Teen advances into final round of ice cream contest

Published 8:54 am Monday, November 24, 2008

Brendon Moise is one step closer to $30,000 in prizes.

The Albert Lea High School junior has advanced to the final round of Cold Stone Creamery’s iMix America contest.

“It still hasn’t hit me,” Moise said last week after hearing the news.

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Moise got to be among the remaining 20 finalists in the interactive contest by convincing people to vote for his original Cold Stone Creamery creation, Minty Miracle. He now has until midnight on Dec. 31 to convince people to vote for his creation.

To vote in the contest, people can purchase any size creation at Cold Stone Creamery and pick up an on-line voting code. They can enter the code, Moise’s name and Albert Lea’s zip code at www.imixamerica.com. People can vote each time they get a new code.

In February of this year, the iMix America contest launched with 9,000 applicants hoping to win the grand prize. The chosen participants partnered with a local Cold Stone Creamery store to create their own ice cream creation. Using their social networks, contestants promoted their concoctions with friends all across the country.

The first bracket of more than 1,300 contestants ran Aug. 11 to Sept. 30. These contestants were selected by the judges based on responses provided by applicants to a questionnaire.

The second bracket included the top 125 contestants and ran Oct. 1 through Nov. 15. Moise came out of the second bracket in third place.

Votes are wiped clean at the end of each elimination bracket.

Minty Miracle features mint ice cream, brownies, fudge and chocolate shavings. Moise said he thinks his creation is pretty good, and others have agreed.

“It’s very good,” said Cathy Purdie, marketing coordinator at Trail’s Travel Center, where the Albert Lea Cold Stone Creamery store is located.

Moise said his friends continue to be supportive and ask for regular updates on how he is doing in the contest. They also offer him suggestions on how to use his prizes if he should end up the grand-prize winner.

“A lot of people have told me they’ve voted for me,” Moise said.

The grand prize, which will be awarded in January, includes $30,000 in prizes, including a car, travel, electronics and cell phone products and services.

When he’s not at school, Moise works at Hy-Vee. He’s the son of Marlene Carpenter of Albert Lea and Frantz Moise of Bloomington. He has one sister, Tatiana.

He enjoys playing basketball for fun and one day hopes to design basketball shoes.