Photo courtesy of Carlos Velez Studios.
Miss Alabama 2025 Emma Terry placed fourth runner-up in Miss America 2026 in Orlando on Sept. 7.
The lights shimmered across a half-sparkle, half-velvet purple gown as Emma Terry walked the Miss America stage with poise and purpose.
Behind her composed smile and sleek ponytail was the motto she carries from her late grandfather’s 22-year battle with ALS: “Build a higher road.”
Terry, 22, a Leeds native and former Miss Hoover, turned that life lesson into a performance that earned her fourth runner-up at Miss America 2026 in Orlando. She also was a finalist for the Quality of Life Award, which honors community service, and received $10,000 in scholarships across the two honors.
The achievement capped an already historic stretch for Hoover’s pageant tradition. Terry followed in the footsteps of Abbie Stockard — another Miss Hoover who became Miss Alabama and went on to win Miss America in 2025. Stockard returned this year to take her final walk across the stage.
Crowned Miss Alabama in June at Samford University, Terry had risen through the pageant ranks after titles such as Miss UAB and Miss Jefferson County, and a first runner-up finish the year before. The climb included unexpected heart surgery, finishing two college degrees and serving as caregiver to her grandfather.
Her service platform, “Stomping Out ALS,” has raised more than $360,000 for research and awareness. On the Miss America stage, she shared that personal connection, weaving her grandfather’s story into both her interview answers and a video segment during the evening gown competition.
“Build a higher road was my grandfather’s life motto, and after his 22-year battle with ALS, I’ve made it my own,” Terry told the audience. “For me, it means turning loss into legacy and challenge into change.”
Build a higher road was my grandfather’s life motto, and after his 22-year battle with ALS, I’ve made it my own.
Emma Terry
She showed her versatility in performance too — delivering a ballet en pointe routine to “What a Feeling” from “Flashdance” during the talent round. Judges scored across five categories, from private interviews and talent to evening wear and on-stage questions. Terry used her questions to highlight issues of food insecurity and the need for young people to commit to causes beyond themselves.
She has competed since age 14, when she stepped on stage for the first time “with my knees shaking and going weak,” as she once recalled. Years of steady work brought her to the Miss America stage, but Terry insists the outcome isn’t what defines her.
“At the end of the day, that’s a random panel of judges,” she said before the competition. “That is not what defines you. That’s not what defines your worth. I want to have the best Miss America experience I can, and results will not define that because I know I can walk in grateful to be representing Alabama.”
Her top-five finish made her the second consecutive Miss Hoover to place on the Miss America stage. But for Terry, the night was less about placement and more about carrying her grandfather’s message forward.
“I am intentionally choosing to lead with purpose,” she said.
That same evening, Stockard — Miss America 2025 — reflected on her year and the legacy she was passing on. “Tonight, I leave this stage honored, grateful and still in awe that it all really happened,” she said. “I will forever hold close to the people, places and moments that made this year the most meaningful one yet. Thank you, America, for letting me serve you, for trusting me with this title, for embracing me as I am, and for giving me the opportunity of loving you in return.”
