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TULSA, OK - Tonya Still of Tahlequah was crowned Miss Indian Oklahoma earlier this month in Tulsa. Competing against five other contestants at the Adams Mark Hotel, Still, who was Miss Cherokee for 1998-99, also won the "Most Traditional Talent" award during the pageant and received a Pendleton Indian blanket. She is the sixth former Miss Cherokee to be crowned Miss Indian Oklahoma.

Toyna Still's biggest prize is the $5,000 in scholarship money she will receive. Still is a senior at Northeastern State University in Tahlequah majoring in history education. She said she plans to use the scholarship to attend graduate school at NSU to work on a degree in Native American studies.

Still said she was "just as nervous" as the first time she competed for the crown last year, but her experience made her "more confident, and she knew what to expect this time around."

"I was so excited when I won and was shaking so much the petals from the roses I received were falling to the floor", she said.

Still served the Cherokee Nation as Miss Cherokee in 1998-99 and is known in the Tahlequah area for her ability to play the Indian flute. For her talent portion in the Miss Indian Oklahoma pageant she played her flute. She and the other contestants also had to give a tribal greeting during the pageant, model traditional Indian clothing and answer an impromptu question. Before the pageant, contestants took part in a judicial interview.

After the pageant Still took part in a Pow Wow where she received six shawls from well wishers. She said her main reasons for competing in the pageant was the scholarship money and to experience the culture and heritage of other Indian tribes.

"It was interesting that the other four contestants were from four different tribes and that we got to learn what we had in common as Indian people", Still said. "I believe if you remain open to other cultures and other peoples’ heritage, it opens a lot of new doors."

The Oklahoma Federation of Indian Women are the sponsors of the annual Miss Indian Oklahoma Pageant. The object of the federation, which was formed in 1969, is to promote and preserve the cultural heritage and identity of Oklahoma's tribes, and to develop ways of depicting the Indian woman in the world of today.

Tonya Still is the 22-year-old daughter of Sammy and Dama Still of Tahlequah, Oklahoma.