University of California Student Caitlin Sandra Neil Crowned Miss India USA 2024

Indian American teenager Caitlin Sandra Neil was crowned Miss India USA 2024 at the annual pageant held Dec. 15 in New Jersey. The first and second runner-up titles respectively went to Nirali Desia of Illinois and Manini Patel of New Jersey. 

Chennai-born Neil, 19, is a second-year student at University of California, Davis, studying Cognitive Science with a computational emphasis, according to her LinkedIn profile.

Sanskriti Sharma of Illinois won the Mrs. India USA title, and Arshita Kathpalia of Washington was declared Miss Teen India USA. Sapna Mishra of Virginia and Chinmayee Ayachitof Connecticut were named first and second runner-up in the Mrs India USA competition, while Dhriti Patel of Rhode Island and Sonali Sharma of were the first runner-up and second runner-up in the teen category. 

In a post on Facebook, Kathpalia expressed her happiness for being the “new reigning” Miss India Teen USA. “This pageant journey has been so much more than I could ever put into words,” she continued, adding that she’s “grown tremendously, not just as a contestant, but as a person.” She also thanked her parents for their “unwavering support, guidance, and love have been my rock through this journey.”

See Also

Where are Your Papers: The Dangers of Eliminating Birthright Citizenship

The 42nd edition of the annual pageant was held at Royal Albert’s Palace in Fords, New Jersey, and is the longest running Indian pageant outside of India. It was started by New York-based Indian-Americans Dharmatma and Neelam Saran under the banner of Worldwide Pageants. Forty-seven contestants from 25 states participated in the three categories of the pageant.