SAN DIEGO -- The San Diego County Fair Board has dropped the Fairest of the Fair pageant, it was reported Wednesday.

The Fair Board approved a staff recommendation Tuesday to do away with the annual competition, which was marred by scoring irregularities in the run-up to the 2003 San Diego County Fair, according to The San Diego Union-Tribune.

The competition will be replaced with an intern program in marketing and public relations, open to both men and women, the newspaper reported.

The Fairest of the Fair contestants were judged in categories including sportswear, evening gown, poise and personality. The winner was a highly visible icon during the county fair's annual three-week run and automatically crowned Miss San Diego County.

The 2003 Fairest of the Fair came under fire when the highest-scoring contestant, Miss La Mesa Troy Lemperle, was dropped to 10th place on a technicality because she missed a rehearsal, according to the Union-Tribune. The crown instead went to Miss Carlsbad Raquel Rusing.

The fair board did away with this year's competition and named Lemperle the 2004 Fairest of the Fair, the newspaper reported. It also dismissed Joe Amaro, the pageant's director.

The budget for the intern program is about a third of the $85,000 the fair spent on the 2003 pageant, according to the Union-Tribune. Three college students or graduates with a major or minor in communications will be selected as interns this year.