The “third time is a charm,” said new Miss Mississippi 2010 Sarah Beth James on her first day, Sunday, as the state titleholder. “It’s going to be a journey, and I’m ready to get it started.”

The 20-year-old Mississippi State University junior had competed twice before winning the 53rd annual Miss Mississippi Pageant in Vicksburg. She was crowed Saturday night by outgoing Miss Mississippi Anna Tadlock and will compete in the Miss America Pageant in Las Vegas on Jan. 15.

James, who has been in pageants since high school, was Miss Mississippi State University in 2009 and Miss Madison County in 2008.

“The first year, we decided to do it to see if this was what I really wanted to do, and maybe earn a little scholarship money,” she said. “The next year, I wanted to come back, and I think I took myself a little too seriously. I was very, very focused. I’m my harshest critic.”

After two years of competing and placing in the top 10 each time, James knew immediately she wanted to compete again.

“This year, I found the perfect balance of having fun, enjoying the sisterhood of the week and enjoying the experience and everything that comes out of the Miss Mississippi program, but at the same time reaching my goals and doing the best I can,” she said.

James, the younger daughter of David and Faye James of Madison, said the support she receives from her family has helped through each year.

“I always say ‘we’ because it’s a team effort,” she said. “I think I should have three crowns — one for Dad and one for Mom. They constantly push me and support me. They lift me when I’m down, and they always say the right thing.”

Her father said, “We each got on a rocking chair and just talked” as part of their family celebration following Saturday night’s pageant finale. “It was her big night. She’s as pretty on the inside as she is on the outside.”

James said she will have both parents, as well as her sister, Rachel, 24, to travel with and help her prepare for Miss America.

“I have mock interviews scheduled, and I practice my talent every day,” she said. She will be playing the piano piece, “Piano Fantasy,” which she performed Saturday night.

Meanwhile, the 5-foot-4 blond will promote her personal platform, organ and tissue donation.

“It is very, very personal to me,” she said. “I promote it in memory of Ralph McDonald, a very dear family friend.”

McDonald, who died in 2007, had received a liver donation allowing him to live five more years.

“Those five years were priceless,” she said. “There are 1,200 Mississippians on the transplant list today. My goal, this year, is to decrease that number by as much as possible.”

James has already agreed to lead a donor sign-up drive, sponsored by the Mississippi Organ Recovery Agency.

The effort, a competition between MSU and the University of Mississippi, will kick off in August when students of each school are asked to sign up as many organ donors as possible by the time the two schools face off against each other in the Egg Bowl, set for Nov. 27.

James, the MSU challenge leader, will announce the winner at the game.

“It’s a very big project, and this is the first year to do this,” she said. “I hope to make this an annual tradition.”

During her reign, James, who is studying public relations and journalism with a minor in Spanish, will take a year off from school and represent the state.

“This experience is perfect for my major,” she said. “It’s going to teach me more than if I were sitting in a classroom.”

As part of her first duties, she and Miss Mississippi’s Outstanding Teen Christina Bostick will deliver teddy bears, which were collected during pageant week, to children at Blair E. Batson Hospital for Children on July 20, as well as deliver them to children at River Region Medical Center and Vicksburg’s First Responders Unit.