The twenty contestants, the largest number for any pageant in the history of the program and the university, comes from varied backgrounds, experiences, talents, academic standing and classification, and career ambitions. The contestant's majors vary from Agriculture to Zoology with Business, Education, Engineering and Pre-medicine in between. Their future goals include educators, entrepreneurs, business and government leaders to doctors, lawyers, nurses, engineers and forever teachers.
The Producers and Staff are aggressively looking for an exciting production under the theme: VISIONS – of a Golden Reignaissance.™ Additionally, the contestants will participate in weekly sessions preparing for the big day. They will engage in personal and professional development seminars and workshops focusing on their talents, wardrobe selection, the art of the personal interview, modeling, etiquette and dining, dance, platform development and implementation and other career enhancement in addition to community service.
The pageant is a national program of the fraternity created in 1976 and hosted by its local chapters. The pageant is a source of excellence for women in character education, value clarification, economic and social empowerment, role-modeling, mentoring, commitment to service to humanity and to provide opportunities that present her in a positive way. At its 1976 convention in New York the first winner was Miss Denise Smith, representing Zeta Mu Chapter at Georgia State University. After a five-year the pageant returned in 1981 with the competition at the 1982 General Convention in Los Angeles, California.
Since 1981, the Eta Gamma Chapter has hosted the Miss Black and Gold Pageant with the first pageant in 1982 at Prairie View A&M University. The Epsilon Tau Lambda Chapter has co-hosted the pageant since 1982 with the selection of two queens, thus becoming the first and only sustaining alumni chapter with a representative in the Texas District Pageant.
Over the years, the chapters had winners at the Texas District level with TCAC winner Coy Henderson (Epsilon Tau Lambda), Nadia Greer (Eta Gamma), Adibisi Adele (Eta Gamma), Destiny Jefferson (Epsilon Tau Lambda) and the current winner Chloe Nyr'ee Tolbert (Eta Gamma) and 2nd runner-up Gabrielle Orji (Epsilon Tau Lambda), Kiera Hooey (Epsilon Tau Lambda) - 1st Runner-up; Briana Clark (Epsilon Tau Lambda), 2nd Runner-up in 2014; Joselyn Eusery (Eta Gamma) and Christina Balthazar (Epsilon Tau Lambda) being named to top Seven; and Nakisha Francois (Eta Gamma), Moriah Cobert, (Epsilon Tau Lambda) and Z’Nae Mangum (Eta Gamma) being named 2nd Runner-up to TCAC Miss Black & Gold.
The winners and former contestants have also benefited from the experiences as they competed in other pageants, including the Miss PVAMU: Brandy Byars, Moriah Colbert, Ivy Walls and Z’Nae Mangum have all claimed the Miss PVAMU title, while others have been named runners-up to Miss PVAMU - Mya Campbell - 1st, Kala Washington - 1st and Kala Robinson - 1st; and Melanie Hollis - 2nd.
The Miss Old Gold and Black Pageant continues to be an important activity for the students at Prairie View A&M University and the young ladies give tremendous credit to the pageant for their achievements and success as student leaders and role models for other students.