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LaToya Marsh has those model good looks that would leap from the pages of Glamour magazine. But when the publication asked readers to tell them about people whose inner beauty sparkled, the Special Olympics cheerleading coach ended up in the top five out of hundreds of nominees.

Now, it’s up to the public to decide whether the UNCG graduate and a winner of this year’s Governor’s Medallion Award for Volunteer Service in North Carolina should also win one of the publication’s “Women of the Year ” awards.

“I was in awe thinking, 'All this for something I love doing?’” said Marsh, 32, the only contestant from the Southeast.

Previous winners include Hillary Rodham Clinton, Condoleezza Rice and Tyra Banks. Marsh is vying for a readers’ choice award, the “Woman of Your Year.” If she is the top vote-getter, the former Miss Greensboro will walk a red carpet in New York and also appear in the December issue of the magazine.

“We picked LaToya ... because she is incredibly passionate about a cause that most people would overlook,” said Ellen Kampinsky, Glamour news director . “Hers is not a big save-the-world campaign, but by taking it upon herself to start a cheering squad for the Special Olympics, she’s changing the lives of those young team members. It seems that the joy her cheerleaders bring to spectators is surpassed only by the joy the team gets from performing.”

Marsh coaches the Greensboro Diamonds , a first-year squad of teenage and young adult cheerleaders with mental or physical disabilities. The girls won the bronze medal during their first state competition in March.

“The girls were beside themselves,” said Charyl Clark of Greensboro, regional director for Special Olympics of North Carolina. “LaToya’s very patient. She creates cheers and elements that are good for the girls. Our squad has a variety of abilities, and LaToya has been able to take their strengths and mesh them together. She made a really strong squad.”

Other nominees hail from Philadelphia and Honolulu, and two are from San Francisco. They were cited for things such as fighting domestic violence and educating young women about HIV and career options .

Marsh and her mother were at a hair salon, passing the time reading magazines, when Barbara Marsh saw the contest details and got the idea to nominate LaToya, the youngest of her two children.

“I was thinking about her passion for other people, especially for those girls, who she’s always calling me about, and I said, 'Why not let everyone else know?’” Marsh said of the time and energy her daughter gives to the team. “LaToya believes in them.”

When Barbara Marsh, who lives in Bear Creek, got the call saying her daughter was a finalist, she was speechless. Her daughter, who won the Kay Yow Empowerment Award for a Community Leader in Sports at the YWCA Girls and Women in Sports Awards Dinner in Greensboro this year, also is a volunteer with the American Red Cross, American Cancer Society and Make-a-Wish Foundation, among others.

Marsh will receive the medallion, one of the state’s highest volunteer recognitions, from Gov. Bev Perdue in November at the state’s executive mansion.

“It’s good for a young person to be concerned about the world around them — to want to give back is a great thing,” Barbara Marsh said. “To actually do it is phenomenal.”

Marsh, a cheerleader for 13 years, including at UNCG, had been a Special Olympics volunteer before asking Clark, the regional director, about starting a cheerleading team. It would require taking a class on challenges and physical limitations and what could aggravate their conditions. Seven girls signed up.

“They never once gave up or said 'I can’t do this,’” Marsh said. “One of the girls left me in tears. She said, 'I’m not one of the popular girls. I never thought I could cheer.’ I tried to teach them that you have to believe in your ability and yourself.”

But Marsh also is learning from her girls.

“They ended up teaching me more than I taught — to really be happy about the small things in life,” Marsh said.

And even if her daughter does not win the Glamour contest, Barbara Marsh said she knows what true beauty is all about.

Contact Nancy McLaughlin at 373-7049 or nancy.mclaughlin@news-record.com