Early pageantry

Shields won the Miss Arkansas' Outstanding Teen 2009 title in June 2009 and represented Arkansas at the 2010 Miss America's Outstanding Teen pageant in Orlando, Florida in August.^[6] After winning Miss Arkansas Collegiate, Shields was crowned Miss Collegiate America 2013 at the Miss Collegiate America Pageant in Orlando, Florida on July 8, 2013.

Miss Arkansas 2016

In July 2016, Shields competed as Miss Heart of the Ozarks and won the preliminary lifestyle and fitness and preliminary talent awards at the Miss Arkansas 2016 pageant.^[2] She went on to win the Miss Arkansas 2016 title, with a platform of “Eat Better, Live Better.”^[2][7][8]

Miss America 2017

Shields represented Arkansas at the Miss America 2017 competition held at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey in September 2016. Her platform was "Eat Better, Live Better."^[7]

Shields won the talent portion and a $2,000 scholarship at the conclusion of the second round of preliminary competitions on Wednesday, September 7, 2016, for her jazz dance performance to the song, “They Just Keep Moving the Line” from the TV show Smash.^[1][9] In the final round of the competition, Shields was asked about presidential candidate, Hillary Clinton, by judge, Gabby Douglas. In her allotted 20 second response, she answered, "If you're trying to be leader of the free world, everything you say and do matters, and all of your actions are held to a higher standard. And unfortunately, the media does love to sensationalize everything, and its hard to tell what is truth and what is truly scandal..."^[10][11]

She bested first runner-up, Miss South Carolina 2016, Rachel Wyatt, for the 2017 Miss America title and was crowned by Miss America 2016, Betty Cantrell, on September 11, 2016. Along with the title of Miss America, Shields also won a $50,000 scholarship. Shields is the third Miss Arkansas to win the Miss America title, along with Donna Axum in 1964, and Elizabeth Ward in 1982.^[5]