Jan. 10, 2011. Louisville, KY. – The five women selected to serve as Princesses in the 2011 Derby Festival’s Royal Court were announced today. They are:
Caitlin Carter of Big Spring, KY is a junior majoring in Agriculture/Mass Communications at Western Kentucky University. She is a reporter for the College Heights Herald newspaper in Bowling Green and is a member of the Western Kentucky University Honors/College Program.
Katie Huber of Glasgow, KY is a graduate student attending the University of Louisville School of Medicine. She graduated Summa Cum Laude from the University of Kentucky, where she was an Otis A. Singletary Scholarship recipient.
Trisha Maclin of Marion, KY is a senior majoring in English/Political Science at the University of Louisville. She is a McConnell Scholar and was named the University of Louisville’s Most Outstanding Junior student.
Laura Don Oliver of Princeton, KY is a senior majoring in Chemistry at the University of Louisville. She is a University of Louisville Guaranteed Entrance into Medical School student and a Bonner Leader of the Year
Lauren Smith of Lexington, KY is a senior majoring in Political Science/Economics at the University of Kentucky. She is a University of Kentucky Student Government Association Senator and an Otis A. Singletary Scholar.
Kara Schultz of Louisville, KY was chosen as the first alternate. Ashley Davis of Jeffersonville, Ind., was chosen as the second alternate. They will become Princesses if one of the other women is unable to serve.
The five young women selected as Princesses will act as ambassadors for the 2011 Derby Festival, attending nearly 70 events over a three-week period. Fifteen were selected as finalists out of the more than 100 original applicants for the five Princess positions, and all attended the final judging this week. None of them knew in advance who had been selected.
The court will represent the Derby Festival and the city of Louisville as official ambassadors for the springtime tradition of the Derby Festival. They will attend nearly every official Derby Festival event beginning with the Your Community Bank Poster Premiere on January 13 to their appearance in the Republic Bank Pegasus Parade on May 5. In addition, they will attend the Kentucky Oaks and Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs and make visits to schools to discuss the importance of volunteerism.
One of the five women will be crowned the Derby Festival Queen by a spin-of-the-wheel at the annual Fillies Derby Ball presented by LG&E on April 15 at the Galt House East Grand Ballroom. Each woman will receive a $2000 scholarship ($1000 from the Fillies and $1000 from the Kentucky Derby Festival Foundation).
The Derby Festival’s Royal Court Program is coordinated by The Fillies, Inc., a volunteer group that works closely with the Festival. Fillies President Jenny Jacob joined 2011 Derby Festival Chair Ja Hillebrand in crowning the newly appointed court.
Candidates for the Princess Program must maintain a minimum 3.0 grade-point average and are selected by a panel of four out-of-state judges. Criteria for selection includes knowledge of the Derby Festival, poise, intelligence, personality and campus and community involvement. The first Derby Festival Princess was crowned in 1957, the second year of the Festival. Previous Princesses have included former Kentucky Governor Martha Layne Collins and Gail Gorski, the first female pilot ever hired by United Airlines.
The Derby Festival is an independent community organization supported by 4,000 volunteers, 400 businesses and civic groups, Pegasus Pin sponsorships and event participation. It entertains more than 1.5 million people annually. This involvement has made the Festival the largest single attended event in Kentucky and one of the leading community celebrations in the world.
