The Miss New Hampshire program was conducted by the Union Leader newspaper for more than 50 years.

The newspaper held the pageant from at least 1985 to 2001 at the Manchester Central High School auditorium.

[citation needed] In 2000, a non-profit corporation formed and was granted the license by the Miss America Organization to conduct the state program from 2002 through today.

The competition was moved to Derry in 2003 and is held annually at Pinkerton Academy's Stockbridge Theatre.

The local programs are all non-profit corporations with group 501(c)(3) tax exempt status.