Taste of Home: Move over Miss America

MOVE OVER MISS AMERICA, THERE'S A NEW CROWN IN TOWN AND HER NAME IS MRS. HOLIDAY Taste of Home Conducts Nationwide Search for Ambassador of the Holidays Spokesperson to Receive Role With Company and $50,000 NEW YORK, NY – May 17, 2012 – As we sit here wedged between Mother’s Day and Father’s Day, it’s pretty clear that America loves the holidays. According to independent market research, more than $80 billion is spent annually on food during holidays. That represents about 15% of total supermarket food sales in the U.S.* There are more than 65 million fans of Taste of Home magazine, its iPad edition, website, books, and special interest publications. They count on Taste of Home to be their go-to resource for the holidays. For example, website traffic at TasteofHome.com increases by 25%-40% before every holiday. Geared up with recipes and ideas, these women head right to retail to start their holiday food shopping. Recognizing the enormity of the holidays to peoples’ personal lives and the U.S. economy, Taste of Home has begun a nationwide search on Facebook.com/TasteofHome to identify candidates for the position of Mrs. Holiday, a spokesperson role at the company, which includes a $50,000 payment. “Mrs. Holiday will be a new type of pageant queen,” said Taste of Home editor-in-chief Catherine Cassidy. “She’s an advocate, an ambassador and an inspiration who cooks for her family to bring everyone around the table at the holidays. She’s got memorable recipes combined with a celebration attitude.” To audition for the role of Mrs. Holiday, women age 18 or older must visit Facebook.com/Taste of Home to enter a virtual pageant. There they can submit a video entry of no more than two minutes to show/tell us how they bring the holidays to life and convince us why they should be Taste of Home's Mrs. Holiday. They also should submit a signature holiday recipe in 200 words or less. The full entry rules and instructions are provided at Facebook.com/TasteofHome. All entries will receive a free chocolate chip cookie recipe as a thank you for auditioning. Unlike the Miss America pageant, consumers will have a hand in picking Mrs. Holiday by voting for their favorite entrant at Facebook.com/TasteofHome starting on June 4 and ending on September 7. Mrs. Holiday will be selected from among the top 100 vote getters by a panel of experts. Once officially crowned, Mrs. Holiday will be available to conduct interviews, cooking segments, and blogging, as well as to make appearances across the country at retailers and some of the more than 300 Taste of Home cooking schools.