Kiran Reddy of Georgia won the 2026 edition of the pageant on Wednesday
Credit: missteenusa/instagram
NEED TO KNOW
- Miss Teen USA 2026 crowned Kiran Reddy of Georgia its new winner, following Mailyn Marsh’s reign
- Former Miss USA 2023 Noelia Voigt, who resigned her crown in 2024, returned to co-host this year’s competition
- The pageant took place in Miami, where Miss USA will also take place on Aug. 27
Miss Teen USA has crowned its 2026 titleholder!
Kiran Reddy of Georgia was crowned by Miss Teen USA 2025, Mailyn Marsh, on Wednesday, Aug. 26 in Miami during the 44th iteration of the pageant.
“I am so excited and blessed to represent Georgia and the U.S. and be the role model I always needed growing up,” Reddy, 18, said.
Last year, Marsh was crowned Miss Missouri Teen USA on May 11, 2025, and later represented Missouri at the national Miss Teen USA 2025 competition, hosted in Reno, Nev., on Oct. 23, 2025.
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Marsh was just 17 when she was crowned, but has years of pageant experience. Notably, Marsh’s mother, Amanda Carraway, was Miss Kansas Teen USA in 1996 and later went on to be crowned Miss Kansas USA in 1999.
According to the Miss USA website, Marsh founded Keep Girls In School, an initiative fighting period poverty by providing products to students across Missouri.
The 2025 Miss Teen USA titleholder is also a classically trained hunter-jumper equestrian. She also advocates for sustainable fashion.
This year’s Miss Teen USA competition was hosted by former Miss USA 2023 Noelia Voigt, who made headlines for her resignation back in May 2024. Voigt was the first-ever Miss USA titleholder to relinquish her crown.
A year and a half later, the former winner made another surprising move: Voigt returned to the Miss USA stage as co-host of this year’s preliminary round on Wednesday, Oct. 22, 2025. She’s back this year to host the Miss Teen USA competition, alongside co-host Sean Michael Rae.
Judges for this year’s Miss Teen pageant include Kelsey Swanson, who is a current member of the cast of The Real Housewives of Rhode Island, and joins the judging panel this year. Swanson took home the Miss Rhode Island USA title in 2017.
Swanson was joined by Kylan Darnell, the influencer who became famous for her social media videos documenting her time as a sorority member at the University of Alabama, and who returned to the pageant world after winning the Miss Ohio Teen competition in 2022.
In addition to Swanson and Darnell, former Miss Teen USA 2020 Ki’ilani Arruda returnws to judge the competition. Miss Teen USA 2019 Kaliegh Garris also returned to the pageant. Marie P. Anderson, who owns Boss Babe Models, and celebrity designer Bessie Besana also judged the competition.
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