President Snow stared at the screen in shock. He had just witnessed something that had never happened in Panem history before. Two tributes had died at the same time. In and of itself, this was not entirely unordinary—it was the Hunger Games, after all. But this was different. This was bad. Because now there was no victor of the 71st Hunger Games.

Everyone was dead.

The President quickly made it to the Gamemaker Central. It was in chaos. The Gamemakers were rushing around, flipping through papers, making frantic phone calls. And then Snow saw the man he was looking for and barked out, "Crane!"

The room went ghostly silent. Seneca whirled around, and, knowing that he could not refuse the President, reluctantly walked up to him.

Snow's face was like stone. "Crane, a word if you please," he said. The two men stepped a little bit out of the room to give themselves some privacy.

"Your Honor, I am terribly sorry that this happened," Seneca immediately began speaking, "I swear it was an accident and it won't happen again."

"Oh, it won't." Snow drew a tad closer, his eyes boring into Seneca. "This is your first year as Gamemaker, and I believe you still show much promise. A just president would have you executed immediately…" As Seneca stared at his president in horror, Snow paused to let it sink into this bastard's mind, how serious this was.

Then he continued, "But I am not entirely just."

"Sir?" Seneca stammered.

"I am not going to kill you, Seneca," Snow said, "unless this happens again."

"Thank you, Presid—" Seneca began.

Snow leaned in, a fierce spark in his eye. "But now I need you to come up with a punishment for me."

"President, I'm not quite sure I understand you," Seneca said.

"You know we usually have the Victory Tour halfway through the year, during the winter, to remind the districts of the Games constantly, letting it stay in the back of their minds always. Keeping them docile?" President Snow shook his head. "With the stunt those two girls pulled, we now have no Victory Tour. Nothing to remind the districts." Seneca noticed a hint of fear in Snow's voice as he finished, "Nothing to keep them from starting a rebellion."

"I understand," Seneca said with a respectful nod. "How soon do you want an idea?"

Snow fixed Seneca's tie for him, tightening it until he was almost choked. "As soon as possible, Mr. Crane." And with that, the President strolled off to his room.

Seneca shifted nervously in his seat in the conference room. He was about to present his idea for the perfect punishment to keep the districts in line. Was it just him, or was the room very warm? He pulled uncomfortably on his shirt collar.

"Mr. Crane," Snow said from his place at the head of the table, "will now present his idea. I'm sure it will be fantastic." Seneca could almost hear him saying, It had better be fantastic.

Seneca stood up as the rest of the Gamemakers gave small claps. The lights in the room dimmed and a large screen slid down from the ceiling and rested on the wall. Seneca pressed the button in his hand, and his first slide came up. It had the pictures of the girls who had ended up being the final two.

"I'm sure you all recognize these faces," Seneca began. "These are the two girls, both of which almost became this year's victor. Unfortunately, by some strange twist of circumstance beyond our control, they both died at the exact same moment." He paused and flipped to the next slide, which showed pictures of both of them absolutely shining in their interview gowns. "As you can see, they were both quite beautiful and popular with the public, idolized even."

Next slide. The two girls were waving to the public on the chariots, looking absolutely stunning. The audience, in reply, was screaming and throwing roses to them. They were absolutely smitten by the girls' beauty and personality.

"My plan," said Seneca, "is the ideal way to combine a punishment for the districts and the appeal of beautiful tributes to the audience." Seneca looked at the people around the table. He could tell the other Gamemakers were hanging off of his every word, and even Snow looked intrigued.

"Gentlemen, ladies, and Your Honor..." He smiled, and the brightness came back into his blue eyes as he said, "We are holding a beauty pageant."

In replacement of the Victory Tour, this year we are holding a new one-time competition: the Princess of Panem Beauty Pageant! Sign up your district girls (sorry gents) for this contest of skill, popularity, and talent! It will be required viewing.

Contestants will be chosen at random draw. Any girl from age 12 to 18 will be included in the draw, although only one girl from each district will be allowed to come. No volunteers will be allowed!

The lucky girls will be judged both by our panel of esteemed evaluators, known as the Beautymakers, as well as by the votes of the Capitol public. The twelve contestants (one from each district) will be judged in the following categories:

beauty,

talent,

popularity,

and a top secret category, to be revealed later in the contest!

Please keep up to date to find out which one of the twelve selected girls will become the first Miss Panem!