Avon A/an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers is launching a interactive online contest, along with supermodel Carol Alt (author of This Year’s Model) and Lord & Taylor, to help discover the fresh new face who will grace the cover of Alt’s 2009 novel in the NEXT YEAR’S MODEL Search Online Sweepstakes. The contest will launch on August 26, 2008, the date This Year’s Model goes on-sale. From August 26 to November 20, potential cover girls from 16 to 25 years of age can submit photos to the contest feature page at http://www.harpercollins.com/nextyearsmodel. (Meanwhile, a distinguished panel of judges will select finalists, with new finalist pictures posting weekly at http://www.flickr.com/groups/nextyearsmodel/.) On November 21, the judges, led by Alt, will announce the 4 top Next Year’s Model entrants, launching all participants into an exciting fan-based voting contest at http://www.harpercollins.com/nextyearsmodel. On December 11, 2008, NEXT YEAR’S MODEL will be announced, and arrangements will be made for the winner and a guest to be flown to New York City. The grand prize winner will be awarded a professional photo shoot, a meet-and-greet with a top modeling agency, and a wardrobe prize from Lord & Taylor! Avon A intends to feature the winner on the cover of Alt’s upcoming book, Next Year’s Model, in stores in 2009.

Alt, a savvy and innovative marketer whose creative skills were recently featured when she became a top-2 runner up on Celebrity Apprentice, created this contest as a way to help a young woman break into the competitive world of professional modeling. In her debut novel, This Year’s Model (in-stores August 26), Alt introduces readers to the high-stakes world of modeling — and gives valuable life lessons to all young women looking to break into the field. “(Modeling) is one of the only businesses where a woman makes more money than a man,” says Alt, “and in which a young girl can achieve financial stability, meet great people, and travel the world — all while becoming famous and securing her future.” Widely regarded as one of the world’s most recognizable faces after launching the supermodel industry, Alt believes that modeling can be a healthy and empowering career for a young woman — and wanted to offer a hand in helping a new talent into the industry with the NEXT YEAR’S MODEL online search.

Contest Description:

August 26 - November 20, 2008: Contestants, aged 16-25, can enter the contest at http://www.harpercollins.com/nextyearsmodel and send a photo for consideration. New finalists will be posted daily at Avon’s contest feature page at http://www.flickr.com/groups/nextyearsmodel/. (Please note: entrants can also send a photograph of themselves together with a 5X8 index card with their name, address, telephone number and date of birth to Next Year’s Model Contest, c/o Avon Books/HarperCollins Publishers, 10 East 53rd Street, NY, NY 10022. Photographs must depict the entrant only, and photographs including other people will be disqualified.)

November 21: Carol Alt, with a panel of distinguished judges, will review all photo submissions, and select the Top 4 NEXT YEAR’S MODEL contest entrants, which will be posted online at http://www.harpercollins.com/nextyearsmodel!

November 21 - December 10, 2008: http://www.harpercollins.com/nextyearsmodel will host an interactive voting platform, where fans, friends and anyone interested in the glamorous world of modeling can enter into an interactive voting platform, selecting their favorite photos of contest contestants. Poll results will be viewable!

December 10, 2008: Voting closes. A grand prize winner is determined by popular vote (in case of a tie-breaker, Carol Alt and the panel of judges will select a grand prize winner).

December 11, 2008: Grand prize winner announcement on http://www.harpercollins.com/nextyearsmodel!

Prize Package:

Avon A/an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers will fly the NEXT YEAR’S MODEL grand prize contest winner and a guest or chaperone to New York City, where they will receive two nights hotel stay in a four-star establishment. The grand prize winner will also receive a professional photo shoot; HarperCollins will consider the image for the cover of Carol Alt’s next book. The prize also includes a Lord & Taylor wardrobe gift valued at $500. (Total prize package valued at $6000.)

25 Runners-up will receive a signed copy of Carol Alt’s This Year’s Model. (Runner-up prize valued at $13.95.)

Panel of Judges:

Carol Alt — Carol Alt’s face has appeared on the cover of more than seven hundred magazines. Her calendars, posters, and exercise videos have all sold millions of copies.

LaVelle Olexa, Lord & Taylor — LaVelle Olexa is Lord & Taylor’s Senior Vice President of Public. As such, she is responsible for Publicity, Special Events, and the creative direction for the flagship’s Fifth Avenue windows. A consummate professional, LaVelle started her career modeling and has held a variety of positions in the fashion industry, including the marketing and fashion direction of Lord & Taylor.

Mumtaz Mustafa, Art Director, Avon A/an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers — Mumtaz started at HarperCollins as an assistant designer 6 years ago and is now the art director for Avon and Rayo.

About Carol Alt:

Carol Alt’s face has appeared on the cover of more than 700 magazines. Her calendars, posters, and exercise videos have all sold millions of copies. She was a recent contestant on The Celebrity Apprentice, is the bestselling author of Eating in the Raw and The Raw 50, is a frequent guest on talk shows, and has acted on stage, television, and in more than 65 movies. This Year’s Model is her first novel.

About This Year’s Model (on-sale 8/26/08):

Supermodel Carol Alt takes on the world of up and coming models in This Year’s Model, her biting, witty, and insightful debut novel. Melody Ann Croft had a lot of plans for her life. Being a model was not one of them. Discovered while working in restaurant, whisked off to New York, and christened “Mac,” she soon learns that plans have a way of … changing. Stepping into her new life is easier than Mac expected. But once you’re on top of the world, all it takes is one wrong step to bring it all tumbling down. In the cutthroat world of fashion, it all comes down to who you can trust. And it won’t be long before Max learns that hanging on to her self will be the toughest battle she’s ever fought.

More information about the NEXT YEARS MODEL contest available at: http://www.harpercollins.com/nextyearsmodel.

About HarperCollins Publishers

HarperCollins, one of the largest English-language publishers in the world, is a subsidiary of News Corporation (NYSE: NWS, NWS.A; ASX: NWS, NWSLV). Headquartered in New York, HarperCollins has publishing groups around the world including the HarperCollins General Books Group, HarperCollins Children’s Books Group, Zondervan, HarperCollins UK, HarperCollins Canada, HarperCollins Australia/New Zealand and HarperCollins India. HarperCollins is a broad-based publisher with strengths in literary and commercial fiction, business books, children’s books, cookbooks, mystery, romance, reference, religious and spiritual books. With nearly 200 years of history HarperCollins has published some of the world’s foremost authors and has won numerous awards including the Nobel Prize, the Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award, the Newbery Medal and the Caldecott. Consistently at the forefront of innovation and technological advancement HarperCollins is the first publisher to digitize its content and create a global digital warehouse to protect the rights of its authors, meet consumer demand and generate additional business opportunities. You can visit HarperCollins Publishers on the Internet at
http://www.harpercollins.com.

SOURCE Avon Books
NEW YORK /PRNewswire/

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