Talent winners were chosen during preliminary competition this week at The Miss Texas Scholarship Pageant.

The next Miss Texas will be decided Friday at Texas Hall at the University of Texas at Arlington.

After three nights of preliminary competitions, the winner will be chosen from a group of 37 hopefuls in a pageant that begins at 8 p.m.

The winner will be chosen to represent the Lone Star State in January at the Miss America Pageant, which has moved in recent years from its traditional Atlantic City location to Las Vegas. Friday’s pageant will be broadcast live Friday via a webcast, and details are available at www.misstexas.org.

Earlier this week, contestants competed in different categories over three nights. Preliminary winners selected were:

Preliminary swimsuit winners were chosen over three nights of competition at Texas Hall in Arlington.

For physical fitness in swim suit, the finalists were Miss Frisco, Kathyn Dunn; Miss Harris County, Kira Morris; and Miss Grapevine, Ashley Melnick. Talent winners were Miss Texarkana, Adrianna Nelson; Miss North Texas, Kristen Blair; and Miss Fort Worth, Faith Bates.

The Miss Teen Texas Pageant is being held simultaneously with the Miss Texas competition. Over three nights, preliminary winners were chosen in physical fitness and in talent, also. Named physical fitness winners were Miss Teen Dallas, Logan McCormick; Miss Teen Ellis County, Reilly Johannsen; and Miss Teen Frisco, Taylor Lowery. Talent winners were Miss Teen Harris County, Ali York; Miss Teen Hurst-Euless-Bedford, Micayla Merrifield; and Miss Teen Plano, Madison Fuller.

Winners were announced this week in physical fitness and talent after preliminaries for the Miss Teen Texas Pageant.

The new Miss Texas will follow Rebecca Robinson who distinguished herself at the Miss America Pageant by being voted Miss Congeniality. United Way of America also selected her to be the focus of a national campaign video, taping the multi-lingual Miss Texas in both an English and Spanish version. She also was chosen to sing the national anthem at the 2009 Cotton Bowl.

Miss Teen Texas is Sydney Capello. She performed the national anthem at multiple venues and performed as an opening act for the Jonas Brothers.