Karima Burdette’s husband Roger suggested she enter the Mrs. Georgia Pageant this year.

It turns out he had a really good idea.

“He thought that I would be good at it,” Burdette said. “He knew that I liked pageants, but he had no idea that it was a big dream of mine since I was a little girl.”

However, competing in her first pageant far exceeded Burdette’s dreams.

She finished as first runner-up in the Mrs. Georgia Pageant on June 30 in Roswell. She also won the most photogenic award and was the swimsuit winner as the most physically-fit contestant.

“It was truly one of the highlights of my life and I’m extremely grateful for the experience,” she said.

The Mrs. Georgia Pageant is a qualifier for the Mrs. America Pageant, a competition to honor “married woman who are extraordinarily beautiful, poised, articulate and versatile.” Each year, the winners from each U.S. state plus the District of Columbia vie for the title of Mrs. America.

Burdette’s platform for the Mrs. Georgia Pageant was the nursing home ministry she leads as part of the GLOW (God Loves Orphans and Widows) Ministry of Grace Community Church in Rincon. The nursing home ministry has grown steadily in Burdette’s five years directing it, and she maintains a strong base of volunteers who help her visit nursing home residents and put together gift bags for them.

“I am going to continue to strive to do great in my life and I am hoping to inspire others along the way to love and serve those less-fortunate,” she said.

Burdette credited her husband for being her “biggest fan all the way” as she prepared for and competed in her first pageant. She also thanked the rest of her family, friends, her seamstress Sheila Mull and “all that helped and supported me through the pageant.”

“The Mrs. Georgia-America organization and their staff are absolutely amazing people,” she said. “I am truly filled with gratitude and it is an event that I will never forget.”