Out of 3875 kids and over 2 million votes, check out who made it:
Thank you to everyone for enduring the spamming, pop ups, 3 times a day newsletters, begging, pleading, whining, twittering, facebooking, craigslist, youtubing and utter shamefulness of this contest I lowered myself to for a full 29 days.
There are some peeved off parents.
3825 to be exact.
One thing I learned doing this is no matter what, people are seriously sensitive when it comes to their child. Even now on the NEXT pages people are upset that their kid didn’t win. I have seen everything from calling it ‘fixed’, to a ‘popularity’ contest (there’s yer sign), to saying others used “voting” bots.
I finally found something more catty and petty then blogging!
Child Modeling.
In any case, it was a tough contest. It was truly about endurance and networking. I am so involved in the online world and even I got completely and utterly sick of MYSELF.
The biggest complaint I keep reading is it wasn’t really a “modeling” contest and the company should have picked only the “prettiest” kids to compete. The irony being that every parent assumes that their child would be in that category if it were so. The reality being only about 100 kids would make the top and I don’t necessarily feel that my child would have been there.
She rolls around in mud, likes to stick her tongue out at a camera, and giggles at inappropriate times.
I saw the contest for what it was.
Advertising.
Marketing.
Publicity.
It was massive public relations event to get the word out and get parents and social sites to virally spread about NEXT Direct. I never knew of their existence prior to them pitching bloggers, but have found myself searching their clothing every day since.
That’s a campaign gone right.
So I did what any good little blogger does. I marketed, advertised, and used every ounce of everything I have learned the past 2 years to gain a spot. Somewhere along the line it became more of a “I have come to far to give up now” and I kept going. Even though, truth be told, I desperately wanted to call it checkmate more than once.
She came in 5th place.
Not bad, mom, not bad at all.
Now Charlotte gets to go on and compete with a professional photo shoot and a full day of fun in the sun at Universal Studios in California next month. I am looking forward to the adventure and experience of it all.
Win or lose, its gonna make a fabulous blog post.
I can only hope a pageant mom goes ballistic and I capture it on tape or something…which is why you really voted Charlotte to attend.
You don’t have to admit to it.
And lets face it, a 1 in 50 shot to win her a $100K trust fund is the closest we will ever come in our lifetime, am I right?
Now if I could just teach Charlotte that farting on cue is not really a talent worth sharing, we might have a chance…
~Trisha
Was there any doubt? Ok, maybe a few brief misplaced thoughts on your part, but you made up for those and worked extra hard for what you believe in (the trip and together time).
Congratulations and best wished for the next round!
Let us know how we can help.
YAY!!!!!! Go Charlotte!! That is awesome! I have been thinking Charlotte and praying she made it. YAY!!!!
So happy she made it (and our 9 other friends too) she is so cute! Dakota is starting to get over the loss lol she wants to try again.. not me
Yah SHE MADE it!!! That is awesome Trisha! DID any other children from our group make it. I’m just curious.
Good luck I can’t wait to hear all about it.
How about that ARM pit farting does that count?
Glad to hear all that voting got her there! Yipee!
Woohoo, how exciting! Good luck with everything.
Okay, the farting on cue IS a talent and Kaylee wants to challenge Charlotte when they meet up. And I dunno, but I think Kaylee is gonna give Charlotte a run for her money (with the farting that is). And um, since Kaylee is a pageant child you need to quit picking on pageant moms, lol.
LOL!!! The pageant shows make it too easy to pick on.
Kaylee has a friend who was on Toddlers and Tiaras. And her and her mom are about as down to earth as anyone can be. But yeah, they really do try and edit those shows to be shocking which is bad for pageant families but oh so good for tv ratings. I know, an easy target, lol.
That is awesome – and a trip anywhere is so worth it. I hope you like coming out here to California, she is going to love Universal Studios!
Awww, how exciting! I was happy to cast my votes because I think she’s just as cute as can be… and because when she’s a super-famous kid model, I plan to cash in my connections to get her to model MY stuff. Although I can only offer a $7.86 contract…
jill, but you know i would do that for free! LOL. I love your stuff. In fact, i wear a shirt you made all the time!
Congrats and even if it was based on looks she would win, she is beautiful!
Hooray! So happy you made it in, and 5th! That’s impressive
Good luck and I hope she enjoys the ride.
Now if I could just teach Charlotte that farting on cue is not really a talent worth sharing, we might have a chance…
LMAO Are you sure we don’t have the same child??? hahahahaha
So happy for both of you!
She deserves to be in the top and to get the prize
“Now if I could just teach Charlotte that farting on cue is not really a talent worth sharing, we might have a chance…”
Dude, THAT’S a talented kid you’ve got right there. Farting on cue takes SKILLZ, baby.
I’m sure she will do quite well in the finals of this contest. Charlotte is a very beautiful girl and quite photogenic.
Okay fine, Trisha. You caught me. I DO want the movie of the ballistic mother. Because we all know there is going to be one. Or two.
YAY!! So happy for both of you!
I’m happy she got in!!
Way to go Charlotte. Make sure the cameras are all chraged up for the pagent mom’s meltdown.
Congrats for your hard work paying off!!! You are right we are all sensitive when it comes to our children. We always want them to be the winners. However, we do have to teach our children to graceful “losers” as well. They may not have made it to the top 50, but they need to teach to be graceful and applaud those that did. There are going to be plenty of contests out there to try again.
She will have a blast at Universal Studios. I live about 40 minutes away and haven’t been there in years and they have added so much fun stuff!
i think that may be the lesson in all of it…losing. I saw more whining from parents then kids would probably ever do. I told charlotte we made it and she was like…yeah, so what.
She could have cared less either way.
Now if you beat her up the stairs on a race, then she will pout.
OMG Trisha – she is a mischievous child…ROTFLMAO
i have no idea where she gets it
YAY Charlotte!!!
Whaddya mean it’s not a talent??!
its only a talent if your a boy. LOL