Taylor wins evening wear preliminary at Miss Illinois

MARION, Ill. — Nicole Taylor of Mount Sterling won the Omega preliminary for evening gown at the Miss Illinois scholarship pageant Thursday night.

Contestants are split into two groups, Alpha and Omega. They award top score evening gown in each group and Taylor, who is in the competition as Miss Prairie State, took home top honors in her group.

Taylor, 20, is a daughter of Jon Taylor and Stacey Liggett. For the talent competition at Miss Illinois, she is performing a lyrical dance to “What a Wonderful World” Her service initiative is Exploring Inclusion: Everyone Belongs in Nature.

Taylor graduated from John Wood Community College last year with an associate’s degree in marketing. She is the assistant director of Gardner Camp, a nonprofit organization in Hull that promotes outdoor recreational and educational activities with a primary focus on youth programs and is a senior studying Conservation at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.

Her goal is to obtain a PhD in Conservation; Continue being an active influencer in the outdoors industry; and Serve as Director of the Illinois Department of Natural Resources.

Taylor represented the area as Miss Quincy in last year’s competition. Matty McCartney of Pittsfield is this year’s Miss Quincy and is also competing in Marion this weekend.

The winner of Miss Illinois will be announced Saturday, June 28, during the final night of competition. Miss Illinois will make public appearances throughout the state, serve as an advocate for her community service initiative and compete for the title of Miss America early next year.