Enterprise woman crowned Miss University of Alabama

It was a win-win weekend for Brian Edberg and his daughters.

The Coffee Springs man was with his 16-year-old daughter, Josie, at a volleyball tournament when the duo got the news. His eldest daughter, Payton, had just been crowned Miss University of Alabama. Josie’s volleyball team won silver. “It was just a win-win weekend for us—we were

so excited,” Edberg said with a grin. “We just hugged each other.”

Excited is the way the new Miss UA’s mother, Wanda Cotter of Enterprise, described her reaction watching her daughter’s win Saturday evening at the Bama Theater in Tuscaloosa. “We were all so excited—if you could have seen Payton’s face, you would have seen how surprised she was that she won.”

The University of Alabama pageant is a preliminary to the Miss Alabama Pageant, which is part of the Miss America organization.

“This was my 21st preliminary,” the 20-year-old UA sophomore said Tuesday morning. “I’m really excited to go to the Miss Alabama pageant and represent our school.” 


Edberg, one of 17 participants in the pageant, was also awarded the physical fitness and swimsuit award. “I competed with a jazz dance for talent to the song ‘Requiem for a Tower,’" Edberg said. “The dance is high energy and suspenseful.”

The participants also competed in an eveningwear section and an on-stage interview.

Edberg graduated from Enterprise High School in 2013 as a valedictorian. She was awarded the Alabama Power Scholarship that year.

She was also Coffee County's Distinguished Young Woman in 2013 and ultimately placed first runner-up at Distinguished Young Woman of Alabama.

As winner of the Miss UA pageant, Edberg will now compete in the Miss Alabama pageant June 3 through 6 at Samford University’s Wright Center in Homewood. The new Miss Alabama will be crowned Saturday, June 6, and will go on to compete in the Miss America Pageant.

The Miss Alabama Pageant is a not-for-profit organization that awards college scholarships to outstanding young women, according to its website. “The program at the state level benefits all its participants with monetary college assistance and creates a foundation of self-confidence that lasts a lifetime.”

Miss Alabama contestants work for causes represented by their personally chosen platforms. “My platform as a part of the Miss America Organization is an educational program for lung health awareness,” Edberg said.

Chandler Shields placed as fourth-runner up, Shelby Lynne Shaw placed as third-runner up, Allison Farris placed as second-runner up and Maggie Gehlsen placed as first-runner up. Farris received first in the talent portion. Martha Grimes Cooper received the CMN Champion Award for her fundraising efforts for the Children’s Miracle Network hospitals, and Meg McGuire received the Spirit of Alabama Leadership and Community 
Service award.