<p>If any of you know about it, I was wondering if someone could give me more information because the website and the brochure were very vague. I mostly want to know state selection level and what we’re being tested on.</p>
<p>It is an honor to be chosen as homecoming queen of your school, but DO NOT be tempted or enticed to join America’s Homecoming Queen Competition for the Tuition Scholarship Awards. For a naive high school senior planning to venture into college to get every scholarship award for a college education, America’s Homecoming Queen Inc. masks their true intentions by using the phrase Tuition Scholarship Awards as a scheme. These organization is very vague. They do not disclose anything, that’s why you get confused. When you join AHQ, you’ll be shocked to find out after the National Competition that you’ll only receive a meager reward money of Two Hundred Dollars [$200.00] as a State Queen if you are not selected to win. For the runner-ups, the 3rd gets $500.00, the 2nd gets $800.00, the 1st gets $1,000.00 and the winner gets $1,500.00. Imagine, traveling and competing that far just to receive $ 200.00. It’s embarrassing! While it’s true that they provide for your ticket to fly to Disneyland, hotel accommodation to Disneyland Hotel, your crown, a one day ticket for fun and Disney money for food at the Disneyland Theme Park, and 2 dinners during a 5 day stay in Disneyland, you are practically on your own spending your own money to feed yourself with a hearty and healthy meal. Otherwise, you’ll eat pizza for lunch and dinner, and hard bread for breakfast that they provide. In simple terms, you’ll starve if you went alone without your parents or a companion. It’s nice to meet new friends and have fun , but when the fun is done and reality sets in, you’ll realize that you have been taken for a dizzy ride. You’ll realize that you had more expenses going to the competition more than your reward money of [$200.00]. You’ll feel so disappointed and ashamed that you were taken advantage of. You will realize that you wasted a lot of money to join a worthless competition. It would have been better and worth your time if you could have just written an essay for the Ronald McDonald Scholarship Contest that gives $1,000.00 award. As for the State Competition, you pay for your own hotel and meals. To sum it all up, you are paying them to give you a scholarship award of $200.00 only if you do not win. If you win, you get $1,500.00 which is still a small amount considering the expenses for your gown, costume, souvenirs, food and transportation. It’s shameful to admit but IT’S NOT WORTH IT!!!</p>
<p>Haha they have a homecoming queen scholarship? </p>
<p>I think that’s a pretty sad concept.</p>
<p>I don’t know who you are but you are totally correct. The AHQ is a total scam and i know that someone should do something to stop them. I recently attended one of their pageants and no crown was rewarded, fake flowers were given, no money was ever mentioned, and all the things given to the young ladies were straight from dollar general. In the state of Alabama alone only 23 girls entered the pageant and the state has over 4000 schools. The smart people are on to the people over AHQ. I project only 10 next year and 5 in the year 2012. Please pass this valuable information along to everyone. The entire program is set up and ran by 3 ladies whom are also the judges can you believe that. No certified judges only the organizers, how convenient to save on that, save on a dinner fixed for a 3 year old and a lunch fixed by a teenager coming home after school and putting a few slices of cold chicken over some lettuce, don’t forget the one roll, one butter roll, and the one glass of tea. The banquet and luncheon for 1 totaled 66 dollars. The total for 2 which is usually a mother and father would be 132 dollars for nothing. I wonder what the cost of National would be for two people to eat only 2 meals.</p>
