Jill Carroll Named Miss Arkansas Rice

LITTLE ROCK, AR, November 30, 2006 — Monroe County 16-year old Jill Carroll was named Miss Arkansas Rice at the state contest held here Nov. 18. She is the daughter of Jon and Jana Carroll from Brinkley.

The first runner-up and second-runner up positions went to Shakera Gardner of Mississippi County and Tori May of Lee County respectively.

Contestants were judged on rice promotion, rice cooking skills and knowledge of the rice industry. Carroll’s recipe was Salsa “Rice Bowl” Bites. Amy McClelland, University of Arkansas Cooperative Extension Service, and Jennifer Victory, Arkansas Farm Bureau, judged the contestants.

Representative from 10 counties participated in the contest, which has a 45-year tradition. Other contestants were Lauryn Watkins, Arkansas County; Elazibeth Steritz, Chicot County; Jessie Hall, Crawford County; Deborah Sanders, Cross County; Meri Whitney Zieman, Drew County; Carrie Mitchell, Lonoke County and Tyler Halbert, St. Francis County.

The goal of the Miss Arkansas Rice program is to encourage youth interest in rice and to publicize the importance of the Arkansas rice industry to the state’s economy.

The Arkansas Rice Council and the USA Rice Council (a member of the USA Rice Federation), in cooperation with the Arkansas Farm Bureau and the Arkansas Cooperative Extension Service, sponsor the annual contest.

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A high resolution photo is available at the USA Rice image library.

Caption: Outgoing 2005 Miss Arkansas Rice Jillian Harper crowns the 2006 Miss Arkansas Rice Jill Carroll.

Contact: Chuck Wilson, (870) 673-7541, cwilson@usarice.com

USA Rice Federation is the national advocate for all segments of the rice industry, conducting activities to influence government programs, developing and initiating programs to increase worldwide demand for U.S. rice, and providing other services to increase profitability for all industry segments.