Key Points:
• A Tucker baby, Halston Lopez, is in the running to be named the 2025 Baby of the Year.
• The family has gained support through the Mother Tucker Facebook group.
• Those who want to help Halston Lopez make it to the final round have until 10 p.m. ET Nov. 6 to vote.
Halston Lopez, a seven-month-old with a penchant for puppies and bedtime stories, is in competition with some of the country’s most precious, fresh faces for 2025 Baby of the Year, a nationwide competition for children under two years old that raises money for the nonprofit Baby2Baby.
Halston, who lives in Tucker with her parents Elliott and Amber Lopez, is one of more than 9,000 infants and toddlers that made it to the quarterfinal round of the competition, which comes with a grand prize of $25,000 and an advertorial feature in Variety magazine.
Halston is not quite crawling yet, but she enjoys wiggling her way to her two dogs, Cameron and Cori, as well as snuggles with her mom and watching her dad cook.
“She already has a playful sense of humor, her favorite trick currently is making silly noises & babbling, which keeps everyone giggling,” the family wrote in her Baby of the Year profile. “Her cheerful spirit & fun-loving personality brightens every room she’s in.”
The Lopez family wants to see their baby girl make it to the No. 1 spot as “Baby of the Year” not only for the bragging rights, but for her future and the mission it supports.
“We love taking pictures, and we love our Tucker community, so we thought why not get them involved,” said Amber Lopez, who is an amateur photographer. “I saw the cause and how all the donations go towards an amazing cause, too.”
Baby2Baby has distributed more than half a billion critical items to families in need across the United States over the last 14 years. The 2024 Baby of the Year competition helped deliver a $24 million grant to further its mission.
More than 155,000 babies were considered for “Baby of the Year,” according to a release from the competition. Halston made it to No. 1 in her group, which means she’ll now compete against the top little ones in 360 groups, with 27 babies in each group.
Local moms in the Mother Tucker Facebook group have helped spread the word, Amber Lopez said. She’s enjoyed sharing photos of Halston and getting her dad involved, who was once a baby model himself.
“The back story is my husband was actually kind of a baby model, very briefly. He was a very cute baby, and they’re basically twins.”
Elliott Lopez, a native of South Carolina, said his main goal for Halston if she wins is making sure the winning prize supports her college fund.
“We left college with a lot of debt that put us a little bit behind the mark in our professional lives,” he told Rough Draft Atlanta. “We don’t want her to walk into her early 20s with tens and hundreds of thousands of dollars of debt. This could really help.”
As of Nov. 5, Halston currently ranks 14th in the quarterfinals. Supporters can vote at this link by 10 p.m. ET Thursday, Nov. 6, to help her advance to the final round. Free votes are allowed once every 24 hours. “Donation votes” are unlimited and can also be cast via Halston’s page.
