A ten-month-old baby from Colorado is the first Filipino winner of the 2023 Gerber Baby contest.
Madison Mendoza beat out thousands of entries for the $25,000 Grand Prize.
An adventurous foodie, Baby Maddie has already tasted sea urchin and kimchi, according to her parents Crystal and Jun Mendoza.
In a TV interview on the Today Show, Jun said “it’s definitely been surreal. It feels like a dream…it felt like a one in a million shot. We are so grateful for this opportunity and excited for the world to meet Maddie.”
Jun is an Air Force Academy graduate, an allergist and immunologist with 16 years of military service, while mom Crystal is a dentist.
Maddie’s parents are high school sweethearts and have been together for 22 years, including 9 years of long distance relationship, according to the Gerber website.
The Grand Prize consists of a $25,000 USD cheque, a year’s supply of Gerber baby food (awarded as a gift card), Gerber Childrenswear gift card, a luggage set and a Canon camera, with a grand total of $28,724 USD.
Baby Maddie will be Gerber’s Spokesbaby and will have an honorary role as “Chief Growing Officer”, as well as the official Chief Taste Tester of Gerber food for up to one year.
This year’s contest involved parents sending in photos of their children (between one day and 4 years old) and throwback photos of the parents.
Maddie’s mom Crystal, who looks a lot like Maddie as a child, sent in her own baby photo to the contest, which draws anywhere from 100,000 to over 500,000 entries each year.
Her parents said that Maddie loves going to her swim lessons, music classes, and enjoys hiking.
“We take her to the local zoo. She likes feeding giraffes. We’ve taken her paddleboarding, she loves to be on the water,” Jun said.
“She’s very adventurous in eating, she’s tried all the major food groups.”
As the official tester of new Gerber baby food products, Baby Maddie is perfect for the role.
