Above: Former teen Miss Southborough, Maggie Mercadente, has been crowned the NAM Miss Massachusetts for 2026. (images cropped from photos L-R on Instagram and contributed)
In 2024, I shared that “Miss Southborough”, a finalist for the “Miss Massachusetts”, was looking for support as she prepared to compete through the Miss Teen USA pageant series.
2½ years later, she was proud to be crowned “Miss Massachusetts” through a different pageant program. This fall she’ll compete for the series’ big title of “National American Miss”.
To serve as 2026 Miss Massachusetts, she is expected to commit to a year of community service. She tells me that between now and next August, she will spend her time engaging in as many volunteer opportunities as possible across Massachusetts.
As 2024 Miss Southborough, Maggie Mercadente didn’t end up snagging the teen crown. Since then, she started college and join the board of directors for a local non profit, OUT MetroWest. She also continued to gain pageant experience through other competitions and training with coaches.
In 2025, she entered the National American Miss pageant and earned 1st runner up for Miss Massachusetts.
This year, she entered again and won the crown and sash.
As part of the competition, she also won several “optional” contests. She’s now entitled to to compete in each of those categories for free at the national level.
One of the contests was “Photogenic”. (Given headshots on instagram like the one below, it’s easy to understand why.)
View this post on Instagram
Other winning categories were:
- “Miss Spirit” (voted on by the pageant staff)
- Talent (for her vocal performance)
- Actress (monologue competition)
- Casual Wear (modeling a themed outfit)
- Screen test (submitted video)
- Dream Model (highest overall score from casual wear and photogenic)
- Best Resume
- and Heart of Service (most volunteer hours)
She also was 1st runner up for “Miss Personality” (voted on by contestants) and Fun Fitness (athletic wear modeling on stage).
As Miss Massachusetts, one of the community service efforts she’s already involved in is collecting dolls to be donated to Toys for Tots when she attends nationals in Orlando this November.
