A face anyone could love

Danielle Lagana

She may be only 1 year old, but little Alexia Scodeller has already

had her first taste at stardom.

From a pool of more than 100,000 babies, the Huntington Beach

infant was chosen as one of five finalists for the BabyTalk magazine

cover baby contest.

“It was a tough process. We ended up with 106,000 entries this

year,” said Sally Tusa, managing editor of BabyTalk magazine. “We

looked through every single photo as they flooded in. It was hard.

Everyone had their own favorites.”

Judges looked for certain factors in their search for the perfect

baby.

“We look for big, bright eyes that grab you,” Tusa said. “A

healthy-baby look with a round face that glows and that intangible

factor. You just know it when you see it. It’s the kind of look that

makes you want to pick up that baby and take it home.”

The Scodellers were notified in June that Alexia had made it to

the top five.

In August, the five babies were whisked off to an all expense paid

trip to New York for the November issue photo shoot, and Veronica

DeAbreu, from Philadelphia, was chosen as the top finalist.

“She just shined that day,” Tusa said of Veronica. To celebrate

their winnings Scodeller and her parents were invited to the Baby’s R

Us store in Westminster for a one-minute shopping spree.

“We set up six shopping carts, and decorated the store with Mylar

balloons that said ‘Congratulations’,” store manager Fred Carlos

said. “We had black and white balloons all over the store and racing

flags at the registers.”

With the staff cheering the Scodeller family on, the parents raced

with three full shopping carts to grab as much as they could while

the 60 seconds counted down.

“It was pretty exciting,” Carlos said. “They were running toward

the front of the store during the last 10 seconds as we counted down.

They had three full shopping carts. The parents grabbed a stroller, a

double stroller for their future child and Alexia and a car seat.”

Submissions for next year’s cover baby contest will open in February,

2004. For information visit https://www.babytalk.com.