LOYAL. LOCAL. COMPLETE.
For Emma Sanders, the road to becoming the 2026 Miss Illinois Festival Queen began years before she ever put on the crown.
The 20-year-old Marshall native first entered the world of pageantry at 16, simply looking for something new to try. What started as an unfamiliar experience quickly became a passion; one that has helped Sanders grow in confidence, meet people throughout Illinois and discover another avenue for serving her community.
Now, after several years of local pageant experience, Sanders has added a statewide title to her accomplishments.
“I didn’t even know these existed besides Miss America until I was 15. The first time I was 16, I was like, ‘Oh, this is new. Let’s do it,’” Sanders said with a laugh.
At age 18, she won her first title, followed by a second title at age 19. Now, at age 20, she holds her current Illinois Festival Pageant title.
“From 18 to now, being 20, those two years have really opened my eyes,” Sanders said. “You get so many community outreach and volunteer opportunities andq programs. I know so many more people now than I did then, and I’m also not the same person I was when I was 18. I would like to thank my sponsor, Murphy Wrecker & Towing. They proudly serve Edgar and Clark County and other surrounding areas.”
That growth was part of what encouraged Sanders to take another step outside her comfort zone and enter the Miss Illinois Festival Queen competition.
The competition is open to women ages 20 to 24 from throughout Illinois, making it a different experience from the local pageants Sanders had competed in previously.
“I wanted to push myself to get out of my comfort zone again,” she said. “I’ve never done something at this level. It’s very different.”
Sanders entered the competition with modest expectations. She planned to learn from the experience, take the judges’ feedback and potentially return the following year with a better understanding of what it would take to win.
“I was just going to have fun and experience something new,” she said. “I’m 20. I’m the baby of the age group. I thought, ‘It might not happen for a few years, and that’s okay. The Lord will make it happen when the time is right.’”
She prepared by creating a workbook of mock interview questions and practicing her introduction in the mirror. When she was home alone, she would even walk around the house in heels, rehearsing.
“I’d be home with the dogs, and I’d be walking around the house saying my intro,” Sanders said.
Her preparation also came from an unexpected place: her job.
Sanders works at Paris Family Restaurant and said her experience in customer service has helped her become more comfortable communicating with people and responding to unexpected questions.
“I feel like my customers have definitely helped me,” she said. “Once they knew I was running, they’d be like, ‘Hey, so what’s your answer to this question?’ or ‘What would you say if somebody said this?’”
Even before her customers knew about her pageant background, Sanders said the job itself was teaching her valuable skills.
“I think everybody should work in customer service at least sometimes, whether it’s a restaurant, retail, bank, whatever it is,” she said. “Communication skills helped me so much.”
When the competition weekend finally arrived, Sanders and the other contestants faced a packed schedule, including interviews, rehearsals and the onstage competition.
The anticipation was perhaps the hardest part.
“You’d think I would be well-seasoned by now,” Sanders said of the nerves. “My body was nervous. But once I went in there, everything just felt lighter. I don’t know. I think the anticipation is worse than the actual interview.”
The interview itself became one of her favorite parts of the competition.
“I love talking to people. I like telling my story, answering questions,” she said.
The interview was familiar territory, but the onstage competition presented a new challenge. Sanders had never participated in an onstage pop question before.
“I can sit there and answer a question. I can also have time to think,” she said. “But on stage, you have the lights, surprise. You can’t see anybody in the audience.”
Rather than allowing the nerves to overwhelm her, Sanders broke the competition down into smaller goals.
Her first goal was simply to make it through the interview. After that, she moved on to the next part.
“I would set another goal after each big checkpoint, and I think that’s really what helped calm my nerves,” she said.
As the final awards approached, Sanders had already accomplished what she had set out to do: she had made it through a new and unfamiliar experience.
She had also formed friendships with the other contestants, whom she described as supportive and encouraging throughout the weekend.
“They would help you out,” Sanders said. “If I needed a zipper, they zipped me. They’d tell me when I had lipstick on my teeth or anything and everything. So they were super sweet. I love all of them.”
Then came the final announcements.
Third runner-up was announced. Then second runner-up. Then first runner-up.
Sanders was still standing.
She had been hoping for the evening gown award, but when that honor went to another contestant, she reminded herself that winning did not have to be the only measure of success.
“The goal is to come home with the crown, but as long as you have a crown on your heart, it doesn’t matter if there’s one on your head,” she said.
Then the final announcement came.
“Your 2026 Miss Illinois Festival Queen is contestant number eight.”
Sanders immediately began crying.
“My dress almost split down the back,” she said, laughing as she recalled the moment. “I had told the other contestants, ‘Guys, I can’t bend over.’”
Her fellow contestants helped keep her upright as she struggled to process what had just happened.
“I’m sobbing, and I go over to Queen Rachel, and she’s hugging me, and it was a blur from there,” Sanders said.
The crown now represents a year of opportunities for Sanders to do what she has increasingly come to value through pageantry: serve.
That mission also aligns closely with her future career plans. Sanders is a third-year nursing student at Saint Mary-of-the-Woods in Terre Haute, where she is majoring in nursing and minoring in nutrition.
“That’s where my heart is,” she said of nursing. “I’m a very hands-on learner, and I really like to serve the community.”
For Sanders, helping others is a calling.
“That’s my way of giving back: helping people when they’re at their lowest,” she said. “And I think it takes a special person and special heart to see that.”
She plans to bring that same philosophy to her year as Miss Illinois Festival Queen.
Rather than viewing community service as something that has to involve a large event or elaborate plan, Sanders believes meaningful service can happen in everyday moments.
“Sometimes I think people think you have to invent things to volunteer,” she said. “You don’t have to plan a big event. You don’t have to be up on stage. You don’t have to travel three or four hours to do it.”
“You can literally be right where your two feet are,” she continued. “And the little things.”
That could mean volunteering at a local organization, helping with a fundraiser, participating in a parade or simply lending a hand when someone needs it.
Sanders is particularly excited that the Miss Illinois Festival Queen title will allow her to travel to communities throughout the state and meet people she otherwise might never have encountered.
“I’m super excited to get to do things and travel to counties and different towns that I’ve not done before,” she said. “ I can do more community outreach, and I’m just so excited about that.”
Although she now has a statewide title, Sanders does not want the crown to change the reason she entered pageantry in the first place.
She wants it to give her more opportunities to connect with people.
“There’s something about it,” she said of being involved in the community. “The community is really what makes it exciting.”
For a young woman who once described herself as shy and quiet, pageantry has become a way to find her voice.
“I’ve learned so much, and I’ve grown as a person,” Sanders said.
Now, Sanders is ready to take what she has learned and put it to work: one community, one volunteer opportunity and one new experience at a time.