A Fresh Face and a Renewed Sense of Pride

I have never entered any contests before, so I was really reluctant to enter Ryan into Nuby’s Fresh Face Contest this past month. I was weary of the fact that, out of almost 2,000 babies, Ryan would have to climb to the top ten and stay there by accumulating votes on Facebook. There were some professional models in the contest, as well as some really cute kids that would definitely give Ryan a run for his money. I am generally not a fan of beauty contests because all babies are beautiful, but I decided to submit his photo anyway. What did I have to lose, right? I entered him and shared the link on Facebook, and much to my surprise I watched his votes climb. Ryan was averaging about 20 votes a day at first, so I created a Facebook group to advertise for him. 600 members of the group rallied behind him and shared his picture over and over and over.

James and I were overjoyed when he reached the first page. We were stoked when he was in the 3rd row. We pleaded with our friends to vote when he reached 11th place and then jumped up and down in our living room when he slid into the top 10. The competition was fierce, but we advertised for him relentlessly. We took tons of pictures like this one in order to entice people to vote for him.

We shared his picture on Nuby sites from other countries, going so far as to translate our “please vote for Ryan” post into Ukrainian! Redskins football fans, VCU Rams fans, RichmondMoms.com fans, and tons of our friends helped Ryan stay in the top 10 through the remaining weeks of the competition. Perhaps the most pivotal point in his journey was when I contacted Curt Autry from NBC Channel 12 and had him advertise Ryan’s entry in the Nuby contest. Mr. Autry even posted the link on his personal page! Ryan’ votes continued to climb, and I was one proud mama!

The winner of the contest is going to be announced on February 12th, and I can hardly wait for the announcement. Even if Ryan does not win, I will still be proud of how far he made it in the competition. We had so much fun participating and my son will forever be a winner in my eyes. I love him so much, whether he’s the Fresh Face of Nuby or not. In the meantime, he will continue to use their great sippy cups and teething toys. At the end of the day, I'm glad I took a chance and entered Ryan into the Fresh Face Contest. Nuby USA really is an amazing company and handled all of the issues that arose during the contest in a professional manner. We really did have fun participating! Everyone cross your fingers for a win this Tuesday!