The Maine Junior Miss program is making the call for high school senior girls who are interested in participating in the contest. Volunteers and sponsors are needed as well. The Maine’s Junior Miss program will take place in spring 2006 – an exact date will be announced at a later date. For more information, call Barbara Taylor, field director for America’s Junior Miss, at (800) 256-5435, e-mail barbara@ajm.org, or visit www.ajm.org.

Founded in 1957, America’s Junior Miss is the oldest and largest scholarship program for high school senior girls. The nonprofit program’s goal is to honor young women who excel and encourage them to obtain a college education and assume roles of leadership in their communities and professions.

In the past 48 years, the program has awarded cash scholarships totaling almost $90 million to girls across the nation. More than 700,000 college-bound young women have competed, including Diane Sawyer, co-host of ABC’s “Good Morning America” and co-anchorwoman of “Primetime Thursday;” Deborah Norville, host of “Inside Edition;” E.D. Hill, an anchorwoman on Fox News Channel’s “Fox and Friends;” and Debra Messing, co-star of NBC’s “Will & Grace.”

The program’s national sponsors are Tyson Foods Inc., SeaWorld, Busch Gardens, the Mitchell Co., the city of Mobile, and Mobile County. National category sponsors are the America’s Junior Miss Council, and Mobile Gas and Regions Bank. The 49th annual America’s Junior Miss National Finals will be held in Mobile, Ala., in June.