Brianna Burrell is in Florida this week, preparing for the Miss America competition. As Miss Alabama 2023, Burrell is one of 51 women vying to become Miss America 2024. The title comes with scholarship money and a yearlong reign. Miss America 2023, Grace Stanke, will crown her successor at the finals.

(See photos of all 51 Miss America contestants in the gallery at the top of this post.)

Preliminary events for Miss America are planned through Saturday, Jan. 13, along with receptions, interviews, rehearsals, a breakfast, a talent showcase, a fashion show and more. The Miss America finals are set for Sunday, Jan. 14, at 6 p.m. CT at the Walt Disney Theater in Orlando. The theater, 445 South Magnolia Ave., is part of the Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts.

Also, online voting is underway for an America’s Choice spot at the Miss America competition on Sunday. Votes can be cast for donations of $1 or more. The contestant with the most votes gets a place in the top 10 at the finals event, according to the Miss America website.

Miss America’s Teen will be chosen in Orlando this week, as well, with finals set for Saturday, Jan. 13, at 6 p.m. CT. Elaina Burt of Birmingham, Miss Alabama’s Teen 2023, is representing the state in that competition, which is linked to Miss America.

Tickets for the Miss America finals are sold out, according to the Miss America website. The pageant will not be broadcast on television this year. However, the Miss America finals show will stream online, and you can watch it for free at the Watch Miss America website.

There’s also a streaming bundle that allows viewers to see several other events this week, including preliminaries for Miss America, preliminaries for Miss America’s Teen and the finals for Miss America’s Teen. The bundle costs $99 at the Watch Miss America website.

Miss Alabama 2023 won her title in July, competing as Miss Baldwin County at Samford University’s Wright Center in Birmingham. Burrell, from Mobile, is a graduate of the University of South Alabama, where she majored in political science. She plans to attend graduate school at the University of Alabama, studying educational administration.

READ: Miss Alabama 2023: Brianna Burrell, Miss Baldwin County, takes the crown

Burrell, 26, is the third Black woman to earn the title of Miss Alabama in the competition’s 102-year history, following Tiara Pennington, Miss Alabama 2019-2020, and Kalyn Chapman James, Miss Alabama 1993. (Pennington held the crown an extra year during the coronavirus pandemic.)

Over the past five months, Burrell has been making public appearances, doing charity work, speaking to community groups, motivating students and more. Her community service initiative as Miss Alabama is SAVE-A-STEM, which encourages engagement in science, technology, engineering and math for students of color and underfunded schools.

During a July interview with Burrell, AL.com asked how she felt about moving on to national stage.

“Miss America, that’s a pretty big deal, a national representative,” Burrell said. “I’m ready to take the work that I’ve done these past two years, and expand it to broader boundaries across the state, and hopefully across the nation. I’m excited to see what Miss America is going to look like over the next couple of years.”

READ: Miss Alabama 2023, the state’s third Black woman crowned: ‘I’m proud to represent the South’

At least one other woman with Alabama ties is in the running for Miss America 2024. Taylor Blatchford, a graduate of the University of Alabama, is competing in the pageant as Miss Nevada 2023.

Blatchford is a veteran of the Miss Alabama pageant, competing for the state title in 2021 and 2022. She earned a master’s degree in advertising and public relations at the University of Alabama, and moved on a public relations job in Las Vegas. Blatchford won the title of Miss Nevada in June 2023, competing as Miss Boulder City.