<p>I can tell you that these people are deceptive. They withhold information and are totally disorganized. They “last minute” everything. Their 2008 National Queen worked her butt off for them and they have not given her her scholarship money yet. They speak ill of their contestants and parents, even their state and national queens. They do not live up to what they represent. They still have information on the internet about the travel, rewards, and scholarship money that they do not even offer anymore. Most state queens get the $200.00. They only pay in October, November, "December, January, and February. If your college needs depend on financial aid, this is not conducive to when FAFSA is processed or when tuition is paid. If you have other scholarships, they do not pay. The state and national contract is one sided. They state what the queen must do for them and says nothing about what they award the Queen. The national interviews, etc never happen, and you have to use your own money to represent them. If they pay for something ( queens expenses) or give your parents a glass of tea, they dedeuct it from your scholarship money, but don’t reveal this until you have finished working for them. Their qualified judges are more often, parents of past queens, recent past queens, or whoever will sit in the chair and do what they instruct them to do. The girls you meet are great! But the AHQ ladies, use the girls for their contacts and sponsors and then they care nothing about the girl herself. They ask the Queen’s mother to chaperone the Queen and then never reimburse the expenses. They will put these young girls on a plane, unchaperoned, to represent them( and the queen will fork over her own luggage expenses with the airlines). These people will avoid your phone calls, avoid giving you information, until after it is all over, you discover that most of what they tell you verbally is not true at all. Let your state and community keep their money for something legit. Homecoming Queens everywhere, do not get caught up in raising money for this AHQ organization, The girls pay more money than they will ever get in scholarships. Their national headquarters is their home, and it is an absolute disorganization mess! If you live in a state far away from Tennessee, you should not plan on being their national queen, cause they don’t want to have to spend the money to fly you in to The Liberty Bowl. In addition, you arrive at the Liberty Bowl, only to discover that you have to stay at their nasty house. If you are a minority, don’t plan on being the national queen either. It has never happened, cause they will not have minorities in their home. The Liberty Bowl Organization is wonderful! The Homecoming Queen girls are wonderful, the 3 ladies that run this organization are shadey. Tell the girls in your hometown to think twice before they give money to this organization.</p>
<p>The America’s Homecoming Queen, Inc. solicits homecoming queens in each state by sending letters to each school district, addressed to “Homecoming Queen”. Please inform your school about this program and ask them to pass on the information to their school’s homecoming queen to beware of involvement until they know the facts about this organization. Most girls are so embarrassed that they raised money in their communities and states for this organization, that they do not pass on the information to the next girl. Ask your school to contact their State Board of Education, State Attorney General, and Better Business Bureau to help keep these women from soliciting these young girls through their high schools. We need your help to stop this! Please pass the information to your homecoming sponsor, homecoming queen, principal, etc. Contestants and parents involved in this program in 2008, and 2009 are trying to get the word out. The only power we have is word of mouth, and the courage of some young ladies to help future girls to know the real facts. Thank you for your help. The girls who have come forward to set the record straight are very brave, leaders, and true role models. These are girls who won their state titles, and national title. This information is not coming from girls who did not win the crown. They won the crown, and now they want to be on the side of truth and integrity.</p>
<p>America’s Homecoming Queen is comprised of 2 kinds of people. First are the innocent and unsuspecting High School Homecoming Queens who gets FOOLED into joining AHQ. Second, the three (3) ladies who manage the organization of AHQ who continue to FOOL innocent and naive teenage students into thinking that they will receive a big sum of scholarship awards. America’s Homecoming Queen needs to be stopped!!!
