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11/27/2014 11:00 PMSprout and Today Announce Five Finalists in Nationwide Search for America’s Kindest Kid
Voting for Sprout’s “Chief Kindness Officer” Begins on Today.com
November 20, 2014 11:00 AM Eastern Standard Time
NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sprout® is one step closer to crowning a “Chief Kindness Officer,” as the five finalists in the Kindest Kid Contest were unveiled. Earlier this fall, Sprout and TODAY embarked on a journey to find the nation’s Kindest Kid, receiving thousands of submissions sent in by families across the country who shared their stories of their kids’ everyday acts of kindness, compassion and positive contributions to their community. Five finalists were selected based on a number of criteria including impact on their community, ability to inspire and motivate others, uniqueness of the act of kindness, sincerity and credibility.
Starting November 17, TODAY highlighted the five finalists throughout the week, sharing each child’s accomplishments and attributes that have secured him or her a spot in the final round of the contest. Voting is live today thru December 3 at Today.com/kindestkid.
The Kindest Kid Contest is a facet of Sprout’s ongoing pro-social “Kindness Counts” campaign, which encourages and celebrates everyday acts of kindness in addition to serving as a tool for parents to reinforce generosity and compassion among their children.
The Kindest Kid Contest Finalists include:
• Sierra (Madison, CT): In addition to fundraising $10,000 for the Make-A-Wish Foundation, Sierra curates Yoga care packages for children with cancer, which she delivers to Yale Pediatric Oncology as well as to children nationwide. A cancer survivor herself, Sierra developed her own charity, “Childhood Cancer Kids,” when she was six years old and has spoken to crowds of over 2,000 people to raise awareness for childhood cancer.
• Kayden (Meriden, KS): When Kayden’s uncle was unable to join his family for the holidays while serving in the military overseas, Kayden created a special card to bring his uncle an extra dose of happiness. He was then inspired to create cards for other soldiers who could not make it home, which grew into “Operation Christmas Smiles.” Kayden’s entire school participated last year and this year he’s created 300 cards so far with his cousins.
• Jayla (Virginia Beach, VA): In an effort to help those less fortunate, Jayla started creating care packages for the homeless, calling her project “Jayla’s Little Helping Hands.” She fills backpacks with knitted hats, coloring books, toys, snacks and toiletries for families in need and delivers these packs to people living on the streets and shelters.
• Colin (Rochester, NY): Colin created his own charity, “Warm Hearts, Warm Bodies, By Colin,” in 2012 when he became concerned for those in his area without jackets for the cold temperatures. Inspired by Colin’s actions, friends, family and the community donated hundreds of jackets, gloves, and hats to The Open Door Mission, which continues to grow today. You can find one of Colin's "drop boxes" throughout Rochester and the main location at the Bill Grays Regional Iceplex or The Arc of Monroe County.
• Tavin (Alexander, AR): Tavin has been a great help to his local community since the region was devastated by multiple tornadoes. Not only did Tavin donate bags of clothes, supplies and money from his own savings, he is also working on a coat and blanket drive for “The Van.”
Sprout will celebrate the five finalists with its Kindest Kid Countdown on Saturday, November 29, 2014 at 1pm ET. The winner will be unveiled on TODAY the week of December 8, 2014. For each vote received, Sprout will donate $1 up to $25,000 to a national children’s charity. Additionally, Sprout will make a $5,000 donation to a national children’s charity in the winner’s name.
The winner of the Kindest Kid Contest will visit Sprout’s headquarters in New York City to serve as Sprout’s 2015 honorary “Chief Kindness Officer” for a day. The Kindest Kid will also be invited to visit the Sunshine Barn, meet Chica and the hosts of The Sunny Side Up Show, and record segments about kindness which will air in 2015 and be featured on www.SproutOnline.com. Promotional partnership for the Kindest Kid Contest is furnished by Mattel.
Sprout supports kindness throughout the year with the “Kindness Counts Pillars” of being kind to oneself, others, animals and the Earth. Ideas and inspirations are shared on SproutOnline.com/kindnesscounts. Additionally, Sprout highlights kind deeds each morning during The Sunny Side Up Show with Good Egg Awards, which are given to preschoolers who do something positive to help out their family, the community or the Earth.
For additional details about the Kindest Kid Contest and the finalists, please visit: www.SproutOnline.com.
About Sprout®
Sprout is the first 24-hour preschool destination available on TV, on demand and online for children ages 2-6 and their parents and caregivers. Available in over 55 million homes with programming structured to follow the day of the child from morning to night, Sprout features original programming, including Astroblast and The Chica Show, a library of gold standard series, including Caillou and Sesame Street, and U.S. exclusives including Lazytown and Tree Fu Tom. Sprout’s hosted programming blocks, including The Sunny Side Up Show and The Good Night Show, serve as tools to guide parents as they help children prepare for their days and nights with activities, user generated content, stories, and more. Viewers are encouraged to submit artwork, birthday wishes, videos and more through SproutOnline.com, which has received over five million viewer interactions to date. Sprout’s VOD offering is the #1 on demand service for younger children with over 1.6 billion views. Headquartered in New York, Sprout was fully acquired by NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment in November 2013. For more information, please visit SproutOnline.com.
About TODAY
NBC’s TODAY is the news program that informs, entertains, inspires and sets the agenda each morning for Americans. Airing live from 7 am to 11 am ET, TODAY reaches more than 5 million people every day through its broadcast, and millions more through TODAY.com, the TODAY app, and social media platforms. Matt Lauer, Savannah Guthrie, Al Roker, Natalie Morales, Willie Geist, Tamron Hall, Carson Daly, Hoda Kotb, and Kathie Lee Gifford are the anchors and hosts, and Don Nash is the executive producer.
Contacts
Media:
For Sprout
Jennifer Levine, 212-664-3172
jennifer.levine@nbcuni.com
or
Laura Markofsky, 248-408-5505
laura.markofsky@civic-us.com
or
Megan Kopf Stackhouse, 212-664-6205
megan.kopf@nbcuni.com