3 Changes You'll See in the Miss America Competition This Year

The Miss America Competition returns to Atlantic City Sunday night, and to the hands of dick clark productions (dcp), which is making a few noteworthy changes to the telecast. Executive Producer Mark Bracco gave Yahoo TV a preview.

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1. The judges will be seated on stage. This is a first in Miss America’s 95-year history. "Usually when you watch Miss America, the judges are always at that table in the audience. This year, the judges are actually going to be on one side of the stage, so they will get the best view they’ve ever gotten of the competition,” Bracco says. “And also, just from the television perspective, it’s going to be so great to see those cross shots of their reactions as one of the women comes out in their evening gown, or does their talent, or when they answer their final question. So I think it’s going to add another level of drama because you’ll feel the presence of the judges in a much more vital way.”

Even more exciting, one of those judges will be Vanessa Williams, who’s returning to the Miss America stage for the first time since she became the first African-American woman to win the title in 1983. She, of course, gave back her crown in 1984, when nude photos taken two years earlier surfaced and were published by Penthouse — then went on to become an Emmy, Grammy, and Tony nominee. Sam Haskell, Executive Chairman & CEO of the Miss America Organization, has said he’s been trying to orchestrate her return for more than a decade, and schedules finally aligned. “It’s such an honor and a thrill to welcome her back to Miss America, and it’s something that I think America’s been waiting for,” Bracco says. He urges everyone who’s planning on watching to not miss the first 10 minutes. “There’s going to be a lot of emotion, and it’s gonna be a moment that people are talking about when she steps out on that stage for the first time in 32 years.”

Williams will serve as head judge, alongside celebrity judges Brett Eldredge, Taya Kyle, Danica McKellar, Kevin O’Leary, Amy Purdy, and Zendaya.

2. There will be a Top 7 for the final question round. “Generally, we would get down to the final five finalists, and then a woman would pick a name from the bowl and a judge would ask a final question,” Bracco says. “This year, we’re actually going to have seven finalists so every single judge will get to ask a question, which I think is great.”

If you’re wondering if the judges actually write the questions themselves, they do not. Bracco, who’s working on his sixth Miss America, says it’s a collaborative process. There have been times when judges might say, “I’d like to ask a question about this topic,” but generally, the production team comes up with the questions and assigns them to the judges, who, at that point, can still ask to tackle another subject.

“I think the questions have gotten harder and harder every year,” Bracco says. “They are not softball questions. Knowing what’s going on in the world right now, you know there’s going to be some tough ones.” For him, “The perfect question is a question that is phrased in a way that [a contestant] must give a very distinct opinion about a specific topic — that there’s no dancing around it, and if they do dance around it, that generally doesn’t bode well with their scores.”

3. Nick Jonas is the competition’s music curator. Yahoo TV spoke with Jonas about his duties, which include hand-selecting the songs the women will walk to during the Swimsuit and Evening Gown competitions. “He was really thoughtful about it and really wanted to pick the right songs, whether it was something fun and upbeat for Swimsuit or something more of a ballad and a little more emotional for the Evening Gown,” Bracco says. “He’ll be with us on Sunday night and he’ll talk to [hosts Chris Harrison and Brooke Burke-Charvet] about what went through his head as he chose the various songs.”

Related: Nick Jonas Named Music Curator for Miss America Competition

One thing dcp won’t change is the wonderfully twisted way the Talent portion of the competition works. Once again, all the remaining contestants at that point will be dressed for their talents — with no idea if or when they’ll be called to perform.

Asked if we’ll be learning more fun facts about the contestants (who can forget last year’s “attacked by a cheetah in Zambia”?), Bracco gives a hearty laugh. “Yeah, I think you might. … It’s very serious business choosing the new Miss America, but that doesn’t mean that over the two hours you can’t have a little bit of fun.”

The Miss America Competition airs live Sunday, Sept. 13 at 9 p.m. on ABC.