Please pass on the message. I believe on the power of the internet.</p>
<p>I find your post to be very distorting and deceiving of this organization. As a proud national winner from Alabama, it was my privilege to serve and uphold the conservative and christian principles of which this organization builds from. I find your comments very childish about the food served. The AHQ organization has no control over the Hotel’s banquet food preparers. Also, to show discredit to the judges shows on your behalf, a poor loser. Who are you to make judgement on the judges? You also show bitterness referring to the dollar store sovenniere’s when they are actually monogrammed signature logo favors that are specially ordered for each state pageant. Every queen who participates understands that they will receive their crowns upon arrival to National competition. So to set the record straight, she does not get her crown at the local state pageant. It is and will always be my privilege to support and represent proudly this wonderful organization who does “make a difference in the lives of young ladies”. Your comments do not represent a winning attitude!</p>
<p>That was then, this is now.</p>
<p>If AHQ wants to be upfront and reveal all the information to these girls, before they get involved, then there is no problem. Just take one issue, never mind any other complaint, just focus on one issue: scholarship money. Why can’t they be straightforward about how much the scholarships were last year, and when they are paid out, and what the criteria is for collecting the scholarship money from AHQ. They don’t reveal this, because many of the girls would not want to spend $400.00 plus only to get back $200.00 in a scholarship. At least then, an informed decision could be made. Other issues should be revealed, too.</p>
<p>I am appalled at myself for falling this scam. And thats all it was. From the start it was pitiful. We get there and from the start it was unreal . They had not one clue of what they were doing. They were these two outcast women from the 1960’s. Christians ? Really come on ladies your con artists, and your bad at that also. We spent alot of money and time on this stupid mess. Interviews 4 mins, Queens banquet with no queen, practice at 9 till 11 for a pageant that lasted 17 min, of course part of that was practicing were to stand for a picture. It was hard to place them because there was 8 of them. Claims from the older woman that Donald Trump and American Idol wanted to buy them. Claims that the Tn Queen wasnt there because she was being a spokesperson for Gatorade because of the w pageant of course. Funny thing the girl said when she did get there, that she had to work at Dicks Sporting Goods its her job. Plastic flowers, no crown ,$375 to be in this $45 banquet, $35 luncheon, VIP seating for the pageant , was very imporant because there were maybe 20 people there. Judge swapping in the middle of interviews and pageant. I hate I know this and they are digging for more money with this America’s Vote Please please help warn people this is a scam!!!</p>
<p>Aren’t most pageants scams? Look at Miss America. They claim to give out $10,000+ scholarships, but the money one spends on gowns, coaches, etc., far outweighs anything a contestant could win.</p>
<p>Dear Angry parent,
I am so sorry that you were unaware of these people. The Donald Trump and American Idol thing is a new one this year. Yep, they are big name droppers, those women. Unfortunately, young women in high school continue to get letters from this organization through their schools. If you are interested in reporting this organization, please contact the Better Business Bureau in Memphis, Tennessee, your state attorney general’s office, and your state’s Board of Education. This is just sad. Bad things happen when good people do nothing. The young women who get caught up with this organization are wonderful young women. The women who run this program are not wonderful. Warn your school to stop passing their letters to their homecoming queens. Christian women would not be scamming our youth and their families!</p>
<p>If you think these people are scamming you, they might be scamming the IRS… why don’t you report them??? </p>
<p>[How</a> Do You Report Suspected Tax Fraud Activity?](<a href=“http://www.irs.gov/individuals/article/0,,id=106778,00.html]How”>http://www.irs.gov/individuals/article/0,,id=106778,00.html)</p>
<p>How Do You Report Suspected Tax Fraud Activity?</p>
<p>If you suspect or know of an individual or company that is not complying with the tax laws, you may report this activity by completing Form 3949-A. You may fill out Form 3949-A online, print it and mail it to:</p>
<pre><code> Internal Revenue Service
Fresno, CA 93888
</code></pre>
<p>If you do not wish to use Form 3949-A, you may send a letter to the address above. Please include the following information, if available:</p>
<pre><code>*
Name and address of the person you are reporting
*
The taxpayer identification number (social security number for an individual or employer identification number for a business)
*
