antiquated narrative that all pageant girls are ignorant, and that pageants, by nature, objectify women.
“That’s just not the truth anymore,” Avery explained. “At least for the Miss America and the Azalea Festival Pageant, you’re credited based on your talent and your ability to speak to people and your intelligence. It’s not as much about how you look, and I think I had to experience the pageant world to understand that.”
During Festival Week in particular, Avery met the 84th Miss North Carolina, Karolyn Martin, who accompanied her the whole week. “I kind of felt like I resonated a little bit with her because she’s in law school right now. That’s what I want to do. I thought, ‘Okay, this is possible.’”
If you’ve ever met Avery, you know there’s no denying that her heart is devoted to helping others. As this year’s pageant approaches, she’s spent a lot of her time mentoring the new and very, very nervous contestants. After almost a complete year as Princess, Avery’s commitments are starting to wind down. Although it’s
(From left to right) Queen Azalea, Azalea hard to say goodbye, she said she’s glad to have the
Princess, and Miss North Carolina. extra time to focus on running Student Council, prioritizing her wellbeing, and enjoying the remainder of her senior year.
Looking back on her year, Avery recognizes the Princess Pageant as the catalyst that sent her on a journey of self-growth and is adamant about encouraging other young people to push themselves.
“I was never super charismatic or social or like the type that would go around and mingle with all the guests that I didn't know.” Avery said. “And I still am not that person and that part of me didn’t really change because of the pageant, but I think that I’ve put myself in a situation where if I had to be, I could. In your formational years I think that the soft skills you learn from this sort of experience are absolutely crucial.”
Avery Braithwaite will be passing on her crown to the next Azalea Princess on the evening of March 9th at Kenan Auditorium. Leading up to that, your last few chances to see her as Princess will be the Seahawk Sun Run (February 18th) and the Azalea Spring Fashion Show (March 2nd).