University of Central Missouri’s newest Homecoming Royalty winners were announced during the 2023 Homecoming football game on Oct. 22. Evelyn Neal, Dalton White, and Emily Gahagan were selected to represent their respective organizations, clubs and departments as Homecoming Royalty by their peers and crowned during halftime at the Audrey J. Walton Stadium at Vernon Kennedy Field.

The crowning of Evelyn Neal, Dalton White, and Emily Gahagan was preceded by the UCM Homecoming royalty top ten candidates being announced at the UCM’s Homecoming event featuring the magician and mentalist on Oct. 19 in Hendricks Hall. The top ten candidates were Brady Bachert, Ashlee Bieker, Maddie Cupp, Mary Frerking, Emily Gahagan, Cordelia Rae Jurkowski, Timmy Long, Jessica Miller, Evelyn Neal, and Dalton White.
The UCM Homecoming royalty top ten candidates had to have a minimum of 54 credit hours and do tasks to compete to be in the top ten. This year’s criteria to be on the court was the same as it has been in recent years. The criteria was a 50% popularity vote, an interview worth 25%, and the remaining 25% consisted of a video that the candidates had to create, according to Director of Student Activities Beth Rutt. Each of the top ten candidates were awarded with an official Homecoming Court Sash. While the criteria remains the same, this year the royalty was represented in a new and different way.
“This is the first year that it has been implemented,” Rutt said. “What we, the homecoming Leadership Committee, two years ago brought up for discussion [was] about having a gender neutral homecoming royalty, instead of the queen and king and the court…so the committee discussed it, and then they, within the committee structure, they brought it to us and then we took it then to a larger committee made up of partners. There was a unanimous support there.”