This baby's picture is worth a thousand bucks

CHRIS KELLY staff Grandfather Martin Spektor keeps an eye on Madison Ferrante as the youngster watches Pat Affa ring up items collected at Babies "R" Us during the one-minute shopping spree Madison's parents won.

The lyrics "You must have been a beautiful baby" will always hold true for 15-month-old Madison Ferrante, of Old Bridge.

Madison was recently selected as one of the cutest babies in American as part of this year's Babytalk magazine cover photo contest.

Since she was one of eight semifinalists, Madison's mom, Stacey, was given a unique opportunity Tuesday morning, when she hit the aisles of the Babies "R" Us store on Route 9 in Manalapan for a free one-minute shopping spree to quickly gather up to $1,000 worth of baby gear, clothing, toys and nursery decor.

Madison's picture was also published in the magazine's October issue.

Stacey said she subscribes to Babytalk, saw the ad for the contest one day and thought, Why not? Two months later, when Babytalk called to tell her Madison was a finalist, she didn't even realize what they were talking about.

CHRIS KELLY staff Stacey Ferrante and Madison look over some of the many items collected during Tuesday's shopping spree at Babies "R" Us.

"At first I thought it was a joke; I had forgotten all about entering the contest," Stacey said.

For the New York-based Babytalk magazine, this is the seventh year it has sponsored a competition to find and photograph the most beautiful baby for a cover. The contest culminates with similar sprees for all eight finalists, three of whom are from New Jersey. This year's winner, Abigail Goldman, of Cherry Hill, was awarded a Babies 'R' Us spree for up to $5,000.

The magazine has partnered with Babies 'R' Us since 2002 and this year added the TV program "Good Morning America" to form a three-way partnership.

Founded in 1935 by the Blessings Corp., the monthly magazine was created to "help women navigate the emotional roller coaster and practical realities of being a new mom," according to its literature. The magazine, which has 5.2 million readers, was acquired by Time Inc. in 1996 vis--vis one of its divisions, the Parenting Group.

The idea for the cover contest began in 1999 when Susan Kane, editor in chief of Babytalk, came to work for the publication and found herself besieged with requests from moms to put their baby's picture on the cover.

"Each year the competition seems to get bigger and a little more elaborate," Kane said.

The magazine began with approximately 34,000 entries in its first year, and subsequently that grew to total 90,000 to 100,000 entries in the average year. Due to precontest announcements on "Good Morning America," the number of entries this year jumped to 125,000 with nearly two-thirds submitted online using digital photographs.

"Our readers have become so sophisticated in a relatively short period of time," Kane said. "We used to just have an onslaught of entries, and we would have to order up pizzas and everybody would sit around countless lunches and open all this mail by hand," Kane said.

But what is Babytalk looking for?

Many photos disqualify themselves just because they were poorly taken, the lighting is bad, the parent has obstructed the child's face with curls, or a hat, or the child is just too far away in the shot.

According to Kane, what Babytalk is ultimately looking for in the photo is some distinct personality to shine through the picture.

"The baby might be shy, sweet, demure, funny," said Kane. "It's that sense that you, the audience, want to reach out and hug this baby."

The winners were all girls until last year when a pair of bouncing baby boy twins won the cover.

The partnership with a television program led to a far more dramatic conclusion to the contest this year. After Babytalk staff chose the eight finalists, they met with "Good Morning America" staff and whittled the group down to three. Then, in an exciting move, "Good Morning America" took those three babies' pictures to America itself, asking home audiences to vote online over the weekend for the contest winner.

In the meantime, Babies 'R' Us prepared its stores for eight big shopping sprees for the moms of contest semifinalists.

According to Denise Ruiz-Cabrera, senior public relations manager for Babies 'R' Us Inc., the moms are given a half-hour or so to study the layout of merchandise at the store. That includes familiarizing themselves with the array of infant and baby gear, ranging from 14-piece layette sets to baby basics for feeding, bathing, grooming and bedding infants.

"Most of the moms have already gone down to the store where their spree will be and memorized where everything is, but we will give them a final walk-through that day," Ruiz-Cabrera said, noting that the larger items like nursery furniture are indicated by empty boxes with the item's label listed on it.

The day of her spree, Stacey Ferrante and Madison's dad, Darren, stood with carts at the starting line, and when given the signal, dashed out, grabbing everything in sight.

Among the myriad of merchandise they were able to snatch in 60 seconds were a carriage, stroller, changing table with pad and cover, sheets and bedding, pampers, dolls, a miniature Elmo toy, books and DVDs, safety gates, a high chair, and an outfit for Madison complete with a sweater and hat.

At the finish line, with Madison and her maternal and paternal grandparents in tow, Stacey and Darren, breathless from the sprint, posed for pictures while they examined their windfall.

Is a modeling career in the cards for Madison, like some former contestants?

"I don't know," Stacey said, "but whether or not we ever do, she'll always be our cover girl."

BY MARLENE CANTY

Staff Writer