The Miss America competition judging system is designed to promote diversity, individuality and overall achievement among all candidates. 

Judges score the individual candidates immediately following each phase of competition. Candidates are scored on a 1-to-10 point scale, in whole numbers, within each category (more than one contestant may receive the same score). There is one panel of judges for all of the final competition. All judges have been educated about the Miss America judging system and represent a variety of professional sectors within their communities.
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During competition, the weighting of scores awarded per category is distributed as follows:

• Private Interview - 20%
• On-Stage Question - 15%
• Talent - 50%
• Social Impact Initiative - 15%

Once the top 5 scoring candidates have been selected, the judges will rank them 1-5 with each placement receiving a pre-assigned number of points. The candidate with the highest number of points after this final ballot will become the next Miss District of Columbia.

*All categories of judging and corresponding percentages are subject to change by the Miss America Organization.