SIOUX FALLS - They were supposed to get crowns, scepters and savings bonds. But the five division winners in the Little Miss South Dakota Pageant in September are still waiting for their prizes.

The pageant was promoted by Mandy Connally of Moorcroft, Wyo., who put on the program at the Sioux Falls Orpheum Theater. Each winner in the five divisions was promised a $250 savings bond and the other items.

It's been four months, and none of the girls has received her bond.

Some parents are starting to ask questions.

"I don't think this lady intentionally intended to do anything wrong. I just think she was a bad manager," said Dena Brady of Vermillion, whose 7-year-old daughter, Rachel, won the Petite Miss South Dakota division.

Connally, contacted by telephone, said her sponsors wanted Social Security numbers for girls entered in the pageant. Such information is necessary to buy savings bonds, but Connally said she didn't "feel like it's my right to give out personal information. I wasn't comfortable with that."

"So for me, it mostly came down to protecting the girls. I've chosen to pay for those out of my own pocket. But I'm a stay-at-home mom, and coming up with money for all those wasn't easy to do. I hope to send them out next week."

Brady said she is considering legal action if something doesn't happen.

"I will contact the other mothers and see if others are interested in joining me," she said. "It is fraud."

The Miss South Dakota Pageant is not affiliated with Connally's pageant, according to Kristi Richter, Miss South Dakota Pageant executive director.

"You hear about something like this and you worry about people saying, 'Oh, here goes the pageant thing again,' Richter said. "Because negative things happen, people automatically say, 'They're terrible. They're bad. We don't want to be part of that.'"

Twenty-three girls competed in the Little Miss South Dakota Pageant. They ranged from infants to 12 years old.

Jennifer Franks of Mitchell estimates she has up to $1,000 invested in the pageant. Costs included selling ads for the pageant's program along with hotel, food and gown expenses and other accessories.

"I'm pretty upset," Franks said. "We put a lot of time and work into this pageant. The savings bond could be in the bank."

Parents paid between $100 and $125 for entry fees - and even more for dresses and other accessories.

Connally said only one or two parents were upset and that she has gotten good feedback from the South Dakota event.

But parents point to oddities in the judges' scoring, saying that at one point during the announcement of the results, judges took a 20-minute break to re-evaluate scorecards.

"All of a sudden they were scribbling on paper and rearranging things," said Amber Cookingham of Sioux Falls, whose 8-year-old daughter competed. "The fact that we can't get ahold of the scorecards makes you really suspicious."

A Web site that Connally had set up for the event has been disabled.

Connally said the pageant was a "learning experience" and that she's thinking about holding more pageants. "I share the mothers' frustrations. It's very upsetting to me, too. I'll do my very best to work it out."