With hours left until the annual "Miss America" pageant broadcast, here is some essential information for fans and viewers to know.

The 2016 "Miss America" pageant airs on ABC on Sunday, Sept. 13 at 8 p.m. EDT. According to AL, the pageant has been underway in Atlantic City, and there have already been preliminaries and various other events for contestants throughout the week.

During preliminaries on Tuesday, Miss South Carolina won the swimsuit competition while Miss Iowa won the talent portion, AL reports.

For the swimsuit segment of the competition, Daja Dial of South Carolina triumphed, while Taylor Wiebers of Iowa won the talent portion with a vocal performance of "Don't Forget Me" from the TV show "Smash."

When asked what inspired her to sing a song from "Smash," Wiebers responded, "I was a huge fan of that show. That's what all we contestants want: We don't want the judges to forget us."

AL also reports that actress Vanessa Williams will appear as a judge at this year's "Miss America 2016" live broadcast. Williams made history as the first black Miss America and won her title in 1984.

Unfortunately, she later resigned as Miss America after Penthouse published nude photos of her taken several years earlier.

Despite her pageant shortcomings, Williams managed to flourish in her entertainment career, and went on to record music and appear on television, film, and Broadway.

The current Miss America Kira Kazantsev will also be making an appearance at the 2016 "Miss America" pageant. She will be crowning the new Miss America.

Kazantsev recently gave an interview with the Huffington Post, in which she revealed that the year she spent fulfilling her pageant duties as Miss America has not been as "glamorous" as people typically think.

"I travel 20,000 miles a month and I'm in a different city every two days. Usually I wake up, depending on the call time, about two hours before. I do my own hair, I do my own makeup," Kazantsev said. "You know, it could be event one of five that day and I have to maintain [my look]. It's a lot -- it's not as glamorous as people think."