In 2007 a girl named Jordan Somer, who was once a volunteer at the Special Olympics, created the Miss Amazing Pageant for over 30 states.

The pageant helps girls that participate build sisterhoods, develop life skills, and get to know more people in the disabled community. Three years ago a young woman named Packer McCarthy wanted to started it in Connecticut. When she was nineteen she took her sisters, who have hereditary sensory neuropathy type 2, which means they can’t feel their extremeties, to a Miss Amazing Pageant in Massachusetts and found they loved it.

One of the sisters wanted to participate and gave McCarthy the idea of bringing the pageant to her home state. “There was no excuse for me not to start the pageant in Connecticut.” Packer-McCarthy told MSN news.

The pageant is run entirely of volunteers and participants are required to bring in five canned goods for people in need. The participants are then required to buddy up with a person who does not have a disability. This can either be someone they know or a volunteer. The main event is the stage performance in which the contestants get to show off their special talent.

The Miss Amazing Pageant is an opportunity for young women and girls to express their inner beauty, for this pageant, everyone is a winner no matter what.