Playmate Review

TIME TO CAST YOUR VOTE IN THE SEASON'S SECOND-MOST-IMPORTANT ELECTION

^^ y f only November's presiden-¥ ) m ^ election featured campaign ^—^ M literature as scintillating as what A m you now hold in your hands. Hcre-

\^ ^^r with we present the candidates who will vie for your all-important vote to be­come the 2013 Playmate of the Year. The winner will bathe in champagne and prize money and add her name to the pantheon of PMOYs going back to the first—Ellen Stratton of Mississippi—in 1960. Who will grab your ballot? Let the debate begin. This year's group of gorgeous girls includes a trio from overseas: Miss March Lisa Seiffcrt, an Australian fashionista who loves mod­eling haute couture almost as much as she

loves modeling nothing at all; Miss Sep­tember Alana Campos, a former beauty queen from the beaches of Brazil; and Miss December Amanda Streich, an amazing 19-year-old Polish model who is currently wowing the fashion world in New York. As usual, this year's Playmates include a num­ber of homegrown all-American girls next door, from a pair of magnificent gamers (Miss June Amelia Talon and Miss October Pamela Horton, who hail from Washington state and Kansas, respectively) to the bril­liant and beautiful Beth Williams (Miss August, from Ohio). So peruse this cam­paign literature carefully and cast your vote at playboy.com/PMOY2013.

MISS JANUARY

Ever since the Indianapolis native and rabid Colts Ian announced in her pictorial profile that her fantasy football league is called "Show Me Your TDs," life has been a pigskin riot for Heather Knox. "Fans send me messages asking how I feel about outcomes of games. I'm not shy about putting in my two cents," she says. Having represented playboy everywhere from Las Vegas to New Zealand last year, our football fanatic wants to tackle your vote for PMOY. "I think we need a Midwestern girl," she says, "because we're what I think of when I think Playmate: girls with big hearts who love to make people smile." Her Playmate experi­ence has sent Heather over the moon. "Sometimes I still can't believe it," she says. "It makes my heart melt."

MISS JUNE

Persistence has proved to be key for the outrageously hot Amelia Talon. The Washington state native was once "a loner goth kid in a trench coat and black boots," determined to avoid being pigeonholed as a nerd for her gaming passion (a joncs she still carries). As a teenager she began modeling. "I tried to become a Playmate starting when I was 18." she says. "It took four years until I became one. Man, I'm so proud of my­self for never giving up on that dream." Since appearing in our pages, Amelia "certainly doesn't feel like that dorky girl anymore," she says. Miss June has moved to California to further pursue her modeling dreams, which include a shot at PMOY. "Should I win," she says, "I'd use the title to be active in charities and be the face of something positive and inspiring. I hope I get the chance."

MISS OCTOBER

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This Kansas native wrote on her Playmate Data Sheet that her ambition was to "work for a well-known video game company as a character designer." Since the October issue landed— featuring Pamela on the cover—she has been inundated with praise from mega-gaming outfits such as League of Legends publisher Riot Games. "They flew me out to L.A. for the LoL world championship, and I met the art direc­tor, who was really enthusiastic about my work," says Pamela. "LoL legendary designer Steve 'Guinsoo' Feak saw me there and knew who I was. He said, 'Hey, you're Miss October!' I cried probably three times from happiness." Needless to say, Pamela's tear ducts will get a workout should she win PMOY.

MISS MARCH

"Being nude is a walk in the park for me," says Australian model Lisa Seiffert. After she proclaimed in our pages, "I'm notorious in the fashion industry for taking my clothes off," Miss March's statement comes as no surprise. What might is that she is in the process of writing children's books. Still, model­ing takes precedence, and though she walked runways for years, the playboy shoot rocked her world. "It's all so iconic and historic," she beams. "Shoot­ing on a Malibu beach for seven days'? Heaven." There was, however, a price to pay. "I had quite the tanned little bottom from being butt naked in the sun for a week. But I'd do it again, for sure!"

MISS APRIL

Raquel was dumbstruck at the Playboy

Mansion release party for her issue

when Bruno Mars (the star singer with

whom she shared the cover) was heard

wailing, "Where's my Raquel?" Says

Miss April, "I was like, "You remember

me?'" How could Bruno forget? Raquel

makes a mighty impression. She's a

self-proclaimed math freak, a classical

ballerina who shakes her moneymaker

with the Playmate Dancers and now a

radio talk show personality with co-

host and BFF Nikki Leigh ("She's my

yin!") on Playboy Radio's Plaxmates

Present. To summarize her Miss April

2012 reign, Raquel needs only one

word: "Amazing!"