A brief description of the alleged violation, including how you became aware of or obtained the information
*
The years involved
*
The estimated dollar amount of any unreported income
*
Your name, address and daytime telephone number
</code></pre>
<p>Although you are not required to identify yourself, it is helpful to do so. Your identity can be kept confidential.</p>
<p>Frequently Asked Questions - 1.13 IRS Procedures: Reporting Fraud</p>
<p>This company is a member of the BBB check it out.</p>
<p>[BBB</a> Review of America’s Homecoming Queen in Memphis, TN](<a href=“http://www.bbb.org/memphis/business-reviews/beauty-pageants/americas-homecoming-queen-in-memphis-tn-4510]BBB”>America's Homecoming Queen | Better Business Bureau® Profile)</p>
<p>and there are no bad reports, so… if you don’t like them, why don’t you do something real. Make a report.</p>
<p>Thanks, Watchdog! I will pass on the information! This program needs to be investigated!</p>
<p>If you have had a bad experience with this organization please let the BBB know! If no one complains they will use this membership as an endorsement in their marketing packet to schools and the fleecing of young women and their families will continue.</p>
<p>Let your school know so no one else will be given the application packet without full disclosure of the organization’s practices (I suppose there are a few potential graduates of the Toddler’s and Tiara’s circuit out there who still long for one more crown but at least they will know what they’re getting into).</p>
<p>Yes! They do use their BBB membership as an endorsement in their marketing packet. There have been complaints made to the BBB in Tennessee (where AHQ offices are located, and where BBB directs the complaints.) So far, there has been no response from the BBB. When inquiring about a response, we have been told that there are no complaints registered. (“sorry, we did not get it.”) One loses faith in the process, which is long and tedious. Speaking on the phone with them, when they discover it is a “pageant-type” complaint, they are not the least bit interested, did not even know which category for a consumer to complain to. With BBB not knowing how to file their own paperwork, no wonder they can’t figure out what has happened to the complaints. In the meantime, BBB continues to show “no complaints.” I have not given up. Two things that make AHQ armor hard to penetrate: 1) non profit status. 2) only one girl per year per state actually can make a complaint. Although mulltiple girls and their families sign up to participate, the “damages” for a BBB complaint only apply to the AHQ State winners. (according to BBB) There is so much more to this than anyone realizes. Wish we had some help. Road blocks everywhere. To get legal help…must have attorney in Tennessee. These are girls and families looking for scholarship money…none to waste on legal fees. So the victims continue, year after year. AHQ sends out press releases on the state Queen. The state Queens solicit donations for the “scholarships” from their friends, families, communities, and statewide businesses. These girls are accomplished and have stellar reputations. It is humiliating to go back to their state and communities and say “we’ve been had.” Most families do not want their daughters involved in a public expose’ and most cannot afford an attorney to fight this…really fight this. One feels very alone and helpless in this fight. It is the right thing to do to press on and make everyone aware of the AHQ organization. The experience the girls have with each other is wonderful. The problem is when the girls get home after nationals, the real truth about the scholarship money begins to reveal itself. By this time, the girls are so deep in the program and the publicity of it, they are too ashamed to tell the truth. AHQ depends on this “secret shame” to continue year after year. After contacting some of the past national winners, we found they won’t discuss the program. They just put their crown on the shelf and try not to tarnish their “glory.” The irony here, is that the program touts these girls as “leaders and role models.” It just seems to me that protecting their “sister Queens” is showing real leadership and being a real role model. One misconception that is outdated is that the “Homecoming Queens” of today are the popular pretty girl-the head cheerleader type. The fact is most of the girls, we have met are the sweet, hardworking overacheivers, that do a lot of volunteering in their schools and communities, and very few of them have ever done any “beauty pageant” programs. I am not going to argue the “beauty pageant” VS the “scholarship and acheivement” programs, but they are very different. The “Todders and Tiara” graduates will not likely be in the AHQ program. That misconception is what is hindering “the powers that be” from taking this program’s deceptive practices seriously. THIS IS NOT ABOUT THE PRETTIEST GIRL NOT WINNING. THIS IS ABOUT SOLICITING YOUNG NAIVE GIRLS, SEEKING SCHOLARSHIP MONEY FOR COLLEGE, INTO A PROGRAM THAT PROMISES MUCH AND DELIVERS LITTLE. THIS IS ABOUT BLOWING THE WHISTLE ON A PROGRAM THAT IS