Wide World of Women

It's time once again for that other March Madness: Sexiest Woman of 2014! And we kick it all off with the preliminary round in which 120 ladies begin their quest to dethrone Maria Menounos and Carrie Underwood. Starting with the Juniors, they are (the favorites are in bold)...

GROUP A (http://vote.sparklit.com/web_poll.spark/?pollID=1142592) :
Ariana Grande
Selena Gomez
Anna Kendrick
Emmy Rossum
Kaley Cuoco
Candice Swanepoel
Lucy Hale
Lea Michele
Audrina Patridge

GROUP B (http://vote.sparklit.com/web_poll.spark/?pollID=1142593) :
Kate Upton
Emma Watson
Taylor Swift
Debby Ryan
Victoria Justice
Shay Mitchell
Emilia Clarke
Nina Dobrev
Sarah Hyland

GROUP C (http://vote.sparklit.com/web_poll.spark/?pollID=1142594) :
Miley Cyrus
Ashley Greene
Lindsay Lohan (2004 runner-up)
Vanessa Hudgens
Jennifer Lawrence
Hayden Panettiere
Emily VanCamp
Dakota Fanning (who was born here in Atlanta, by the way)

GROUP D (http://vote.sparklit.com/web_poll.spark/?pollID=1142595) :
Nina Agdal
Blake Lively
Hilary Duff (co-2011 winner)
Ashley Benson
Abigail Breslin
Demi Lovato
Emma Stone
Rihanna
Maria Sharapova

(NOTE: For the sake of this board, I have omitted those who are underage even though I upped the age limit to 30)

The Seniors, which always feature a who's who:

GROUP A (http://vote.sparklit.com/web_poll.spark/?pollID=1142596) :
Eva Longoria (2012 winner)
Olivia Wilde
Katy Perry
Brooke Burke-Charvet (after many years in the Underdogs, she's finally upgraded to Senior status)
Charlize Theron
Shakira
Britney Spears (1999 winner, 2001 third-place finisher)
Julianne Moore
Heidi Klum
Jennifer Garner (2005 runner-up)

GROUP B (http://vote.sparklit.com/web_poll.spark/?pollID=1142597) :
Sandra Bullock
Jessica Alba (2000 and 2003 winner)
Halle Berry
Kate Beckinsale
Reese Witherspoon
Anne Hathaway
Kristen Bell (2007 runner-up, 2008 winner)
Olivia Munn
Minka Kelly
Amy Adams

GROUP C (http://vote.sparklit.com/web_poll.spark/?pollID=1142598) :
Cate Blanchett
Kylie Minogue
Christina Milian
Angelina Jolie
Jennifer Aniston (2006 runner-up, 2009 winner)
Gwyneth Paltrow
Scarlett Johansson (2004 third-place finisher)
Stacy Keibler (2007 third-place finisher)
Beyonce Knowles
Mila Kunis

GROUP D (http://vote.sparklit.com/web_poll.spark/?pollID=1142599) :
Kate Hudson
Katie Holmes
Jessica Biel
Cameron Diaz
Sophia Bush
Miranda Kerr
Sofia Vergara
Jennifer Lopez (2001 runner-up)
Carmen Electra
Sarah Michelle Gellar (2002, '04, '06, '07, and co-2011 winner)

Finally, the Underdogs:

GROUP A (http://vote.sparklit.com/web_poll.spark/?pollID=1142600) :
Kerry Washington
Cheryl Burke
Malin Akerman
Maggie Grace
Joanna Krupa
Claire Holt
Aimee Teegarden
Ashley Wagner
Nancy O'Dell
Cobie Smulders

GROUP B (http://vote.sparklit.com/web_poll.spark/?pollID=1142601) :
Lupita Nyong'o
Alexandra Daddario
Jaimie Alexander
Erin Heatherton
Aubrey Plaza
Kelly Rowland
Margot Robbie
Karina Smirnoff
Emily Ratajkowski
Beth Behrs

GROUP C (http://vote.sparklit.com/web_poll.spark/?pollID=1142602) :
Erin Andrews
Tara Lipinski
Stana Katic
Kat Dennings
Kelly Brook
Padma Lakshmi
Lily Aldridge
Gemma Arterton
Saoirse Ronan
Ireland Baldwin

GROUP D (http://vote.sparklit.com/web_poll.spark/?pollID=1142603) :
Adriana Lima
Rocsi Diaz
Chrissy Tiegen
Jennifer Morrison
Sarah Shahi
Laura Vandervoort
LeAnn Rimes
Jenny McCarthy
Alice Eve
Kate Mara

No need to go through the elimination process; you all know it by heart. It's just that the real battle will begin in the fall when we resume with Round 4 and Julianne Hough joining the remaining 30 after merging the categories. Top 20 ladies after that meet last year's co-winner Carrie Underwood in Round 4, and ten after that -- plus two more from the Second Chance Round -- will be battling Maria Menounos in the final round, which will be sometime in late November.

But I'm not done, because this year...I have added a major twist that could change the course of the voting at any given moment. I'll tell you more about it pretty soon.

For right now...it's time to get your vote on (and as usual...you can vote as many times as you like)!!!

UPDATE: In Underdogs Group C, I have just replaced Saoirse Ronan with Connie Britton (who's finally on Twitter)