This is just the opinion of the coaches and owners at the gym I work at, but at least in our state, we find that it's 1) too easy to qualify and 2) the age groups are too small. To be a state champion, you typically only have to beat about 15 other kids. Now, we do see teams that we don't typically see very often, as the east and west side of our state is very spread out, so there are more teams represented, so there's that. We still celebrate our kids and get excited for them when they win a state title, but we wish the qualifying score were higher (we have actually talked about making the standard higher for just our gym, since we could control that more easily than the entire state) and that the age groups were larger so it would feel more competitive. Another option we think would be cool, is if they did "ultimate champion" or something - highest score in each event and AA across all age groups, like they do in beauty pageants.
Oh, and in our state at least, the kids compete by age groups, so full teams aren't together at all, which for some of our kids, feels like kind of a let down, to compete with just a handful of their teammates, or sometimes none!
We have also found that scores can be higher at state, which is fun for the kids. On the flip side, we have also found that judges are pickier at the end of the season about series connections and awarding credit for things like vertical handstands and horizontal casts. We've had kids do the same or very similar to how they've been doing it all season and then only not get credit at state.
As a bronze, though, it should just be fun for your daughter. End of her first year! We usually have kind of a fun week of practice after state, too, and then we work out way into more conditioning and up training, which is also a fun time of the year.