VICTIMIZING THESE YOUNG GIRLS AND THEIR FAMILIES. THIS IS ABOUT THE FACT THAT THE AHQ PROGRAM CONTACTS THESE GIRLS DIRECTLY THROUGH THEIR OWN SCHOOLS. When a young girl is handed the AHQ envelope from their principal, counselor, or teacher, it gives this program legitimacy. No one from the school checks it out, they just hand the envelope addressed to the “Homecoming Queen” over to an unsuspecting and inexperienced 17 or 18 year old girl. It is probably true that some of these girls see a crown in their future, but most of these girls are looking at the promise of scholarship money for college. My best opinion, after researching this program, is that this was probably a descent program in the past, but something has gone terribly wrong. This program is still advertising a “Wheel of Fortune” event from 1992. If a girl is looking for the scholarship money and an above board program…this is NOT it! Oh so many things that this program is NOT! The AHQ people are big on dropping names and telling stories, but check out what exactly your girl is going to receive if they are selected their state or national Queen. At least ask last year’s Queen what her rewards were for all of her hard work. I am doing the best I can, but I need some help! I will say one thing good…the girls participating are some of the sweetest girls in the world! I love them all…and will continue my fight for them. If you can help, send me a private message on this forum. I am not soliciting money, I am asking for legal help or guidance on how to bring the AHQ people to full disclosure before another young girl gets a letter from her school. Nationals for 2010 started this morning, by Wednesday night, this program will have a new national Queen, and the process starts all over again. Even if no one contacts me, at least tell your local school officials to check out this program. They can start with one question: “How much scholarship money (exactly) did the queen from my state receive last year, and the year before?” Then follow up with,“When and how is the scholarship money paid to the state and national queen?” Over the next few months, the girls that are at nationals today for the 2010 competition, are going to be finding out what they should have known before going to nationals. They will be sadly disappointed with the $200 they may or may not receive from AHQ. Very few of them will tell anyone. They are too embarrassed.</p>
<p>I just got home from a pageant for “America’s Homecoming Queen”. While I cannot comment specifically on the cash amounts or the actual legitimacy of the program, I can tell you what it seemed like. The banquet/dinner & luncheon were definitely over priced. The entire experience was very disorganized and seemed very “fly-by-night”. The pageant director was late getting set up for registration, distracted constantly on her cell phone, and seemed detached and unapproachable. The parents of the SWEET participants (which all of them really seemed to be) were very kind, nice, down to earth, but were very uninformed and were always seeking out answers about where to go for various events. NOONE seemed to be well informed at all, so I did not feel so bad! I just still do not know what to think about the entire experience. I feel as if it was either a poorly planned event or possibly a hoax to raise and solicit money. I have a hard time believing it was a legitimate pageant considering the fact that one state had 2 participants-- TWO-- REALLY? One state had 4. One state had (I believe) 10. One state had 36. I cannot help that believe that more girls would have jumped at the chance to participate if this was a legitimate event. I feel taken advantage of because as other posts have stated, there were high costs associated with this pageant, and what seemed like very little return. I am glad I simply paid the sponsorship fee myself and did not solicit funds. One question keeps running through my mind… HOW is it that if the participants only ever compete one time did the one girl in the top 10 for Pennsylvania have the opportunity ALREADY for this past year to participate in the Liberty Bowl…??? I would welcome constructive feedback from anyone else with personal experience with this organization!</p>
<p>I just read your story. The Liberty Bowl invitation is available on the AHQ website for those queens who have paid their money to participate in AHQ by November of each year. A list is sent to the Liberty Bowl and invitations are sent out. Liberty Bowl people are wonderful. The Liberty Bowl happens before some state competitions, and before nationals. So sorry for your experience. I was hoping that by now, we would have word of widespread information to the schools to stop handing out those invitations to their Homecoming Queens. Eventhough they are giving out a bit more information this year, they are still not doing enough to inform the girls before they sign up and pay their money. We still have more work to do. Make sure you share all of this information with your school. Show this website with these posts to your state board of education. they can help to stop this mess.</p>