MISS SEPTEMBER

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Miss September hails from the Brazilian island city of Florianopolis, which is so breathtaking it's been called the Island of Magic. Just gaze on this modeling star's enchanting assets, then take in the good vibes she makes it her duty to emanate. Those were instilled by her island's ever-smiling population, she told us last September, adding, "1 try to take that happy energy with me wherever I go." Since her issue hit, "people have been so lovely to me," she says in her gor­geous accent. Having never modeled or even sunned herself on her country's topless beaches before, the modest Miss September says, "I've saved that for playboy." So listen up: The only way to revel in Alana's splendor again is to give her your vote for PMOY.

MISS DECEMBER

"Excuse me, but this is a dream,

right?" asks Miss December, who

vaulted from her native Poland into the

New York City modeling world and is

now agog at having landed in the pages

of playboy. The 19-year-old stunner

looks (it for a reason: She trained as

a champion swimmer for a decade.

(The breaststroke is her specialty.) The

hard work is paying off now that she's

a professional model. "Usually I don't

recognize myself in photos because of

all of the makeup and photoshopping,"

says Amanda. "But my pictorial looks

so natural. I love that it shows the real

me." And all of it too. Years ago her

swimming coach told her not to be

ashamed of her body. "Amanda." she

said, "everybody is the same." Well,

not exactly the same....

MISS AUGUST

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Playmates are both gorgeous and smart. That was the lesson learned at an event for the Wounded Warrior Project when babe Beth Williams flew in from her ranch in Ohio. "Some of the guys were shy about talking to a Playmate," she says, "until they found out I had three degrees: two bachelor's degrees and a master's degree in health care admin­istration. That seemed to make them more comfortable." An avid chef and gardener, Beth would make a beautiful PMOY. "I'd like to do more charity events," she says, "and work with animal shelters, and definitely do more with the Wounded Warrior Project." She'd also like to pay off those pesky student loans with PMOY prize money. "So," she says, "vole for me!"

MISS JULY

Since becoming our firecracker Miss July—nicknamed Peanut for her diminutive but bodacious body—Shelby has seen her long-desired modeling career explode. "Being chosen as a Playmate was so huge that I've since worked with tons of photographers I never would have had the opportunity to meet," she says. "I even shot a cover for Guitar World magazine with Miss July 2011 Jessa Hinton and Miss October 2011 Amanda Cerny." So it's a big mis­sion accomplished for Shelby, who owns a Florida-based spray-tanning company. "I go into everything with a business mind," she says, "and it's worked—2012 was the best year of my life."

MISS FEBRUARY

Having first encountered our world through Playboy Golf, Miss February experienced rapture this year by return­ing to the fairway as a full-fledged Playmate. "To go back and work events like L.A.'s Playboy Golf Final as a Playmate was awesome," the Floridian says. "I'd be like, 'Hey, girls, last year I was where you are. If I can do it, you can do it!'" The daughter of a minister, Leola expressed her nurturing nature by sending care packages filled with Playboy apparel to the troops overseas. "I'd get thank-you notes from soldiers' wives," she says, "which was thrill­ing." Now that's the kind of beauty that deserves your vote for PMOY.

MISS NOVEMBER

"I'm so gung ho for playboy because elsewhere society sets women up to be completely embarrassed by our bodies," says model, music blogger, actress and gay rights advocate Britany Nola. "For example, movies are utterly violent and no one cares, but show a nipple and it's the end of the world." Although she's just made her film debut in American Ecstasy, Britany is still focused on her activism. Determined to educate Amer­ican teachers about how to counsel both bullies and gay teens. Miss November is revving up a campaign to purchase and disseminate rainbow stickers to gay-friendly teachers. "They can attach them to their doors so when kids need to talk, they can see which teacher is willing to help." A PMOY win would buy a lot of stickers.

MISS MAY

Yes, PMOY voters, Nikki Leigh is on the campaign trail. She gradu­ated with honors in sociology from California State University the same month her pictorial appeared. "That was a crazy month, but I survived," she says. We'll say: She has since become a co-host of Playboy Radio's Playmates Present talk show, performed as a Playmate Dancer, tra­versed the U.S. as a Playboy ambas­sador and interviewed superstar ath­letes on the red carpet at the ESPYs. Nikki is certain she has the goods to go the distance. "I love showing people the class and intelligence the magazine stands for," she says. "I hope I'm able to embody all of that properly for playboy—and make my dream come full circle!"