SAN ANTONIO – Some toddlers in tiaras recently competed in Austin and they're headed to San Antonio in March.
KSAT-12 crews got up close and personal as parents and their little ones vie for the coveted crown.
Sounds effects and a $400 dress were the winning combination for 6-month-old Aniston Howard, who happens to be a second generation contestant.
Her mother, Whitney Howard, loves the glitz of it all. "The best thing is getting all dressed, make up and jewelry and all the fancy stuff, bling," Howard said.
Alina Warneke, 3, walked away with the supreme title in a $1,300 custom made dress.
"She's already obsessed with the way she looks, she already tells me to do her hair a certain way. I don't want to say a diva, but I kind of thinks she is," said her mother Crystal Warneke.
In the 3-and-under category at the Austin preliminary pageant, KSAT crews noticed with each contestant there was a parent on stage coaching, if not carrying their child.
"I just tell her to smile and wave and blow kisses," Warneke said.
The parents of the only boy in the competition are hoping this pageant will be a launching pad for bigger, better opportunities.
"We wanted to see if we could get a few titles so that when we reach out to modeling and talent agencies we can says he's won most handsome, maybe most photogenic, just to get something behind his belt," said mother CC Sepulveda.
Pageant owner Annette Hill was devastated when her own daughters opted out of the pageant circuit at age 5.
"I was crushed, I wanted to fall all over the floor and die, but I said if this is something you don't want to do that is absolutely fine," Hill said.
Most parents said they're only involved in pageants because it's what their kids want to do, but when it comes to practicing, that's not always the case.
"That's how I tell her, motivate her to practice, you want to practice, if you practice, you win a crown," Warneke said.
At morning's end, KSAT crews noticed it was much like many other kids competitions in that everyone left with a trophy.
In this case, they also left with a crown and a teddy bear.
The Universal Royalty Pageant will be in San Antonio March 3 and there are talks the cable TV show, "Toddlers & Tiaras" may also be coming to film it.