Photo courtesy of Distinguished Young Women
Madeline Tapley was named the Overall Interview and Self Expression Winner for Distinguished Young Woman of Jefferson County 2025.
On July 20, Madeline Tapley, a senior at Homewood High School, competed for the role of Distinguished Young Woman of Jefferson County 2025.
Tapley was a top finalist and named the Overall Interview and Self Expression Winner during the program held at John Carroll Catholic High School.
She plans to pursue a dual degree in medicine and law with an ultimate goal of working for the World Health Organization. She hopes to attend Auburn University.
Kate Nichols, a senior at Hewitt-Trussville High School, was selected as the Distinguished Young Woman of Jefferson County 2025. She was also selected as the Preliminary Interview and Self Expression Winner and the Overall Fitness Winner.
In January of 2025, Nichols will advance to the Distinguished Young Women of Alabama Program in Montgomery where she will compete for over $30,000 in cash-tuition scholarships and the title of Distinguished Young Woman of Alabama 2025.
First Alternate was Lillianne Campbell of Hewitt-Trussville High School, and Lula Comer, a senior at Mountain Brook High School, was selected as second alternate. Comer was also selected as the Overall Talent Winner, with her talent being contemporary dance.
Other top finalists included two more Hewitt-Trussville students: Kiersten Pritchard and Stella Shipman. Nia Brown from Hoover High School and Ellie Robicheaux of Vestavia Hills High School were also top finalists.
A total of $31,050.00 in cash-tuition scholarships was awarded during this year’s program.
The Overall Scholastics Winner was Sadie Benson from Hewitt-Trussville, and Gardendale High School senior Sunni Harkley was named the Overall Spirit Winner.
The 2026 program will be held July 13-19, 2025 and members of the Class of 2026 who live in Jefferson County may apply now by visiting https://distinguishedyw.org/.
Distinguished Young Women, formerly America’s Junior Miss, was founded in 1958 as a way to reward the accomplishments of high school senior girls seeking to pursue higher education. Today, the organization is the largest and oldest scholarship program of its kind for high school senior girls.
With scholarship, leadership and talent as its overarching theme, Distinguished Young Women has drawn over 780,000 young women to compete in the program at the local, state and national level and $118 million in cash scholarships has been awarded since its inception.
