Running pageants since 2022 — 166 of them, and 1,404 contestants in the last twelve months alone. Registration through crowning, and the week after. Below is the whole list — and then, because it matters more, an honest account of what Bombyhead doesn’t do.
The part that used to be a form, a spreadsheet, a payment app and a folder of emailed photos.
One link. It works out a contestant’s age on your age-as-of date, shows her only the divisions and optionals she’s eligible for, and totals the fee as she goes. Families can save and pay later, and get a reminder until they do. No printer, no PDF, no back-and-forth about which division she’s in.
Stripe is built into the form. Entry fees go straight to your own Stripe account — Bombyhead never holds a director’s money. Partial payments, discount codes and payment plans are handled.
Headshots, waivers, music files, signed releases. Everything arrives attached to the right contestant instead of scattered across a season of email, and downloads as a single archive when you need it.
Every entry still missing a photo, music, a signed waiver or a balance, in one list. One click emails each family their own list, or switch on Monday reminders and they go out every week until the pageant. The program-book photo you’d have chased by text arrives on its own.
Per-division entry fees, optional categories, bundle discounts, early-bird tiers. Raise Photogenic from $40 to $60 and the form updates the moment you save.
Your logo and brand color on the registration page, and a full public website if you want one — schedule, divisions, sponsors, past winners. A real address to put on a flyer instead of a Facebook event.
Duplicate the whole thing — divisions, categories, pricing, questions, scoring setup — then change the dates. Setup drops from an evening to a few minutes.
Post what you need (judges, a tabulator, an emcee, a photographer, hair and makeup), invite the people you know, or share a ready-made post in Facebook pageant groups with a link anyone can apply through. Applications arrive with each person’s experience, contact details are exchanged only when you choose, and the judges you choose are already in your scoring setup.
Pageant Prep gives every registered family a 30-day plan, stage walk practice with demonstration videos, interview practice, a bio builder and a photo coach, all built around your pageant: your stage pattern, your schedule, your dress rules. For contestants under 18, the AI tools work only when a parent opts in. More about Pageant Prep →
Judging, tabulation, and the part that has to work in a metal building with one bar of signal.
Each judge gets her own link — no account, no app. On a laptop or tablet she sees the full grid; on a phone, one contestant at a time with big type and the number pad, a strip to jump between contestants, and Previous / Next under her thumb. Scores go straight in. Weighted tabulation is instant: the result is ready when the last score is entered. No one adds a column at eleven at night.
Every score is saved on the judge’s own device first, then sent. If the connection drops mid-competition the scores wait and go when it returns, and each box shows whether it’s saved yet. Nobody re-enters a round because the network blinked.
Every score is timestamped as it’s entered and never overwritten. Any change afterward is flagged, your tabulator records what the judge said, and an independent auditor — with their own read-only login — signs off. Close each round as it ends and a judge can’t revise a number after a contestant already has it. How the score audit works →
Someone arrives with a paper form. Import a CSV, or add her by hand, and she’s in the lineup and on the judges’ screens in under a minute.
The week that usually goes to answering emails.
Her own scoresheet, emailed when you release it — each judge’s marks, the division’s range in every category, and the judges’ written comments. Send after each round while standings stay yours until crowning, or send the lot the next morning. What a score sheet should tell you →
Entry income and voting income side by side, what you netted, where it came from, and how it compares with a typical pageant on Bombyhead. Numbers, not a feeling.
All optional. The only things Bombyhead earns on.
Turn any category into a fundraiser supporters can join from anywhere. Across 36 director-years of Bombyhead pageants, 16 raised more from voting than from entry fees — median $4,338. You keep 75%. How to run one well →
A pay-to-enter contest that runs entirely online, judged by your judges, with a certificate for everyone who enters. No venue, no stage — and every entrant is a name for next year’s roster. You keep 75%.
Each contestant gets a sponsor link. A local business or a grandparent picks an ad size, uploads the ad and pays by card, straight into your Stripe account, and you approve every ad. Families without a designer use the free Ad Maker, and the Program Maker drafts the finished book with the approved ads in place. You keep 90%. How program book ads work →
Contestants, photos, files and scores all download whenever you want them, in ordinary formats. There is no export fee and nothing to negotiate if you leave.
The scoring is deliberately simple, and staying small is what keeps it reliable on a Saturday. These are not on the roadmap, and it’s better you know before you commit than at rehearsal:
If your pageant needs any of those, PageantScore is built for it and we’d rather tell you now. The full scoring setup guide →
Free for directors. Always.
No monthly fee, no per-contestant charge, no setup fee, no contract, no credit card to start. Everything above is included. Bombyhead takes 25% of optional People’s Choice and photo contest income (you keep 75%) and 10% of program book ad sales (you keep 90%), before Stripe’s card fee — and nothing at all if you never turn them on.