'Surprise' Baby in the Running for $50,000 Gerber Scholarship

Amanda Usterbowski didn't exactly have time to plan ahead for the arrival of her daughter Isabella: .

Now Usterbowski is wishing that with a little luck—and a lot of votes—she'll be able to plan ahead for Isabella's future. Her daughter is competing in the national Gerber Generation Photo Search contest, and Usterbowski hopes she will be chosen by a panel of judges to become the face of a Gerber advertisement.

Oak Forest residents can help boost Isabella to success! She is one of 156,000 children entered into the contest. Judges will choose the grand prize winner from all approved entries, and that child will star in a Gerber ad, in addition to receiving the $50,000 scholarship. Six other winners will be chosen based on the number of votes; their photos will be featured on Gerber.com, and the winners will receive an iPad 2.

Voting takes place through the Gerber Facebook page.

Keep these Voting Guidelines, (per the contest Facebook page) in mind:

• Voting is from July 5, 2011, through July 31, 2011.
• To cast a vote, you must "Like" the Gerber Facebook page.
• How to Vote: View the Gallery and click on the child you want to vote for. You'll be taken to the child's detail page. Click on the VOTE Button to cast your vote.
• You may vote once per child per day per Facebook account. You can vote for as many kids as you want each 24 hour period. The voting program resets daily and you can repeat your votes for your favorites each day. Each Facebook account user is allowed the same voting privileges.

Voting ends Sunday, July 31. The winners will be announced in August.

For more information, visit the Facebook page for the Gerber contest.